Jeongbin Park

Digenome-seq: genome-wide profiling of CRISPR-Cas9 off-target effects in human cells

Although RNA-guided genome editing via the CRISPR-Cas9 system is now widely used in biomedical research, genome-wide target specificities of Cas9 nucleases remain controversial. Here we present Digenome-seq, in vitro Cas9-digested whole-genome sequencing, to profile genome-wide Cas9 off-target effects in human cells. This in vitro digest yields sequence reads with the same 5′ ends at cleavage sites that can be computationally identified. We validated off-target sites at which insertions or deletions were induced with frequencies below 0.1%, near the detection limit of targeted deep sequencing. We also showed that Cas9 nucleases can be highly specific, inducing off-target mutations at merely several, rather than thousands of, sites in the entire genome and that Cas9 off-target effects can be avoided by replacing promiscuous single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) with modified sgRNAs. Digenome-seq is a robust, sensitive, unbiased and cost-effective method for profiling genome-wide off-target effects of programmable nucleases including Cas9.

Cas-OFFinder: a fast and versatile algorithm that searches for potential off-target sites of Cas9 RNA-guided endonucleases

Summary: The Type II clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system is an adaptive immune response in prokaryotes, protecting host cells against invading phages or plasmids by cleaving these foreign DNA species in a targeted manner. CRISPR/Cas-derived RNA-guided engineered nucleases (RGENs) enable genome editing in cultured cells, animals and plants, but are limited by off-target mutations. Here, we present a novel algorithm termed Cas-OFFinder that searches for potential off-target sites in a given genome or user-defined sequences. Unlike other algorithms currently available for identification of RGEN off-target sites, Cas-OFFinder is not limited by the number of mismatches and allows variations in protospacer-adjacent motif sequences recognized by Cas9, the essential protein component in RGENs. Cas-OFFinder is available as a command-line program or accessible via our website. Availability and implementation: Cas-OFFinder free access at http://www.rgenome.net/cas-offinder. Contact: baesau@snu.ac.kr or jskim01@snu.ac.kr

Genome-wide target specificities of CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases revealed by multiplex Digenome-seq

We present multiplex Digenome-seq to profile genome-wide specificities of up to 11 CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases simultaneously, saving time and reducing cost. Cell-free human genomic DNA was digested using multiple sgRNAs combined with the Cas9 protein and then subjected to whole-genome sequencing. In vitro cleavage patterns, characteristic of on- and off-target sites, were computationally identified across the genome using a new DNA cleavage scoring system. We found that many false-positive, bulge-type off-target sites were cleaved by sgRNAs transcribed from an oligonucleotide duplex but not by those transcribed from a plasmid template. Multiplex Digenome-seq captured many bona fide off-target sites, missed by other genome-wide methods, at which indels were induced at frequencies <0.1%. After analyzing 964 sites cleaved in vitro by these sgRNAs and measuring indel frequencies at hundreds of off-target sites in cells, we propose a guideline for the choice of target sites for minimizing CRISPR-Cas9 off-target effects in the human genome.

Cas-Designer: a web-based tool for choice of CRISPR-Cas9 target sites

UNLABELLEDnWe present Cas-Designer, a user-friendly program to aid researchers in choosing appropriate target sites in a gene of interest for type II CRISPR/Cas-derived RNA-guided endonucleases, which are now widely used for biomedical research and biotechnology. Cas-Designer rapidly provides the list of all possible guide RNA sequences in a given input DNA sequence and their potential off-target sites including bulge-type sites in a genome of choice. In addition, the program assigns an out-of-frame score to each target site to help users choose appropriate sites for gene knockout. Cas-Designer shows the results in an interactive table and provides user-friendly filter functions.nnnAVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATIONnFree access at http://rgenome.net/cas-designer/.

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Gene-knockout Screens and Target Identification via Whole Genome Sequencing Uncover Host Genes Required for Picornavirus Infection

Several groups have used genome-wide libraries of lentiviruses encoding small guide RNAs (sgRNAs) for genetic screens. In most cases, sgRNA expression cassettes are integrated into cells by using lentiviruses, and target genes are statistically estimated by the readout of sgRNA sequences after targeted sequencing. We present a new virus-free method for human gene knockout screens using a genome-wide library of CRISPR/Cas9 sgRNAs based on plasmids and target gene identification via whole-genome sequencing (WGS) confirmation of authentic mutations rather than statistical estimation through targeted amplicon sequencing. We used 30,840 pairs of individually synthesized oligonucleotides to construct the genome-scale sgRNA library, collectively targeting 10,280 human genes (i.e. three sgRNAs per gene). These plasmid libraries were co-transfected with a Cas9-expression plasmid into human cells, which were then treated with cytotoxic drugs or viruses. Only cells lacking key factors essential for cytotoxic drug metabolism or viral infection were able to survive. Genomic DNA isolated from cells that survived these challenges was subjected to WGS to directly identify CRISPR/Cas9-mediated causal mutations essential for cell survival. With this approach, we were able to identify known and novel genes essential for viral infection in human cells. We propose that genome-wide sgRNA screens based on plasmids coupled with WGS are powerful tools for forward genetics studies and drug target discovery.

