Yoder K E
Acta Virol. 2019;63(2):129-138. doi: 10.4149/av_2019_201.
The integrated proviral genome is the major barrier to a cure for HIV-1 infection. Genome editing technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9, may disable or remove the HIV-1 provirus by introducing DNA double strand breaks at sequence specific sites in the viral genome. Host DNA repair by the error-prone non-homologous end joining pathway generates mutagenic insertions or deletions at the break. CRISPR/Cas9 editing has been shown to reduce replication competent viral genomes in cell culture, but only a minority of possible genome editing targets have been assayed. Currently there is no map of double strand break genetic fitness for HIV-1 to inform the choice of editing targets. However, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing makes it possible to target double strand breaks along the length of the provirus to generate a double strand break genetic fitness map. We identified all possible HIV-1 targets with different bacterial species of CRISPR/Cas9. This library of guide RNAs was evaluated for GC content and potential off-target sites in the human genome. Complexity of the library was reduced by eliminating duplicate guide RNA targets in the HIV-1 long terminal repeats and targets in the env gene. Although the HIV-1 genome is AT-rich, the S. pyogenes CRISPR/Cas9 with the proto-spacer adjacent motif NGG offers the most HIV-1 guide RNAs. This library of HIV-1 guide RNAs may be used to generate a double strand break genetic fragility map to be further applied to any genome editing technology designed for the HIV-1 provirus. Keywords: HIV-1; genome editing; CRISPR; genetic fitness; guide RNAs.
整合的前病毒基因组是治愈HIV-1感染的主要障碍。基因组编辑技术,如CRISPR/Cas9,可通过在病毒基因组的序列特异性位点引入DNA双链断裂来使HIV-1前病毒失活或去除。易错的非同源末端连接途径进行的宿主DNA修复会在断裂处产生诱变插入或缺失。CRISPR/Cas9编辑已被证明可在细胞培养中减少具有复制能力的病毒基因组,但仅检测了少数可能的基因组编辑靶点。目前尚无HIV-1双链断裂遗传适应性图谱来指导编辑靶点的选择。然而,CRISPR/Cas9基因组编辑使得沿前病毒长度靶向双链断裂以生成双链断裂遗传适应性图谱成为可能。我们用不同细菌种类的CRISPR/Cas9鉴定了所有可能的HIV-1靶点。对该向导RNA文库进行了GC含量和人类基因组中潜在脱靶位点的评估。通过消除HIV-1长末端重复序列中的重复向导RNA靶点和env基因中的靶点,降低了文库的复杂性。尽管HIV-1基因组富含AT,但具有原间隔相邻基序NGG的化脓性链球菌CRISPR/Cas9提供了最多的HIV-1向导RNA。该HIV-1向导RNA文库可用于生成双链断裂遗传脆弱性图谱,以进一步应用于为HIV-1前病毒设计的任何基因组编辑技术。关键词:HIV-1;基因组编辑;CRISPR;遗传适应性;向导RNA。