Part:BBa_K3168000

Cas9 (CRISPR associated protein 9) is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease which is part of the CRISPR-immune system of bacteria such as Streptococcus pyogenes. This endonuclease is used a lot in research to facilitate efficient genome engineering (Ran, 2013). Cas9 can target any sequence by simply specifying a 20 nucleotide targeting sequencing within the guide RNA. dCas9 is a ‘dead’ variant of Cas9, because it does not have its endonuclease activity. This means that dCas9 binds dsDNA but does not cut the DNA, because of mutations in the RuvC1 and HNH nuclease domains (Park, 2017). Furthermore, this part does not include a stop codon, so fusion proteins can be made by combining parts.