Detect and destroy: CRISPR-based technologies for the response against viruses

Catherine A Freije; Pardis C Sabeti

doi:10.1016/j.chom.2021.04.003

Detect and destroy: CRISPR-based technologies for the response against viruses

Cell Host Microbe. 2021 May 12;29(5):689-703. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.04.003. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Authors

Catherine A Freije¹, Pardis C Sabeti²

Affiliations

¹ Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Ph.D. Program in Virology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: cfreije@broadinstitute.org.
² Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: pardis@broadinstitute.org.

Abstract

Despite numerous viral outbreaks in the last decade, including a devastating global pandemic, diagnostic and therapeutic technologies remain severely lacking. CRISPR-Cas systems have the potential to address these critical needs in the response against infectious disease. Initially discovered as the bacterial adaptive immune system, these systems provide a unique opportunity to create programmable, sequence-specific technologies for detection of viral nucleic acids and inhibition of viral replication. This review summarizes how CRISPR-Cas systems-in particular the recently discovered DNA-targeting Cas12 and RNA-targeting Cas13, both possessing a unique trans-cleavage activity-are being harnessed for viral diagnostics and therapies. We further highlight the numerous technologies whose development has accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: CRISPR; CRISPR-based antivirals; CRISPR-based detection; class 2 Cas proteins; viral diagnostics; viruses.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 / therapy
CRISPR-Cas Systems*
Humans
Mutation
RNA, Circular / genetics
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification*

Substances

RNA, Circular