The CRISPR-Cas toolbox and gene editing technologies

Guanwen Liu; Qiupeng Lin; Shuai Jin; Caixia Gao

doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2021.12.002

The CRISPR-Cas toolbox and gene editing technologies

Mol Cell. 2022 Jan 20;82(2):333-347. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.12.002. Epub 2021 Dec 29.

Authors

Guanwen Liu¹, Qiupeng Lin¹, Shuai Jin¹, Caixia Gao²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Center for Genome Editing, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Center for Genome Editing, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: cxgao@genetics.ac.cn.

PMID: 34968414
DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.12.002

Abstract

The emergence of CRISPR-Cas systems has accelerated the development of gene editing technologies, which are widely used in the life sciences. To improve the performance of these systems, workers have engineered and developed a variety of CRISPR-Cas tools with a broader range of targets, higher efficiency and specificity, and greater precision. Moreover, CRISPR-Cas-related technologies have also been expanded beyond making cuts in DNA by introducing functional elements that permit precise gene modification, control gene expression, make epigenetic changes, and so on. In this review, we introduce and summarize the characteristics and applications of different types of CRISPR-Cas tools. We discuss certain limitations of current approaches and future prospects for optimizing CRISPR-Cas systems.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
CRISPR-Associated Proteins / genetics*
CRISPR-Associated Proteins / metabolism
CRISPR-Cas Systems*
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats*
Diffusion of Innovation
Gene Editing*
Humans

Substances

CRISPR-Associated Proteins