We present a protocol for CRISPR-based modular assembly (CRISPRmass), a method for high-throughput construction of UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library in Drosophila using publicly available cDNA/ORF resources. CRISPRmass can be applied to editing various plasmid libraries.
Functional genomics screening offers a powerful approach to probe gene function and relies on the construction of genome-wide plasmid libraries. Conventional approaches for plasmid library construction are time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, we recently developed a simple and efficient method, CRISPR-based modular assembly (CRISPRmass), for high-throughput construction of a genome-wide upstream activating sequence-complementary DNA/open reading frame (UAS-cDNA/ORF) plasmid library. Here, we present a protocol for CRISPRmass, taking as an example the construction of a GAL4/UAS-based UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library. The protocol includes massively parallel two-step test tube reactions followed by bacterial transformation. The first step is to linearize the existing complementary DNA (cDNA) or open reading frame (ORF) cDNA or ORF library plasmids by cutting the shared upstream vector sequences adjacent to the 5' end of cDNAs or ORFs using CRISPR/Cas9 together with single guide RNA (sgRNA), and the second step is to insert a UAS module into the linearized cDNA or ORF plasmids using a single step reaction. CRISPRmass allows the simple, fast, efficient, and cost-effective construction of various plasmid libraries. The UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library can be utilized for gain-of-function screening in cultured cells and for constructing a genome-wide transgenic UAS-cDNA/ORF library in Drosophila.
Unbiased whole-genome genetic screening is a powerful approach for identifying genes involved in a given biological process and elucidating its mechanism. Therefore, it is widely used in various fields of biological research. Approximately 60% of Drosophila genes are conserved in humans1,2, and ~75% of human disease genes have homologs in Drosophila3. Genetic screening is mainly divided into two types: loss of function (LOF) and gain of function (GOF). LOF genetic screens in Drosophila have played a critical role in elucidating mechanisms that govern nearly every aspect of biology. However, the majority of Drosophila genes do not have obvious LOF phenotypes4, and therefore, GOF screening is an important method for studying the function of those genes4,5.
The binary GAL4/UAS system is commonly used for tissue-specific gene expression in Drosophila6. In this system, the tissue specifically expresses yeast transcription activator GAL4 that binds to the GAL4 responsive element (UAS) and thereby activates transcription of the downstream genetic components (e.g., cDNA and ORF)6. To perform genome-wide GOF screens in Drosophila, we need to construct a genome-wide UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library and, subsequently, a transgenic UAS-cDNA/ORF library in Drosophila.
Construction of a genome-wide UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library by conventional methods from publicly available cDNA/ORF clones is time-consuming and laborious, as every gene requires individualized designs, including primer design and synthesis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gel purification, sequencing, restriction digestion, and so on7,8. Therefore, the construction of such a plasmid library is a rate-limiting step in creating a genome-wide transgenic UAS-cDNA/ORF library in Drosophila. Recently, we successfully solved this problem by developing a novel method, CRISPR-based modular assembly (CRISPRmass)9. The core of CRISPRmass is to manipulate the shared vector sequences of a plasmid library through a combination of gene editing technology and seamless cloning technology.
Here, we present a protocol for CRISPRmass, which includes massively parallel two-step test tube reactions followed by bacterial transformation. CRISPRmass is a simple, fast, efficient, and cost-effective method that, in principle, can be used for high-throughput construction of various plasmid libraries.
CRISPRmass strategy
The procedure of CRISPRmass starts with parallel two-step test tube reactions prior to Escherichia coli (E. coli) transformation (Figure 1). Step 1 is the cleavage of the identical vector backbones of the cDNA/ORF plasmids by Cas9/sgRNA. An ideal cleavage site is adjacent to the 5′ end of cDNA/ORF. The cleavage products do not have to be purified. Step 2 is the insertion of a vector-specific UAS module into the Cas9/sgRNA linearized cDNA/ORF plasmids by Gibson assembly (hereafter referred to as single step reaction), resulting in UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmids. The 5′ and 3′ terminal sequences of a UAS module overlap with those of the linearized cDNA/ORF plasmids, enabling the single step reaction.
