Application of CRISPR-Cas9 Based Genome-Wide Screening Approaches to Study Cellular Signalling Mechanisms

Sumana Sharma; Evangelia Petsalaki

doi:10.3390/ijms19040933

Application of CRISPR-Cas9 Based Genome-Wide Screening Approaches to Study Cellular Signalling Mechanisms

Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Mar 21;19(4):933. doi: 10.3390/ijms19040933.

Authors

Sumana Sharma^{1

2}, Evangelia Petsalaki³

Affiliations

¹ European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. sumana@ebi.ac.uk.
² Cell Surface Signalling Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. sumana@ebi.ac.uk.
³ European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. petsalaki@ebi.ac.uk.

Abstract

The cellular signalling process is a highly complex mechanism, involving multiple players, which together orchestrate the cell's response to environmental changes and perturbations. Given the multitude of genes that participate in the process of cellular signalling, its study in a genome-wide manner has proven challenging. Recent advances in gene editing technologies, including clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9) approaches, have opened new opportunities to investigate global regulatory signalling programs of cells in an unbiased manner. In this review, we focus on how the application of pooled genetic screening approaches using the CRISPR/Cas9 system has contributed to a systematic understanding of cellular signalling processes in normal and disease contexts.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; cellular signalling; genome-wide screens.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics*
Cells / metabolism*
Genetic Testing*
Genome*
Signal Transduction*