IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v6y2015i1d10.1038_ncomms7989.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Targeted DNA degradation using a CRISPR device stably carried in the host genome

Author

Listed:
  • Brian J. Caliando

    (Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Christopher A. Voigt

    (Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Once an engineered organism completes its task, it is useful to degrade the associated DNA to reduce environmental release and protect intellectual property. Here we present a genetically encoded device (DNAi) that responds to a transcriptional input and degrades user-defined DNA. This enables engineered regions to be obscured when the cell enters a new environment. DNAi is based on type-IE CRISPR biochemistry and a synthetic CRISPR array defines the DNA target(s). When the input is on, plasmid DNA is degraded 108-fold. When the genome is targeted, this causes cell death, reducing viable cells by a factor of 108. Further, the CRISPR nuclease can direct degradation to specific genomic regions (for example, engineered or inserted DNA), which could be used to complicate recovery and sequencing efforts. DNAi can be stably carried in an engineered organism, with no impact on cell growth, plasmid stability or DNAi inducibility even after passaging for >2 months.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian J. Caliando & Christopher A. Voigt, 2015. "Targeted DNA degradation using a CRISPR device stably carried in the host genome," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7989
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7989
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms7989?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. Stefan A. Hoffmann & Yizhi Cai, 2024. "Engineering stringent genetic biocontainment of yeast with a protein stability switch," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Naoki Hayashi & Yong Lai & Jay Fuerte-Stone & Mark Mimee & Timothy K. Lu, 2024. "Cas9-assisted biological containment of a genetically engineered human commensal bacterium and genetic elements," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Lei Pei & Michele Garfinkel & Markus Schmidt, 2022. "Bottlenecks and opportunities for synthetic biology biosafety standards," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-4, December.
    4. John P. Marken & Richard M. Murray, 2023. "Addressable and adaptable intercellular communication via DNA messaging," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Rory L. Williams & Richard M. Murray, 2022. "Integrase-mediated differentiation circuits improve evolutionary stability of burdensome and toxic functions in E. coli," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Dalton R. George & Mark Danciu & Peter W. Davenport & Matthew R. Lakin & James Chappell & Emma K. Frow, 2024. "A bumpy road ahead for genetic biocontainment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-5, December.
    7. Yuanli Gao & Lei Wang & Baojun Wang, 2023. "Customizing cellular signal processing by synthetic multi-level regulatory circuits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, 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:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7989. 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.