History of genome editing in yeast

For thousands of years humans have used the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of bread and alcohol; however, in the last 30–40 years our understanding of the yeast biology has dramatically increased, enabling us to modify its genome. Although S. cerevisiae has been the main focus of many research groups, other non‐conventional yeasts have also been studied and exploited for biotechnological purposes. Our experiments and knowledge have evolved from recombination to high‐throughput PCR‐based transformations to highly accurate CRISPR methods in order to alter yeast traits for either research or industrial purposes. Since the release of the genome sequence of S. cerevisiae in 1996, the precise and targeted genome editing has increased significantly. In this ‘Budding topic’ we discuss the significant developments of genome editing in yeast, mainly focusing on Cre‐loxP mediated recombination, delitto perfetto and CRISPR/Cas.     

A CRISPR/Cas9 method to generate heterozygous alleles in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a genetically facile organism, yet multiple CRISPR/Cas9 techniques are widely used to edit its genome more efficiently and cost effectively than conventional methods. The absence of selective markers makes CRISPR/Cas9 editing particularly useful when making mutations within genes or regulatory sequences. Heterozygous mutations within genes frequently arise in the winners of evolution experiments. The genetic dissection of heterozygous alleles can be important to understanding gene structure and function. Unfortunately, the high efficiency of genome cutting and repair makes the introduction of heterozygous alleles by standard CRISPR/Cas9 technique impossible. To be able to quickly and reliably determine the individual phenotypes of the thousands of heterozygous mutations that can occur during directed evolutions is of particular interest to industrial strain improvement research. In this report, we describe a CRISPR/Cas9 method that introduces specific heterozygous mutations into the S. cerevisiae genome. This method relies upon creating silent point mutations in the protospacer adjacent motif site or removing the protospacer adjacent motif site entirely to stop the multiple rounds of genome editing that prevent heterozygous alleles from being generated. This technique should be able to create heterozygous alleles in other diploid yeasts and different allelic copy numbers in polyploid cells.     

CRISPR/Cpf1 enables fast and simple genome editing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cpf1 represents a novel single RNA‐guided CRISPR/Cas endonuclease system suitable for genome editing with distinct features compared with Cas9. We demonstrate the functionality of three Cpf1 orthologues – Acidaminococcus spp. BV3L6 (AsCpf1), Lachnospiraceae bacterium ND2006 (LbCpf1) and Francisella novicida U112 (FnCpf1) – for genome editing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These Cpf1‐based systems enable fast and reliable introduction of donor DNA on the genome using a two‐plasmid‐based editing approach together with linear donor DNA. LbCpf1 and FnCpf1 displayed editing efficiencies comparable with the CRISPR/Cas9 system, whereas AsCpf1 editing efficiency was lower. Further characterization showed that AsCpf1 and LbCpf1 displayed a preference for their cognate crRNA, while FnCpf1‐mediated editing with similar efficiencies was observed using non‐cognate crRNAs of AsCpf1 and LbCpf1. In addition, multiplex genome editing using a single LbCpf1 crRNA array is shown to be functional in yeast. This work demonstrates that Cpf1 broadens the genome editing toolbox available for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. © 2017 The Authors. Yeast published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New vectors for simple and streamlined CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–Cas9 technology is an important tool for genome editing because the Cas9 endonuclease can induce targeted DNA double‐strand breaks. Targeting of the DNA break is typically controlled by a single‐guide RNA (sgRNA), a chimeric RNA containing a structural segment important for Cas9 binding and a 20mer guide sequence that hybridizes to the genomic DNA target. Previous studies have demonstrated that CRISPR–Cas9 technology can be used for efficient, marker‐free genome editing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, introducing the 20mer guide sequence into yeast sgRNA expression vectors often requires cloning procedures that are complex, time‐consuming and/or expensive. To simplify this process, we have developed a new sgRNA expression cassette with internal restriction enzyme sites that permit rapid, directional cloning of 20mer guide sequences. Here we describe a flexible set of vectors based on this design for cloning and expressing sgRNAs (and Cas9) in yeast using different selectable markers. We anticipate that the Cas9–sgRNA expression vector with the URA3 selectable marker (pML104) will be particularly useful for genome editing in yeast, since the Cas9 machinery can be easily removed by counter‐selection using 5‐fluoro‐orotic acid (5‐FOA) following successful genome editing. The availability of new vectors that simplify and streamline the technical steps required for guide sequence cloning should help accelerate the use of CRISPR–Cas9 technology in yeast genome editing. Vectors pT040, pJH001, pML104 and pML107 have been deposited at Addgene ( www.addgene.org ). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于细胞融合开发双基因共敲除技术

