Novel off-Targeting Events Identified after Genome Wide Analysis of CRISPR-Cas Edited Pigs.

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas technology has transformed our ability to introduce targeted modifications, allowing unconventional animal models such as pigs to model human diseases and improve its value for food production. The main concern with using the technology is the possibility of introducing unwanted modifications in the genome. In this study, we illustrate a pipeline to comprehensively identify off-targeting events on a global scale in the genome of three different gene-edited pig models. Whole genome sequencing paired with an off-targeting prediction software tool filtered off-targeting events amongst natural variations present in gene-edited pigs. This pipeline confirmed two known off-targeting events in IGH knockout pigs, AR and RBFOX1, and identified other presumably off-targeted loci. Independent validation of the off-targeting events using other gene-edited DNA confirmed two novel off-targeting events in RAG2/IL2RG knockout pig models. This unique strategy offers a novel tool to detect off-targeting events in genetically heterogeneous species after genome editing.