Chromosome drives via CRISPR-Cas9 in yeast

Abstract Self-propagating drive systems are capable of causing non-Mendelian inheritance. Here, we report a drive system in yeast referred to as a chromosome drive that eliminates the target chromosome via CRISPR-Cas9, enabling the transmission of the desired chromosome. Our results show that the en...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hui Xu, Mingzhe Han, Shiyi Zhou, Bing-Zhi Li, Yi Wu, Ying-Jin Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2020-08-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18222-0
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Summary:Abstract Self-propagating drive systems are capable of causing non-Mendelian inheritance. Here, we report a drive system in yeast referred to as a chromosome drive that eliminates the target chromosome via CRISPR-Cas9, enabling the transmission of the desired chromosome. Our results show that the entire Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome can be eliminated efficiently through only one double-strand break around the centromere via CRISPR-Cas9. As a proof-of-concept experiment of this CRISPR-Cas9 chromosome drive system, the synthetic yeast chromosome X is completely eliminated, and the counterpart wild-type chromosome X harboring a green fluorescent protein gene or the components of a synthetic violacein pathway are duplicated by sexual reproduction. We also demonstrate the use of chromosome drive to preferentially transmit complex genetic traits in yeast. Chromosome drive enables entire chromosome elimination and biased inheritance on a chromosomal scale, facilitating genomic engineering and chromosome-scale genetic mapping, and extending applications of self-propagating drives.
ISSN:2041-1723