IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-020-20633-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CRISPR technologies and the search for the PAM-free nuclease

Author

Listed:
  • Daphne Collias

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Chase L. Beisel

    (North Carolina State University
    Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI)/Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)
    University of Würzburg)

Abstract

The ever-expanding set of CRISPR technologies and their programmable RNA-guided nucleases exhibit remarkable flexibility in DNA targeting. However, this flexibility comes with an ever-present constraint: the requirement for a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) flanking each target. While PAMs play an essential role in self/nonself discrimination by CRISPR-Cas immune systems, this constraint has launched a far-reaching expedition for nucleases with relaxed PAM requirements. Here, we review ongoing efforts toward realizing PAM-free nucleases through natural ortholog mining and protein engineering. We also address potential consequences of fully eliminating PAM recognition and instead propose an alternative nuclease repertoire covering all possible PAM sequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Daphne Collias & Chase L. Beisel, 2021. "CRISPR technologies and the search for the PAM-free nuclease," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20633-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20633-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20633-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-20633-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu Feng & Ruyi Xu & Jianglan Liao & Jingyu Zhao & Baochang Zhang & Xiaoxiao Xu & Pengpeng Zhao & Xiaoning Wang & Jianyun Yao & Pengxia Wang & Xiaoxue Wang & Wenyuan Han & Qunxin She, 2024. "Flexible TAM requirement of TnpB enables efficient single-nucleotide editing with expanded targeting scope," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Margot Karlikow & Evan Amalfitano & Xiaolong Yang & Jennifer Doucet & Abigail Chapman & Peivand Sadat Mousavi & Paige Homme & Polina Sutyrina & Winston Chan & Sofia Lemak & Alexander F. Yakunin & Adam, 2023. "CRISPR-induced DNA reorganization for multiplexed nucleic acid detection," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Jeremy Vicencio & Carlos Sánchez-Bolaños & Ismael Moreno-Sánchez & David Brena & Charles E. Vejnar & Dmytro Kukhtar & Miguel Ruiz-López & Mariona Cots-Ponjoan & Alejandro Rubio & Natalia Rodrigo Meler, 2022. "Genome editing in animals with minimal PAM CRISPR-Cas9 enzymes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Sundaram Acharya & Asgar Hussain Ansari & Prosad Kumar Das & Seiichi Hirano & Meghali Aich & Riya Rauthan & Sudipta Mahato & Savitri Maddileti & Sajal Sarkar & Manoj Kumar & Rhythm Phutela & Sneha Gul, 2024. "PAM-flexible Engineered FnCas9 variants for robust and ultra-precise genome editing and diagnostics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Jianli Tao & Daniel E. Bauer & Roberto Chiarle, 2023. "Assessing and advancing the safety of CRISPR-Cas tools: from DNA to RNA editing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Péter István Kulcsár & András Tálas & Zoltán Ligeti & Eszter Tóth & Zsófia Rakvács & Zsuzsa Bartos & Sarah Laura Krausz & Ágnes Welker & Vanessza Laura Végi & Krisztina Huszár & Ervin Welker, 2023. "A cleavage rule for selection of increased-fidelity SpCas9 variants with high efficiency and no detectable off-targets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Daphne Collias & Elena Vialetto & Jiaqi Yu & Khoa Co & Éva d. H. Almási & Ann-Sophie Rüttiger & Tatjana Achmedov & Till Strowig & Chase L. Beisel, 2023. "Systematically attenuating DNA targeting enables CRISPR-driven editing in bacteria," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Matteo Ciciani & Michele Demozzi & Eleonora Pedrazzoli & Elisabetta Visentin & Laura Pezzè & Lorenzo Federico Signorini & Aitor Blanco-Miguez & Moreno Zolfo & Francesco Asnicar & Antonio Casini & Anna, 2022. "Automated identification of sequence-tailored Cas9 proteins using massive metagenomic data," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20633-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.