Microbiology Spectrum (Jul 2024)

Testing multiplexed anti-ASFV CRISPR-Cas9 in reducing African swine fever virus

  • Zezhong Zheng,
  • Lei Xu,
  • Yangbin Gao,
  • Hongwei Dou,
  • Yixuan Zhou,
  • Xu Feng,
  • Xiangjun He,
  • Zhen Tian,
  • Lingling Song,
  • Guolong Mo,
  • Jiapan Hu,
  • Hongye Zhao,
  • Hongjiang Wei,
  • George M. Church,
  • Luhan Yang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02164-23
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 7

Abstract

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ABSTRACT African swine fever (ASF) is a highly fatal viral disease that poses a significant threat to domestic pigs and wild boars globally. In our study, we aimed to explore the potential of a multiplexed CRISPR-Cas system in suppressing ASFV replication and infection. By engineering CRISPR-Cas systems to target nine specific loci within the ASFV genome, we observed a substantial reduction in viral replication in vitro. This reduction was achieved through the concerted action of both Type II and Type III RNA polymerase-guided gRNA expression. To further evaluate its anti-viral function in vivo, we developed a pig strain expressing the multiplexable CRISPR-Cas-gRNA via germline genome editing. These transgenic pigs exhibited normal health with continuous expression of the CRISPR-Cas-gRNA system, and a subset displayed latent viral replication and delayed infection. However, the CRISPR-Cas9-engineered pigs did not exhibit a survival advantage upon exposure to ASFV. To our knowledge, this study represents the first instance of a living organism engineered via germline editing to assess resistance to ASFV infection using a CRISPR-Cas system. Our findings contribute valuable insights to guide the future design of enhanced viral immunity strategies.IMPORTANCEASFV is currently a devastating disease with no effective vaccine or treatment available. Our study introduces a multiplexed CRISPR-Cas system targeting nine specific loci in the ASFV genome. This innovative approach successfully inhibits ASFV replication in vitro, and we have successfully engineered pig strains to express this anti-ASFV CRISPR-Cas system constitutively. Despite not observing survival advantages in these transgenic pigs upon ASFV challenges, we did note a delay in infection in some cases. To the best of our knowledge, this study constitutes the first example of a germline-edited animal with an anti-virus CRISPR-Cas system. These findings contribute to the advancement of future anti-viral strategies and the optimization of viral immunity technologies.

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