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CRISPR

The final cut: Cas9 editing

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 26, pages 669–670 (2019)Cite this article

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The ability of CRISPR-Cas9 to accurately and efficiently target and cleave any segment of double-stranded DNA based solely on the sequence of its loaded guide RNA has revolutionized genome editing. While many structural studies have shed light on the atomic details of DNA targeting, structures of the enzyme poised to perform catalysis have remained elusive. In this issue, Zhu, Clarke, Puppala et al. provide snapshots of the enzyme in action as it performs concerted cleavage of a target DNA1.

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Fig. 1: Snapshots of Cas9 in action.

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Acknowledgements

I thank M. O’Connell and S. Sternberg for critical reading of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    David W. Taylor

  2. Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    David W. Taylor

  3. Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    David W. Taylor

  4. LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes, Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA

    David W. Taylor

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Correspondence to David W. Taylor.

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D.W.T. is an inventor on a CRISPR-related patent.

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Taylor, D.W. The final cut: Cas9 editing. Nat Struct Mol Biol 26, 669–670 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-019-0267-1

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