A CRISPR-Cas13a Based Strategy That Tracks and Degrades Toxic RNA in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1

Nan Zhang, Brittani Bewick, Guangbin Xia, Denis Furling, Tetsuo Ashizawa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Cas13a, an effector of type VI CRISPR-Cas systems, is an RNA guided RNase with multiplexing and therapeutic potential. This study employs the Leptotrichia shahii (Lsh) Cas13a and a repeat-based CRISPR RNA (crRNA) to track and eliminate toxic RNA aggregates in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) – a neuromuscular disease caused by CTG expansion in the DMPK gene. We demonstrate that LshCas13a cleaves CUG repeat RNA in biochemical assays and reduces toxic RNA load in patient-derived myoblasts. As a result, LshCas13a reverses the characteristic adult-to-embryonic missplicing events in several key genes that contribute to DM1 phenotype. The deactivated LshCas13a can further be repurposed to track RNA-rich organelles within cells. Our data highlights the reprogrammability of LshCas13a and the possible use of Cas13a to target expanded repeat sequences in microsatellite expansion diseases.
Original languageEnglish
Article number594576
Pages (from-to)594576
Number of pages13
JournalFrontiers in Genetics
Volume11
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 10 2020

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