The single step reaction products are directly subjected to E. coli transformation. Theoretically, only the desired UAS-cDNA/ORF colonies can grow on Luria-Bertani (LB) plates that contain selection antibiotics corresponding to the antibiotic resistance gene of the UAS module. The UAS module is composed of a core UAS module, an antibiotic resistance gene distinct from that of cDNA or ORF plasmids, and the 5′ and 3′ terminal sequences. A core UAS module comprises 10 copies of UAS, an Hsp70 minimal promoter, an attB sequence for phiC31-mediated genomic integration, and a mini-white transformation marker for Drosophila7.
1. Determination of optimal Cas9/sgRNA cleavage site upstream of cDNA/ORF
2. Construction of a UAS module
NOTE: A UAS module comprises a core UAS and around 20-40 bp of the 5′ and 3′ terminal sequences overlapping with 5′ and 3′ ends of the backbone cleavage site, respectively (Figure 1). The 5′ and 3′ terminal sequences of the UAS module are determined by the backbone cleavage site of the pOT2 vector.
3. Large-scale construction of UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmids by CRISPRmass
NOTE: CRISPRmass is standardized as massively parallel two-step test tube reactions prior to E. coli transformation (Figure 1).
We applied CRISPRmass to generate a genome-wide UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library using 3402 cDNA/ORF clones bearing pOT2 vector backbone from the DGRC Gold Collection. We randomly analyzed only one colony for each UAS-cDNA/ORF construct, and subsequent restriction analysis with PstI indicated that 98.6% of UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs were created successfully9. The rationale for using PstI for restriction analysis of UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs bearing pOT2 vector backbone is as follows. There are two PstI sites in the UAS module for the pOT2 vector-based cDNA/ORF clones, and there is a PstI site in the pOT2 vector backbone. Thereby, digestion of a pOT2 vector-based UAS-cDNA/ORF construct with PstI yields a 408 bp UAS module-specific fragment and a 5649 bp UAS module-vector assembly-specific fragment. The 408 bp and 5649 bp PstI fragments indicate that UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs for pOT2 vector-based cDNA/ORF clones are created successfully, and the representative results are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 1: Flowchart of UAS-cDNA/ORF library construction using CRISPRmass. The CRISPRmass pipeline for construction of a UAS-cDNA/ORF library. (1) The first step test tube reaction. The identical vector backbones of cDNA/ORF plasmids are cleaved by Cas9/sgRNA. The cleavage site is in vector backbones adjacent upstream of the cDNA/ORF 5′ end. The cleavage products, without purification, are directly subjected to the second step of the test tube reaction. The sgRNAs used in cleavage reactions are prepared by in vitro transcription and can be used directly without purification. Then, 28-40 bp of the 5′ end of the cleavage site (yellow box) is defined as 5′ end overlap and 28-40 bp of the 3′ end of the cleavage site (red box) is defined as 3′ end overlap. The vector backbone carries the antibiotic A resistance gene (green box). (2) The second step is the test tube reaction. A vector specific UAS module is joined into the Cas9-linearized cDNA/ORF plasmids right upstream of the cDNA/ORF5′ end through single step reaction assembly, resulting in UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs. Single step reaction assembly products are directly subjected to E. coli transformation. Transformants are selected on LB agar plates containing antibiotic B corresponding to the antibiotic B resistance gene (brown box) of the vector specific UAS module. Only the desired UAS-cDNA/ORF colonies can grow. A UAS module comprises 10 copies of UAS, an Hsp70 minimal promoter, an attB sequence for phiC31-mediated genomic integration, a mini-white transformation marker for Drosophila transgenesis, a selectable antibiotic B resistance gene for positive selection, and the 5′ end overlap and 3′ end overlap enabling single step reaction assembly. Single step reaction assembly filters out any potential off-target DNA cleavages caused by CRISPR/Cas9. This figure has been modified from9. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: Evaluation of sgRNAs targeting specific regions of pOT2 vector backbone by in vitro Cas9 cleavage analysis. The underlined sgRNAs are selected for CRISPRmass. M is the DNA marker. This figure has been modified from9. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: Restriction analysis of 20 UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs generated by CRISPRmass. The constructs were analyzed by PstI digestion. The expected restriction patterns for all the UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs were observed. M is the DNA marker. This figure has been modified from9. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Supplementary File 1: Construction of pCR8GW-Amp-W-attB-UAS-Hsp70 plasmid. The pOT2 vector-specific UAS module containing plasmid pCR8GW-Amp-W-attB-UAS-Hsp70 is constructed based on three plasmids, pMartini-Amp, pBS-attB-UAS-Hsp70, and pCR8GW-Amp-attB-UAS-Hsp70. Please click here to download this File.
