Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
Nat Commun. 2022 May 11;13(1):2582. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30172-3.
Regulated transgene expression is an integral component of gene therapies, cell therapies and biomanufacturing. However, transcription factor-based regulation, upon which most applications are based, suffers from complications such as epigenetic silencing that limit expression longevity and reliability. Constitutive transgene transcription paired with post-transcriptional gene regulation could combat silencing, but few such RNA- or protein-level platforms exist. Here we develop an RNA-regulation platform we call "PERSIST" which consists of nine CRISPR-specific endoRNases as RNA-level activators and repressors as well as modular OFF- and ON-switch regulatory motifs. We show that PERSIST-regulated transgenes exhibit strong OFF and ON responses, resist silencing for at least two months, and can be readily layered to construct cascades, logic functions, switches and other sophisticated circuit topologies. The orthogonal, modular and composable nature of this platform as well as the ease in constructing robust and predictable gene circuits promises myriad applications in gene and cell therapies.
基因治疗、细胞治疗和生物制造都离不开受调控的转基因表达。然而,目前大多数应用都依赖于转录因子调控,这种方法存在着表观遗传沉默等问题,限制了表达的持久性和可靠性。组成型转基因转录与转录后基因调控相结合可以对抗沉默,但很少有这样的 RNA 或蛋白质水平的平台存在。在这里,我们开发了一种称为“PERSIST”的 RNA 调控平台,它由九个 CRISPR 特异性内切核酸酶作为 RNA 水平的激活子和抑制剂,以及模块化的 OFF 和 ON 开关调控基序组成。我们表明,PERSIST 调控的转基因表现出强烈的 OFF 和 ON 反应,至少能抵抗沉默两个月,并且可以很容易地分层构建级联、逻辑功能、开关和其他复杂的电路拓扑结构。该平台具有正交性、模块化和可组合性,以及构建稳健和可预测的基因电路的易用性,有望在基因和细胞治疗领域得到广泛应用。