One-step efficient generation of dual-function conditional knockout and geno-tagging alleles in zebrafish

  1. Wenyuan Li
  2. Yage Zhang
  3. Bingzhou Han
  4. Lianyan Li
  5. Muhang Li
  6. Xiaochan Lu
  7. Cheng Chen
  8. Mengjia Lu
  9. Yujie Zhang
  10. Xuefeng Jia
  11. Zuoyan zhu
  12. Xiangjun Tong
  13. Bo Zhang  Is a corresponding author
  1. Peking University, China
  2. Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, China
  3. Gcrispr (Tianjin) Genetic Technology, China

Abstract

CRISPR/Cas systems are widely used to knockout genes by inducing indel mutations, which are prone to genetic compensation. Complex genome modifications such as knockin (KI) might bypass compensation, though difficult to practice due to low efficiency. Moreover, no 'two-in-one' KI strategy combining conditional knockout (CKO) with fluorescent gene-labeling or further allele-labeling has been reported. Here, we developed a dual-cassette-donor strategy and achieved one-step and efficient generation of dual-function KI alleles at tbx5a and kctd10 loci in zebrafish via targeted insertion. These alleles display fluorescent gene-tagging and CKO effects before and after Cre induction, respectively. By introducing a second fluorescent reporter, geno-tagging effects were achieved at tbx5a and sox10 loci, exhibiting CKO coupled with fluorescent reporter switch upon Cre induction, enabling tracing of three distinct genotypes. We found that LiCl purification of gRNA is critical for highly efficient KI, and preselection of founders allows the efficient germline recovery of KI events.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Wenyuan Li

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Yage Zhang

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Bingzhou Han

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Lianyan Li

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Muhang Li

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Xiaochan Lu

    School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Cheng Chen

    School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Mengjia Lu

    School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Yujie Zhang

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5038-1487
  10. Xuefeng Jia

    Gcrispr (Tianjin) Genetic Technology, Tianjin, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Zuoyan zhu

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Xiangjun Tong

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Bo Zhang

    College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    For correspondence
    bzhang@pku.edu.cn
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6436-5629

Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0801000)

  • Bo Zhang

National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0100500)

  • Bo Zhang

National Key Basic Research Program of China (2015CB942803)

  • Bo Zhang

National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671500)

  • Bo Zhang

National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871458)

  • Bo Zhang

National Natural Science Foundation of China (81371264)

  • Bo Zhang

PKU Qidong-SLS Innovation Fund

  • Bo Zhang

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Peking University. The reference from IACUC of Peking University is LSC-ZhangB-2.

Copyright

© 2019, Li et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 8,491
    views
  • 1,156
    downloads
  • 39
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Wenyuan Li
  2. Yage Zhang
  3. Bingzhou Han
  4. Lianyan Li
  5. Muhang Li
  6. Xiaochan Lu
  7. Cheng Chen
  8. Mengjia Lu
  9. Yujie Zhang
  10. Xuefeng Jia
  11. Zuoyan zhu
  12. Xiangjun Tong
  13. Bo Zhang
(2019)
One-step efficient generation of dual-function conditional knockout and geno-tagging alleles in zebrafish
eLife 8:e48081.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.48081

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.48081

Further reading

    1. Genetics and Genomics
    Shek Man Chim, Kristen Howell ... Regeneron Genetics Center
    Research Article

    Recent studies have revealed a role for zinc in insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis. Randomized placebo-controlled zinc supplementation trials have demonstrated improved glycemic traits in patients with type II diabetes (T2D). Moreover, rare loss-of-function variants in the zinc efflux transporter SLC30A8 reduce T2D risk. Despite this accumulated evidence, a mechanistic understanding of how zinc influences systemic glucose homeostasis and consequently T2D risk remains unclear. To further explore the relationship between zinc and metabolic traits, we searched the exome database of the Regeneron Genetics Center-Geisinger Health System DiscovEHR cohort for genes that regulate zinc levels and associate with changes in metabolic traits. We then explored our main finding using in vitro and in vivo models. We identified rare loss-of-function (LOF) variants (MAF <1%) in Solute Carrier Family 39, Member 5 (SLC39A5) associated with increased circulating zinc (p=4.9 × 10-4). Trans-ancestry meta-analysis across four studies exhibited a nominal association of SLC39A5 LOF variants with decreased T2D risk. To explore the mechanisms underlying these associations, we generated mice lacking Slc39a5. Slc39a5-/- mice display improved liver function and reduced hyperglycemia when challenged with congenital or diet-induced obesity. These improvements result from elevated hepatic zinc levels and concomitant activation of hepatic AMPK and AKT signaling, in part due to zinc-mediated inhibition of hepatic protein phosphatase activity. Furthermore, under conditions of diet-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), Slc39a5-/- mice display significantly attenuated fibrosis and inflammation. Taken together, these results suggest SLC39A5 as a potential therapeutic target for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) due to metabolic derangements including T2D.

    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
    Amy Tresenrider, Marcus Hooper ... Thomas A Reh
    Research Article

    Retinal degeneration in mammals causes permanent loss of vision, due to an inability to regenerate naturally. Some non-mammalian vertebrates show robust regeneration, via Muller glia (MG). We have recently made significant progress in stimulating adult mouse MG to regenerate functional neurons by transgenic expression of the proneural transcription factor Ascl1. While these results showed that MG can serve as an endogenous source of neuronal replacement, the efficacy of this process is limited. With the goal of improving this in mammals, we designed a small molecule screen using sci-Plex, a method to multiplex up to thousands of single-nucleus RNA-seq conditions into a single experiment. We used this technology to screen a library of 92 compounds, identified, and validated two that promote neurogenesis in vivo. Our results demonstrate that high-throughput single-cell molecular profiling can substantially improve the discovery process for molecules and pathways that can stimulate neural regeneration and further demonstrate the potential for this approach to restore vision in patients with retinal disease.