Part:BBa_K1150019

uniCAS Activator (SV40 promoter)

[SV40] Cas9-VP16
Function	gene activation
Use in	Mammalian cells
RFC standard	RFC 10, RFC 25 compatible
Backbone	pSB1C3
Submitted by	[http://2013.igem.org/Team:Freiburg Freiburg 2013]

The Freiburg iGEM team 2013 designed a fusion protein consisting of Cas9 and VP16 for sequence-specific transactivation of a desired target locus. Therefore, we used our double mutated Cas9 (BBa_K1150000 ) impaired in its cleavage activity and fused it -to the 5’ end of the sequence coding for the transactivation domain of VP16 (BBa_K1150001 ). To ensure nuclear localization of the whole expressed construct a nuclear localization signal (NLS) was fused to the 5’ end of Cas9-VP16. For detection of protein expression the whole construct was tagged with a HA-epitope coding sequence (BBaa_K1150016) and its expression was set under control of the SV40 promoter (BBa_K1150011) and BGH terminator (BBa_K1150012). Figure 1 illustrates the detailed design of the whole device.

Fig. 1: Construct design.Cas9 was fused via a 3 amino acid linker to VP16. The resulting fusion construct was flanked by NLS sequences and tagged by a HA epitope. The SV40 promoter and BGH terminator were chosen to control gene expression.

By co-transfecting a RNA plasmid (BBa_K1150034) which includes the tracrRNA and a separately integrated, desired crRNA, the Cas9 specifically binds to the targeted DNA sequence. With the help of the transactivation domain of VP16, transcription factors are recruited and the pre-initiation complex can be built. By targeting this construct upstream of a promotor regionany gene of interest can be activated.

Fig. 2: Principle of transactivation of mammalian gene expression by the fusion protein Cas9-VP19 (BBa_K1150019). The double mutated Cas9 (D10A; H840A) fused to the herpes simplex virus (HSV) derived VP16 activation domain can serve as a crRNA-guided DNA-binding and transactivating protein. If a PAM sequence is present at the 5’ end of the crRNA binding site almost any DNA sequence can be targeted. Abbr.: Pmin: minimal promoter, containing minimal requirements for binding of transcription factors; Cas9: CRISPR associated protein 9; crRNA: CRISPR RNA; tracrRNA: trans-activating RNA; VP16: Virus protein 16, herpes simplex virus (HSV)-derived transcriptional activator protein; PAM: protospacer adjacent motif.

Usage and Biology

For testing this device we used HEK-293T cells, which were seeded at a densitiy of 65000 cells/well in 24-well plates. After 24 hours RNA plasmids targeted against the indicated loci and the referring reporter plasmids containing the gene coding for a secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) under the control of a CMV minimal promoter were co-transfected to this device. 48 hours post transfection the activity of the secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) in the cell culture medium was measured. Additionally, the Cas9-VP16 expression was assessed by Western blot analysis of cell lysates. Different crRNAs were tested and compared for their activation properties of the referring reporter plasmid.

Proof of function

With BBa_K1150019 different target loci have been tested by the usage of a SEAP reporter plasmid with a minimal CMV promotor. The target sites can be determined by directing the crRNA consisting of 30 bp length against the desired sequence of interest. T2 (BBa_K1150035) and EMXI (BBa_K1150040) with target sites at different distances to the promotor regions proved successfully as potential activation sides, see Table 1 and Figure 2.

Table 1: Overview of the tested crRNAs with different binding sites on the SEAP plasmid.

Figure 2: Position of the target loci on the SEAP plasmid.

To quantify the activation properties of Cas9-VP16 (BBa_K1150019) the amount of SEAP expression was measured and compared to the basis-SEAP-level expressed by the CMVmin promotor. Each sample was measured in biological triplicates. The results are listed in Figure 3. By simultaniously using the EMXI and T2 loci an approximately 18-fold increase in SEAP production could be determined.

Figure 3: Results of the SEAP-activation with Cas-VP16 under the SV40 promotor using different crRNAs.

Table

Proof of expression

With the help of the HA-tag we performed Western blots to verify the expression of BBa_K1150019 and to estimate its expression rate.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]

  Illegal BglII site found at 664
  
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]