Investigating the potential of X chromosome shredding for mouse genetic biocontrol.

CRISPR-Cas9 technology has facilitated development of strategies that can potentially provide more humane and effective methods to control invasive vertebrate species, such as mice. One promising strategy is X chromosome shredding which aims to bias offspring towards males, resulting in a gradual and unsustainable decline of females. This method has been explored in insects with encouraging results.

Leveraging a natural murine meiotic drive to suppress invasive populations.

Invasive rodents are a major cause of environmental damage and biodiversity loss, particularly on islands. Unlike insects, genetic biocontrol strategies including population-suppressing gene drives with biased inheritance have not been developed in mice. Here, we demonstrate a gene drive strategy () that leverages super-Mendelian transmission of the haplotype to spread inactivating mutations in a haplosufficient female fertility gene ().

Optimized nickase- and nuclease-based prime editing in human and mouse cells.

Precise genomic modification using prime editing (PE) holds enormous potential for research and clinical applications. In this study, we generated all-in-one prime editing (PEA1) constructs that carry all the components required for PE, along with a selection marker. We tested these constructs (with selection) in HEK293T, K562, HeLa and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells.