Engineering an optimized hypercompact CRISPR/Cas12j-8 system for efficient genome editing in plants.

ABSTRACT: The Cas12j-8 nuclease, derived from the type V CRISPR system, is approximately half the size of Cas9 and recognizes a 5'-TTN-3' protospacer adjacent motif sequence, thus potentially having broad application in genome editing for crop improvement. However, its editing efficiency remains low in plants. In this study, we rationally engineered both the crRNA and the Cas12j-8 nuclease. The engineered crRNA and Cas12j-8 markedly improved genome editing efficiency in plants. When combined, they exhibited robust editing activity in soybean and rice, enabling the editing of target sites that were previously uneditable. Notably, for certain target sequences, the editing activity was comparable to that of SpCas9 when targeting identical sequences, and it outperformed the Cas12j-2 variant, nCas12j-2,

SUBMITTER: Bai S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11933828 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature