Characterization of diverse Cas9 orthologs for genome and epigenome editing.

CRISPR-Cas9 systems have revolutionized biotechnology, creating diverse new opportunities for biomedical research and therapeutic genome and epigenome editing. Despite the abundance of bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 systems, relatively few are effective in human cells, limiting the overall potential of CRISPR technology. To expand the CRISPR-Cas toolbox, we characterized a set of type II CRISPR-Cas9 systems from select bacterial genera and species encoding diverse Cas9s.

Towards Scalable Biomarker Discovery in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Triangulating Genomic and Phenotypic Evidence from a Health System Biobank.

Importance: Biomarkers can potentially improve the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, PTSD biomarkers that are scalable and easily integrated into real-world clinical settings have not been identified.

Objective: To triangulate phenotypic and genomic evidence from a health system biobank with a goal of identifying scalable and clinically relevant biomarkers for PTSD.

Alkane Monooxygenase (FtAlkB) Is an Alkyl Fluoride Dehalogenase.

Purified alkane monooxygenase (AlkB) from (FtAlkB) catalyzes the defluorination of 1-fluorooctane, producing octanal, which is partially reduced under the reaction conditions to generate 1-octanol. This reaction occurs preferentially at the monofluorinated methyl group, with only a minor amount of oxidation at the nonfluorinated end of the molecule. The dehalogenation chemistry is specific to 1-fluorooctane, as neither 1-chlorooctane or 1-bromooctane are dehalogenated to an appreciable extent.