CRISPR-CAS EFFECTOR POLYPEPTIDES AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF (“Cas-VariPhi”)

Patent Status

Brief Description

CRISPR-Cas systems include Cas proteins, which are involved in acquisition, targeting and

cleavage of foreign DNA or RNA, and a guide RNA(s), which includes a segment that binds Cas proteins and a segment that binds to a target nucleic acid. For example, Class 2 CRISPR-Cas systems comprise a single Cas protein bound to a guide RNA, where the Cas protein binds to and cleaves a targeted nucleic acid. The programmable nature of these systems has facilitated their use as a versatile technology for use in modification of target nucleic acid.

UC Berkeley researchers have discovered a novel family of proteins (CasVariPhi) that utilize a guide RNA to perform RNA-directed cleavage of nucleic acids. Viral and microbial (cellular) genomes were assembled from a variety of environmental and animal microbiome sources, and variants of a novel and previously unknown Cas protein family were uncovered from the sequences decoded. 

Suggested uses

• gene editing of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic cells
• transcription repression of specific genes using inactivated CasVariPhi
• targeting of proteins bound to CasVariPhi to a specific locus of a genome
• diagnostic applications via trans-cleavage activity