Structure and Engineering of Francisella novicida Cas9.

Cell
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

The RNA-guided endonuclease Cas9 cleaves double-stranded DNA targets complementary to the guide RNA and has been applied to programmable genome editing. Cas9-mediated cleavage requires a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) juxtaposed with the DNA target sequence, thus constricting the range of targetable sites. Here, we report the 1.7 Ã… resolution crystal structures of Cas9 from Francisella novicida (FnCas9), one of the largest Cas9 orthologs, in complex with a guide RNA and its PAM-containing DNA targets. A structural comparison of FnCas9 with other Cas9 orthologs revealed striking conserved and divergent features among distantly related CRISPR-Cas9 systems. We found that FnCas9 recognizes the 5'-NGG-3' PAM, and used the structural information to create a variant that can recognize the more relaxed 5'-YG-3' PAM. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the FnCas9-ribonucleoprotein complex can be microinjected into mouse zygotes to edit endogenous sites with the 5'-YG-3' PAM, thus expanding the target space of the CRISPR-Cas9 toolbox.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Cell
Volume
164
Issue
5
Pages
950-61
Date Published
2016 Feb 25
ISSN
1097-4172
URL
DOI
10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.039
PubMed ID
26875867
PubMed Central ID
PMC4899972
Links
Grant list
R01 MH110049 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
5DP1-MH100706 / DP / NCCDPHP CDC HHS / United States
1R01-MH110049 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
DP1 MH100706 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R01 DK097768 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States
5R01DK097768-03 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States