Principles of CRISPR-Cas13 mismatch intolerance enable selective silencing of point-mutated oncogenic RNA with single-base precision

Sci Adv. 2024 Dec 20;10(51):eadl0731. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0731. Epub 2024 Dec 18.

Abstract

Single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) are extremely prevalent in human cancers, although most of these remain clinically unactionable. The programmable RNA nuclease CRISPR-Cas13 has been deployed to specifically target oncogenic RNAs. However, silencing oncogenic SNVs with single-base precision remains extremely challenging due to the intrinsic mismatch tolerance of Cas13. Here, we show that introducing synthetic mismatches at precise positions of the spacer sequence enables de novo design of guide RNAs [CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs)] with strong preferential silencing of point-mutated transcripts. We applied these design principles to effectively silence the oncogenic KRAS G12 hotspot, NRAS G12D and BRAF V600E transcripts with minimal off-target silencing of the wild-type transcripts, underscoring the adaptability of this platform to silence various SNVs. Unexpectedly, the SNV-selective crRNAs harboring mismatched nucleotides reduce the promiscuous collateral activity of the RfxCas13d ortholog. These findings demonstrate that the CRISPR-Cas13 system can be reprogrammed to target mutant transcripts with single-base precision, showcasing the tremendous potential of this tool in personalized transcriptome editing.

MeSH terms

  • Base Pair Mismatch
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems*
  • GTP Phosphohydrolases
  • Gene Editing / methods
  • Gene Silencing
  • Humans
  • Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Oncogenes
  • Point Mutation
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / genetics
  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics
  • RNA, Neoplasm / genetics
  • RNA, Neoplasm / metabolism

Substances

  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)
  • Membrane Proteins
  • KRAS protein, human
  • NRAS protein, human
  • RNA, Neoplasm
  • BRAF protein, human
  • GTP Phosphohydrolases
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf