CRISPR-Based Genetic Switches and Other Complex Circuits: Research and Application
Pei Du,
Chunbo Lou,
Xuejin Zhao,
Qihui Wang,
Xiangyu Ji,
Weijia Wei
Affiliations
Pei Du
CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Chunbo Lou
CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1068 Xueyuan Avenue, University Town, Nanshan, Shenzhen 518055, China
Xuejin Zhao
CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Qihui Wang
CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiangyu Ji
CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Weijia Wei
CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
CRISPR-based enzymes have offered a unique capability to the design of genetic switches, with advantages in designability, modularity and orthogonality. CRISPR-based genetic switches operate on multiple levels of life, including transcription and translation. In both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, deactivated CRISPR endonuclease and endoribonuclease have served in genetic switches for activating or repressing gene expression, at both transcriptional and translational levels. With these genetic switches, more complex circuits have been assembled to achieve sophisticated functions including inducible switches, non-linear response and logical biocomputation. As more CRISPR enzymes continue to be excavated, CRISPR-based genetic switches will be used in a much wider range of applications.