Cas-Database: web-based genome-wide guide RNA library design for gene knockout screens using CRISPR-Cas9

Motivation: CRISPR-derived RNA guided endonucleases (RGENs) have been widely used for both gene knockout and knock-in at the level of single or multiple genes. RGENs are now available for forward genetic screens at genome scale, but single guide RNA (sgRNA) selection at this scale is difficult. Results: We develop an online tool, Cas-Database, a genome-wide gRNA library design tool for Cas9 nucleases from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9). With an easy-to-use web interface, Cas-Database allows users to select optimal target sequences simply by changing the filtering conditions. Furthermore, it provides a powerful way to select multiple optimal target sequences from thousands of genes at once for the creation of a genome-wide library. Cas-Database also provides a web application programming interface (web API) for advanced bioinformatics users. Availability and implementation: Free access at http://www.rgenome.net/cas-database/. Contact: sangsubae@hanyang.ac.kr or jskim01@snu.ac.kr Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

CUT-PCR: CRISPR-mediated, ultrasensitive detection of target DNA using PCR.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has emerged as a tumor-specific biomarker for the early detection of various cancers. To date, several techniques have been devised to enrich the extremely small amounts of ctDNA present in plasma, but they are still insufficient for cancer diagnosis, especially at the early stage. Here, we developed a novel method, CUT (CRISPR-mediated, Ultrasensitive detection of Target DNA)-PCR, which uses CRISPR endonucleases to enrich and detect the extremely small amounts of tumor DNA fragments among the much more abundant wild-type DNA fragments by specifically eliminating the wild-type sequences. We computed that by using various orthologonal CRISPR endonucleases such as SpCas9 and FnCpf1, the CUT-PCR method would be applicable to 80% of known cancer-linked substitution mutations registered in the COSMIC database. We further verified that CUT-PCR together with targeted deep sequencing enables detection of a broad range of oncogenes with high sensitivity (<0.01%) and accuracy, which is superior to conventional targeted deep sequencing. In the end, we successfully applied CUT-PCR to detect sequences with oncogenic mutations in the ctDNA of colorectal cancer patients’ blood, suggesting that our technique could be adopted for diagnosing various types of cancer at early stages.

Digenome-seq web tool for profiling CRISPR specificity

To the Editor: We recently reported Digenome-seq (digested genome sequencing), a method for in vitro identification of potential off-target sites, and we evaluated the specificity of CRISPR– Cas9 (refs. 1,2) and CRISPR–Cpf1(ref. 3) endonuclease by wholegenome sequencing. Digenome-seq pinpoints the exact location of double-strand break (DSB) sites by recognizing specific patterns of aligned reads. However, the analysis pipeline presented in our previous report required extensive manual interaction and produced several large intermediate files, resulting in a long running time. Here, we present a redesigned analysis tool for Digenome-seq data that runs on web browsers. The core algorithm of the tool is written in C++ and compiled to asm.js (http://asmjs.org/), a preoptimized subset of JavaScript. Users can instantly perform the complete analysis in an ordinary web browser (Supplementary Note 1) with fast execution speed without uploading any data to a server and without local tool installation. In our benchmark, the full analysis for 100 GB of BAM file took 3 h for whole analysis on Intel i5 3570k central processing unit in a single thread. With the new tool, a user submits both the mockand nucleasetreated BAM files (Fig. 1a) together with target sequences and required parameters (Supplementary Note 2). The result page is then displayed and updated in real time. Next, the tool finds patterns of aligned reads that characterize DSB sites. 80-bp flanking sequences around each site are retrieved from the Ensembl database4 and aligned to the target sequence using a semiglobal alignment algorithm for user convenience. Each site is reported along with the alignment, the number of DSB sites per chromosome (Fig. 1b) and in an interactive plot (Fig. 1c). The web tool is freely available at http://www.rgenome.net/digenome-js.