Editing the Genome Without Double-Stranded DNA Breaks.

ACS Chem Biol
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Genome editing methods have commonly relied on the initial introduction of double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs), resulting in stochastic insertions, deletions, and translocations at the target genomic locus. To achieve gene correction, these methods typically require the introduction of exogenous DNA repair templates and low-efficiency homologous recombination processes. In this review, we describe alternative, mechanistically motivated strategies to perform chemistry on the genome of unmodified cells without introducing DSBs. One such strategy, base editing, uses chemical and biological insights to directly and permanently convert one target base pair to another. Despite its recent introduction, base editing has already enabled a number of new capabilities and applications in the genome editing community. We summarize these advances here and discuss the new possibilities that this method has unveiled, concluding with a brief analysis of future prospects for genome and transcriptome editing without double-stranded DNA cleavage.

Year of Publication
2018
Journal
ACS Chem Biol
Volume
13
Issue
2
Pages
383-388
Date Published
2018 02 16
ISSN
1554-8937
DOI
10.1021/acschembio.7b00710
PubMed ID
28957631
PubMed Central ID
PMC5891729
Links
Grant list
Howard Hughes Medical Institute / United States
R01 EB022376 / EB / NIBIB NIH HHS / United States
R35 GM118062 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
RM1 HG009490 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States