基因编码工具(例如CRISPR/Cas9)的出现使敲除哺乳动物细胞基因成为现实.然而,实现细胞的多基因敲除成功率低且所需时间长.细胞融合技术是构建杂合细胞的常用方法,通过融合两种不同表型的细胞,构建出一种具有杂合表型的新型细胞.但是,由于基因的互补作用,通过基因敲除而获得的性状在细胞融合后成为隐性性状,融合细胞不能表现...     

CRISPR/Cas9介导烟草多基因编辑体系的应用

CRISPR/Cas9是一种新型的基因组定向编辑技术,近年来在烟草基因组的定向编辑中得到了广泛应用。CRISPR/Cas9介导的多基因编辑技术在许多物种中表现出很大的潜力,为了探索CRISPR/Cas9介导烟草多基因编辑的技术体系,本文针对烟草PCS1、HMA2、eIF4E、TOM3、TOM1 5个不同性状相关的基因构建了多靶点敲除的CRISPR/Cas9系统,并借助农杆菌介导的遗传转化技术转化烟草品种K326。对阳性植株的筛选、靶位点基因组的PCR扩增与测序分析表明,构建的CRISPR/Cas9多基因编辑系统成功转化到烟草中,能够同时靶向突变5个基因。5个基因同时突变的检出率为53.8%,单基因的突变检出率在76.9%与92.3%之间。进一步的脱靶检测分析显示,在所预测脱靶的候选位点上均未发生脱靶现象。本文构建的CRISPR/Cas9多基因编辑系统可将多个基因进行有效突变,为烟草基因功能研究和基于CRISPR/Cas9技术的多性状改良奠定了基础。      

A history of genome editing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Genome editing is a form of highly precise genetic engineering which produces alterations to an organism's genome as small as a single base pair with no incidental or auxiliary modifications; this technique is crucial to the field of synthetic biology, which requires such precision in the installation of novel genetic circuits into host genomes. While a new methodology for most organisms, genome editing capabilities have been used in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for decades. In this review, I will present a brief history of genome editing in S. cerevisiae, discuss the current gold standard method of Cas9‐mediated genome editing, and speculate on future directions of the field.     

CRISPR/Cas系统在食品质量安全检测中的应用研究进展

规律间隔成簇短回文重复序列(regularly spaced clustered short palindrome repeats-associated, CRISPR/Cas)系统是基于原核生物的一种适应性免疫系统, 因其可编程性和易操作的优点已被开发为基因编辑技术, 并且凭借其快速和高效的特点被广泛用于生物、医学等领域。目前, CRISPR/Cas系统已开始在基于核酸检测和单核苷酸多态性检测等食品安全检测技术中应用。本文就CRISPR/Cas系统中Cas9、Cas12a和Cas13a的原理以及其在掺假检测、溯源检测、食源性微生物和动物疫病等食品质量安全检测中的应用进展进行了综述, 以期为CRISPR/Cas系统应用于食品质量安全的快速现场检测提供理论和技术参考。     

CRISPR/Cas9介导的酿酒酵母ADH2基因中断及反义RNA干扰GPD1的表达

CRISPR/Cas9是一个简单、高效的用于靶向目的基因和无标记的基因组工程的工具。本文通过构建酿酒酵母沉默组件PGK-SGPD1-CYC1,使甘油-3-磷酸脱氢酶I(Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase,GPD1)基因在PGK强启动子、CYC1终止子在特定区域内进行干扰和表达。应用CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术,在中断乙醇脱氢酶Ⅱ(alcohol dehydrogenase Ⅱ,ADH2)基因的同时,定点敲入GPD1基因的反义干扰组件,从而特定地干扰GPD1的表达。采用高效的酵母化学转化法将反应组件敲入酿酒酵母Y1H中,CRISPR/Cas9介导的同源重组效率达43.48%,由此获得了ADH2基因中断和GPD1反义干扰的酿酒酵母突变株。发酵实验结果表明,酿酒酵母突变菌株SG1-1与出发菌株Y1H相比,乙醇产率提高了9.07%,甘油产率下降了12.05%,乙酸产率下降了12.30%,结果表明通过中断ADH2基因及插入GPD1反义干扰组件,既能够中断ADH2基因的功能,减少乙醇转化为乙醛,同时也能在一定程度上干扰GPD1基因的表达,提高乙醇产率。     

