Project description
Targeting multiple genes at once to swiftly identify redundancies
Determining the genetic basis of phenotypes and its relation to health and disease is complicated by genetic redundancy. In genomes of higher organisms, it is common for two or more genes to perform the same function, and for inactivation of one or more to have little or no effect on biological phenotype. CRISPR technology, based on a phenomenon in prokaryotes for gene editing, has allowed researchers to find and alter a specific bit of DNA in a cell. However, two targets generally have been the maximum, hampering progress in untangling the web of redundancy. The EU-funded CRISPRcombo project is harnessing the power of CRISPR arrays that naturally produce multiple targeting guide RNAs. Using CRISPR arrays, scientists are developing a high-throughput screen able to scale to many gene targets at once. CRISPRcombo expects to significantly enhance our understanding both of CRISPR arrays and of genetic mechanisms involving redundancy.
Objective
A ubiquitous yet poorly understood theme pervading biology is redundancy, wherein seemingly equivalent components drive shared processes. In cases from development to pathogenesis, untangling the ensuing web of potential genetic interactions can be virtually impossible with conventional techniques. CRISPR technologies, with their propensity for multiplexing, are well poised to address this challenge. However, current CRISPR-based screens have not exceeded more than two targets at a time. Here, I will achieve a major leap forward for CRISPR-based screens and dissecting redundancy by harnessing a core yet underexplored part of CRISPR: CRISPR arrays. CRISPR arrays naturally form the immunological memory of CRISPR-Cas systems and produce multiple targeting gRNAs processed from a single transcript. The arrays are highly compact, genetically stable, and can encode hundreds of gRNAs. However, the repetitive repeats within each array have hampered their construction and widespread adoption. My group recently made a breakthrough with the modular one-pot assembly of long arrays and array libraries. This capability grants us the unique opportunity to develop the first high-throughput, CRISPR-based screens that readily scale to many gene targets at a time. In parallel, our first assembled arrays highlighted technical constraints to designing robust and highly active arrays. I posit that native CRISPR arrays have faced similar limitations and thus can inform the design of array libraries. I thus propose to
1) Develop design rules for CRISPR arrays yielding only intended and uniformly abundant guide RNAs.
2) Elucidate and exploit why CRISPR arrays are genetically stable.
3) Perform scalable combinatorial screens using redundancy by small RNAs in E. coli as a compelling case study.
If successful, this project will reveal unexplored properties of CRISPR arrays and, for the first time, achieve scalable combinatorial screens for interrogating redundancy throughout biology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-COG
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38124 Braunschweig
Germany
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