The most critical steps of CRISPRmass are the design of sgRNAs and the evaluation of sgRNAs. Selection of highly efficient sgRNAs for Cas9 is key to the success of CRISPRmass. If very few or no colonies are observed on the majority of antibiotic-containing LB plates after the transformation of E. coli with single-step reaction assembly products, check plasmid digestion by agarose gel electrophoresis. If plasmids are not well digested, check Cas9 activity, sgRNA degradation and plasmid quality; if plasmids are well digested, check single step reaction assembly reagents and make sure the transformation efficiency of competent cells is at least 1 x 108 cfu/µg of pUC19 DNA. Noteworthily, using an aluminum cooling block can ease large-scale bacterial transformation.
The limitations of CRISPRmass arise from its manipulation and incorporation of vector backbone sequences, which limits the possibility of tagging the cDNAs and ORFs at either 5' or 3' end.
Unlike all the other existing methods7,8, CRISPRmass manipulates and incorporates vector backbone sequences9. Thus, once UAS modules are designed and prepared, CRISPRmass needs no individualized design or manipulation for every single plasmid but massively parallel two step test-tube reactions prior to bacterial transformation, obviating PCR, and its related manipulations. Furthermore, both the in vitro transcribed sgRNAs and single step reaction assembly products do not need to be purified for the subsequent experiments. Compared to Gateway cloning technology, CRISPRmass is more suitable for generating UAS-cDNA/ORF constructs, particularly from long or GC-rich cDNAs/ORFs, as CRISPRmass does not PCR amplify the cDNAs or ORFs themselves9.
CRISPRmass can be used for the high-throughput construction of a UAS-cDNA/ORF plasmid library as well as for editing various genome-wide plasmid libraries. CRISPRmass can be applied to the construction of an expression plasmid library by insertion of a CMV promoter into the shared vector sequences adjacent to the 5' end of cDNAs or ORFs. CRISPRmass promises to accelerate the development of functional genomics.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071135 and 31471010), the Shanghai Pujiang Program (14PJ1405900), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (19ZR1446400).
Aluminum Cooling Block | Aikbbio | ADMK-0296 | To perform bacterial transformation |
DEPC-Treated Water | Invitrogen | AM9906 | |
Gel Extraction Kit | Omega | D2500 | To purify DNA from agarose gel |
Gel Imaging System | Tanon | 2500B | |
HiScribe T7 Quick High Yield RNA Synthesis Kit | NEB | E2050 | |
NEBuilder HiFi DNA Assembly Master Mix | NEB | E2621 | |
Plasmid Mini Kit | Omega | D6943 | To isolate plasmid DNA from bacterial cells |
Q5 Hot Start High-Fidelity 2x Master Mix | NEB | M0494 | |
S. pyogenes Cas9 | GenScript | Z03386 | |
Shaking Incubator | Shanghai Zhichu | ZQLY-180V | |
T series Multi-Block Thermal Cycler | LongGene | T20 | To perform PCR |
Trans10 Chemically Competent Cell | TranGen BioTech | CD101 | |
Ultraviolet spectrophotometer | Shimadzu | BioSpec-nano | To measure concentration of DNA or RNA |