Regulation of thiamine synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for improved pyruvate production

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for high‐yield production of carboxylic acid requires a cytosolic pyruvate pool as precursor. In this study, a novel strategy to improve pyruvate production and reduce metabolic by‐products via regulating thiamine synthesis was explored. Two of the thiamine biosynthesis regulatory genes, THI2 and THI3, were disrupted in the S. cerevisiae parent strain FMME‐002. The mutants FMME‐002ΔTHI2 and FMME‐002ΔTHI3 both exhibited an enhanced pyruvate yield. Moreover, FMME‐002ΔTHI2 achieved a relatively higher pyruvate production, and the highest concentration of pyruvate was achieved when 0.04 µ m thiamine was added. Enzyme assays and fermentation profiles of the THI2‐complemented strain indicated that the observed metabolic changes represented intrinsic effects of THI2 deletion on the physiology of S. cerevisiae. Under optimal C:N ratio conditions, FMME‐002ΔTHI2 produced pyruvate up to 8.21 ± 0.30 g/l, whereas the ethanol titre decreased to 2.21 ± 0.24 g/l after 96 h of cultivation. These results demonstrate the possibility of improving pyruvate production by regulating thiamine synthesis in S. cerevisiae. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CRISPR‐Based Technologies and the Future of Food Science

The on‐going CRISPR craze is focused on the use of Cas9‐based technologies for genome editing applications in eukaryotes, with high potential for translational medicine and next‐generation gene therapy. Nevertheless, CRISPR‐Cas systems actually provide adaptive immunity in bacteria, and have much promise for various applications in food bacteria that include high‐resolution typing of pathogens, vaccination of starter cultures against phages, and the genesis of programmable and specific antibiotics that can selectively modulate bacterial population composition. Indeed, the molecular machinery from these DNA‐encoded, RNA‐mediated, DNA‐targeting systems can be harnessed in native hosts, or repurposed in engineered systems for a plethora of applications that can be implemented in all organisms relevant to the food chain, including agricultural crops trait‐enhancement, livestock breeding, and fermentation‐based manufacturing, and for the genesis of next‐generation food products with enhanced quality and health‐promoting functionalities. CRISPR‐based applications are now poised to revolutionize many fields within food science, from farm to fork. In this review, we describe CRISPR‐Cas systems and highlight their potential for the development of enhanced foods.     

Use of a fluoride channel as a new selection marker for fission yeast plasmids and application to fast genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9

Fission yeast is a powerful model organism that has provided insights into important cellular processes thanks to the ease of its genome editing by homologous recombination. However, creation of strains with a large number of targeted mutations or containing plasmids has been challenging because only a very small number of selection markers is available in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In this paper, we identify two fission yeast fluoride exporter channels (Fex1p and Fex2p) and describe the development of a new strategy using Fex1p as a selection marker for transformants in rich media supplemented with fluoride. To our knowledge this is the first positive selection marker identified in S. pombe that does not use auxotrophy or drug resistance and that can be used for plasmids transformation or genomic integration in rich media. We illustrate the application of our new marker by significantly accelerating the protocol for genome edition using CRISPR/Cas9 in S. pombe. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

酿酒酵母代谢调控合成功能营养品：进展与挑战

综述了酿酒酵母作为底盘细胞代谢调控合成功能营养品的研究进展。首先,介绍了酿酒酵母作为细胞工厂相关的启动子调控、终止子调控、辅因子调控、转运蛋白调控及动态调控等一系列代谢调控策略,并介绍了加强产物合成的相关遗传改造工具和代谢分析技术。随后,概述了酿酒酵母合成寡糖、维生素及萜类、短链有机酸和脂肪酸等功能营养品的研究进展。最后,提出了目前面临的挑战,并结合代谢工程新兴技术展望了未来酿酒酵母代谢调控的发展趋势,以期为功能营养品在酿酒酵母中的高效合成提供参考。     

