小柯机器人

美国格莱斯顿数据科学与生物技术研究所Seth L. Shipman小组，利用CRISPR添加逆转录酶条形码记录DNA中的基因表达顺序。2022年7月27日出版的《自然》发表了这项成果。

研究人员研发了一种分子系统，实现将活细胞中基因组的转录按时间顺序记录。研究人员通过基于原核生物逆转录酶的工程化RNA条形码来做到这一点，这些RNA条形码被逆转录成DNA并通过CRISPR-Cas系统整合到基因组中。CRISPR整合酶对条形码的单向整合能够通过简单的逻辑规则并基于物理记录重建转录事件顺序，而不是依赖于预训练的分类器或事后推理方法。为了消除可能产生的歧义，研究人员将此系统命名为Retro-Cascorder。

据了解，生物过程依赖于基因随时间的差异表达，但对这些过程进行物理记录的方法十分有限。

附：英文原文

Title: Recording gene expression order in DNA by CRISPR addition of retron barcodes

Author: Bhattarai-Kline, Santi, Lear, Sierra K., Fishman, Chloe B., Lopez, Santiago C., Lockshin, Elana R., Schubert, Max G., Nivala, Jeff, Church, George M., Shipman, Seth L.

Issue&Volume: 2022-07-27

Abstract: Biological processes depend on the differential expression of genes over time, but methods to make physical recordings of these processes are limited. Here we report a molecular system for making time-ordered recordings of transcriptional events into living genomes. We do this through engineered RNA barcodes, based on prokaryotic retrons1, that are reverse transcribed into DNA and integrated into the genome using the CRISPR–Cas system2. The unidirectional integration of barcodes by CRISPR integrases enables reconstruction of transcriptional event timing based on a physical record through simple, logical rules rather than relying on pretrained classifiers or post hoc inferential methods. For disambiguation in the field, we will refer to this system as a Retro-Cascorder.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04994-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04994-6

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html