University of Michigan and ATGC published a paper titled “MiCas9 increases large size gene knock-in rates and reduces undesirable on-target and off-target indel edits” in Nature Communications. mi-Cas9 is a novel gene editing enzyme created by fusing the wildtype spCas9 with minimal RAD51 recruiting domain. In comparison to spCas9, miCas9 enhances double-stranded DNA mediated large size gene knock-in rates, systematically reduces off-target insertion and deletion events, maintains or increases single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides mediated precise gene editing rates, and effectively reduces on-target insertion and deletion rates in knock-in applications. It was also demonstrated that this fusion motif can work as a “plug and play” module, compatible and synergistic with other Cas9 variants. MiCas9 and the minimal fusion motif may find broad applications in gene editing research and therapeutics. The project was funded by a NIH Phase I STTR grant funded to ATGC Inc.
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