扩增型和非扩增型CRISPR/Cas系统在食源性致病菌快速检测领域应用的研究进展

食源性致病菌引起的食品安全事件频发已对公众健康和社会经济造成巨大的影响,构建针对其快速、高效的检测方法是保障食品安全的重要手段。成簇的间隔短回文重复序列（clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,CRISPR）及其相关蛋白（CRISPR-associated protein,Cas）组成的CRISPR/Cas是广泛存在于细菌和古细菌中的一种免疫系统,可以有效地识别并切割外源核酸。因此,可以利用CRISPR/Cas系统这一对外源核酸的识别及切割活性实现对食源性致病菌的快速高效检测。本文详细介绍基于核酸扩增和免核酸扩增的两种CRISPR/Cas系统,综述其在对各种食源性致病菌检测中的应用,讨论它们的优势、局限性以及未来的发展趋势,旨在为建立更高效的食源性致病菌检测方法提供技术参考,以期更有效地减少食源性致病菌造成的食品安全问题。     

CRISPR/Cas系统在食源性致病菌快速检测新技术中的研究进展

食源性致病菌的早期筛查与快速检测对食品安全和临床诊断至关重要。然而,传统检测方法操作繁琐、费时费力,难以满足快速检测需求。成簇、规则间隔的短回文重复序列（clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,CRISPR）和关联蛋白（CRISPR-associated protein,Cas）组成的CRISPR/Cas是广泛存在于细菌和古细菌中的一种免疫系统,其高效特异序列识别及切割活性的特性,为食源性致病菌高灵敏、快速检测提供了一种新的途径。本文介绍了CRISPR/Cas系统的原理、机制及发展,总结了近年来基于CRISPR/Cas系统结合不同结果报告方式用于食源性致病菌快速检测的最新进展,并对其优势、局限性和未来发展方向进行了讨论。     

大肠杆菌中吡咯喹啉醌合成途径的构建

目前吡咯喹啉醌（Pyrroloquinoline quinone,PQQ）在大肠杆菌中的异源合成主要以质粒为表达载体进行,但是质粒载体难以进行合成途径多基因表达的系统优化,并且容易造成发酵不稳定。作者以大肠杆菌为底盘生物,利用CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术,在基因组水平系统优化PQQ的合成。将来源于Gluconobacter oxydans 621H的操纵子pqqABCDE引入底盘大肠杆菌,并进一步通过优化合成途径基因表达强度,敲除大肠杆菌自身抑制基因及强化PQQ的胞内需求与胞外转运等,获得了一株能够高效合成PQQ的工程菌,摇瓶发酵72 h时产量达到86.3 mg/L。以大肠杆菌为底盘构建PQQ高效合成途径的工作能够为后续以其他底盘生物生产PQQ及相关代谢产物提供借鉴。     

Construction and evaluation of gRNA arrays for multiplex CRISPR-Cas9

Endonuclease system CRISPR-Cas9 represents a powerful toolbox for the budding yeast's Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome perturbation. The resulting double-strand breaks are preferentially repaired via highly efficient homologous recombination, which subsequently leads to marker-free genome editing. The goal of this study was to evaluate precise targeting of multiple loci simultaneously. To construct an array of independently expressing guide RNAs (gRNAs), the genes encoding them were assembled through a BioBrick construction procedure. We designed a multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 system for targeting 6 marker genes, whereby the gRNA array was expressed from a single plasmid. To evaluate the performance of the gRNA array, the activity of the designed system was assessed by the success rate of the introduction of perturbations within the target loci: successful gRNA expression, followed by target DNA double-strand breaks formation and their repair by homologous recombination led to premature termination of the coding sequence of the marker genes, resulting in the prevention of growth of the transformants on the corresponding selection media. In conclusion, we successfully introduced up to five simultaneous perturbations within single cells of yeast S. cerevisiae using the multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 system. While this has been done before, we here present an alternative sequential BioBrick assembly with the capability to accommodate many highly similar gRNA-expression cassettes, and an exhaustive evaluation of their performance.