Genetic engineering articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Adult expression of fetal haemoglobin is beneficial and thus desirable in patients with haemoglobin disorders. Here the authors introduce a naturally occurring mutation in the γ-globinpromoter and show that it causes binding of an activator TAL1, chromosome looping and revival of fetal haemoglobin expression in erythroid cells.

    • Beeke Wienert
    • , Alister P. W. Funnell
    •  & Merlin Crossley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Algae hold great promise for biofuel and chemical production but their use as model systems is hampered by the absence of suitable genetic tools. Here Karas et al. present a nuclear episomal vector for diatoms that is maintained in the absence of antibiotics, and a plasmid delivery method via conjugation with E. coli.

    • Bogumil J. Karas
    • , Rachel E. Diner
    •  & Philip D. Weyman

  • Article |

    Cell-type diversity results from a series of binary cell fate decisions. Here, Matsuda et al.find that cells engineered with a Notch/Delta lateral inhibition circuit spontaneously bifurcate into Notch-active and Delta-positive subpopulations that are robust at the individual and population levels.

    • Mitsuhiro Matsuda
    • , Makito Koga
    •  & Miki Ebisuya

  • Article |

    Genome editing has yet to be performed in non-bilaterian phyla. Here, Ikmi et al. develop techniques to use both TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 in the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, and further leverage a locus expressing an endogenous fluorescent protein as a landing site for homologous recombination-mediated transgenesis.

    • Aissam Ikmi
    • , Sean A. McKinney
    •  & Matthew C. Gibson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One challenge facing the use of programmable nucleases in genome engineering is the requirement for homologous recombination. Here, Nakade et al.harness microhomology-mediated end-joining as a means of inserting exogenous coding sequences into the genome using both TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 technologies.

    • Shota Nakade
    • , Takuya Tsubota
    •  & Ken-ichi T. Suzuki

  • Article |

    The fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is a valuable model organism, but the lack of a portable RNA Pol III promoter has prevented the implementation of the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Here the authors develop a CRISPR/Cas9 system that achieves selection-free specific mutagenesis with very high efficiencies in S. pombe.

    • Jake Z. Jacobs
    • , Keith M. Ciccaglione
    •  & Mikel Zaratiegui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Identifying miRNA response elements (MREs) within target mRNAs can be done computationally but the functional validation of putative MREs remains challenging. Here, Bassett et al. describe applications of genome engineering to target and assess the functional significance of MREs in different organisms and stages of development.

    • Andrew R. Bassett
    • , Ghows Azzam
    •  & Tudor A. Fulga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The control of cellular behaviour largely relies on genetic engineering, but artificial cells could be designed to control cell processes through chemical communication. Here, the authors develop an artificial cell that is able to translate a chemical message into a signal that can be sensed by E. coliand activate a cellular response.

    • Roberta Lentini
    • , Silvia Perez Santero
    •  & Sheref S. Mansy

  • Article |

    Diatoms are photosynthetic microalgae with underutilized biotechnological potential. Here, the authors carry out targeted gene modifications of lipid metabolism genes in the diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, resulting in a strain that exhibits a 45-fold increase in triacylglycerol accumulation.

    • Fayza Daboussi
    • , Sophie Leduc
    •  & Philippe Duchateau

  • Article |

    Genomic rearrangements have important functional consequences for cancer. Here, Choi and Meyerson use CRISPR/Cas technology to generate translocations and inversions that are known drivers of lung cancer, and demonstrate the utility of this technology for studying the role of genomic rearrangements in disease.

    • Peter S. Choi
    •  & Matthew Meyerson

  • Article |

    Colour changes in response to external stimuli are common in nature, from turkey skin to butterfly wings. Here, inspired by this behaviour, the authors have developed a sensor capable of providing an individual colour response to specific target chemicals using genetically engineered viruses.

    • Jin-Woo Oh
    • , Woo-Jae Chung
    •  & Seung-Wuk Lee

  • Article |

    Cas9 RNA-guided engineered nucleases (RGENs) induce site-specific DNA cleavages in cultured cells and organisms and are used widely as genome-editing tools. Here, the authors develop an RGEN-based technology to genotype both RGEN-induced mutations and cancer-associated mutations in human cell lines.

    • Jong Min Kim
    • , Daesik Kim
    •  & Jin-Soo Kim

  • Article |

    Genetically engineered mice are an important aspect of human disease research. Here, the authors use artificial transcription activator-like effector-nucleases to generate a mouse line with a conditionally targeted allele and suggest that this method can be easily adapted to any gene in the mouse genome.

    • Daniel Sommer
    • , Annika E. Peters
    •  & Marc Beyer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transport of DNA molecules across lipid membranes requires protein conduits such as the nuclear pore complex. Franceschiniet al.engineer an artificial sequence-selective DNA transporter by attaching gating oligonucleotides to a bacterial nanopore.

    • Lorenzo Franceschini
    • , Misha Soskine
    •  & Giovanni Maglia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are dimeric 'molecular scissors' that can be readily engineered for gene-targeting applications. Beurdeley et al. develop a single-chain TALEN architecture having significant in vivoactivity in yeast, plant and mammalian systems.

    • Marine Beurdeley
    • , Fabian Bietz
    •  & George H. Silva

  • Article |

    Bacterial type III secretion systems (T3SS) improve the delivery of vaccine antigens and antigen-specific immune responses but require the use of live vaccines. Carleton et al. report the assembly of a functional T3SS in replication-incompetent bacterial minicells that can deliver vaccine antigens in vitro and in vivo.

    • Heather A. Carleton
    • , María Lara-Tejero
    •  & Jorge E. Galán

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Genetic modification in insects mostly involves the use of fluorescent markers to identify successful transformation. Here Osanai-Futahashi et al.report a marker system based on changes in melanin pigmentation that allows the identification of genetically modified insects with the naked eye.

    • Mizuko Osanai-Futahashi
    • , Takahiro Ohde
    •  & Hideki Sezutsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of animal products as culture substrates for human embryonic stem cell and induced pluripotent stem cell culture raises numerous safety concerns in a therapeutic setting. Miyazaki et al.. show that minimal fragments of human laminins provide a more effective support for the culture of these cell types.

    • Takamichi Miyazaki
    • , Sugiko Futaki
    •  & Eihachiro Kawase

  • Article |

    Calcium-sensing fluorescent proteins such as TN-XXL are valuable tools for studying cellular function but, when expressed in mice, may affect animal physiology and behaviour. The authors of this paper create transgenic mice expressing TN-XXL and show that long-term expression of TN-XXL is tolerated well.

    • Stephan Direnberger
    • , Marsilius Mues
    •  & Oliver Griesbeck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Algae show much promise in the production of biofuels owing to their high photoautotrophic biomass and lipid production rates. In this study, the draft genome ofNannochloropsis gaditanaCCMP526 and a method for the transformation of this alga are reported, facilitating the investigation of lipid synthesis and biofuel production.

    • Randor Radakovits
    • , Robert E. Jinkerson
    •  & Matthew C. Posewitz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polo-like kinase 1 is a key regulator of mitosis and is a candidate for drug development to treat cancer. Here, reduced expression of polo-like kinase 1 in adult mice has a minor impact on animal physiology, suggesting that polo-like kinase 1 inhibitors may be useful in the killing of tumour cells while sparing normal cells.

    • Monika Raab
    • , Sven Kappel
    •  & Klaus Strebhardt

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