Enhancing gene transfer to renal tubules and podocytes by context-dependent selection of AAV capsids.

AAV vectors show promise for gene therapy; however, kidney gene transfer remains challenging. Here we conduct a barcode-seq-based comparison of 47 AAV capsids administered through different routes in mice, followed by individual validation. We find that local delivery of AAV-KP1, but not AAV9, via the renal vein or pelvis effectively transduces proximal tubules with minimal off-target liver transduction, while systemic AAV9, but not AAV-KP1, enhances proximal tubule and podocyte transduction in chronic kidney disease.

Genomic loss of GPR108 disrupts AAV transduction in birds.

The G protein-coupled receptor 108 () gene encodes a protein factor identified as critical for adeno-associated virus (AAV) entry into mammalian cells, but whether it is universally involved in AAV transduction is unknown. Remarkably, we have discovered that is absent in the genomes of birds and in most other sauropsids, providing a likely explanation for the overall lower AAV transduction efficacy of common AAV serotypes in birds compared to mammals. Importantly, transgenic expression of human and manipulation of related glycan binding sites in the viral capsid significantly boost AAV transduction in zebra finch cells.

In vivo tracing of the Cytokeratin 14 lineages using self-cleaving guide RNAs and CRISPR/Cas9.

The current gold-standard for genetic lineage tracing in transgenic mice is based on cell-type specific expression of Cre recombinase. As an alternative, we developed a cell-type specific CRISPR/spCas9 system for lineage tracing. This method relies on RNA polymerase II promoter driven self-cleaving guide RNAs (scgRNA) to achieve tissue-specificity.

The Development of an AAV-Based CRISPR SaCas9 Genome Editing System That Can Be Delivered to Neurons and Regulated via Doxycycline and Cre-Recombinase.

The RNA-guided Cas9 nuclease, from the type II prokaryotic clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) adaptive immune system, has been adapted by scientists to enable site specific genome editing of eukaryotic cells both and . Previously, we reported the development of an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated CRISPR (Sp) Cas9 system, in which the genome editing function can be regulated by controlling the expression of the guide RNA (sgRNA) in a doxycycline (Dox)-dependent manner. Here, we report the development of an AAV vector tool kit utilizing the Cas9 from (SaCas9).