1. Functional screening of guide RNAs targeting the regulatory and structural HIV-1 viral genome for a cure of AIDS.
- Author
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Yin C, Zhang T, Li F, Yang F, Putatunda R, Young WB, Khalili K, Hu W, and Zhang Y
- Subjects
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome therapy, Computational Biology, Genes, Reporter, Genome, Viral, Genotyping Techniques, HEK293 Cells, HIV-1 genetics, Humans, Luciferases analysis, Luciferases genetics, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Proviruses drug effects, Proviruses genetics, RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems genetics, Recombination, Genetic, Virus Latency drug effects, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome virology, Anti-HIV Agents metabolism, Biological Products metabolism, Gene Expression Regulation, Viral, Genetic Testing, HIV-1 drug effects, RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems metabolism
- Abstract
Objective: There is an urgent need for the development of HIV-1 genome eradication strategies that lead to a permanent cure for HIV-1/AIDS. We previously reported that four guide RNAs (gRNAs) targeting HIV-1 long terminal repeats (LTR) effectively eradicated the entire HIV-1 genome. In this study, we sought to identify the best gRNAs targeting HIV-1 LTR and viral structural region and optimize gRNA pairing that can efficiently eradicate the HIV-1 genome., Design: Highly specific gRNAs were designed using bioinformatics tools, and their capacity of guiding CRISPR-associated system 9 to cleave HIV-1 proviral DNA was evaluated using high-throughput HIV-1 luciferase reporter assay and rapid Direct-PCR genotyping., Methods: The target seed sequences for each gRNA were cloned into lentiviral vectors. HEK293T cells were cotransfected with a pEcoHIV-NL4-3-firefly-luciferase reporter vector (1 : 20) over lentiviral vectors carrying CRISPR-associated system 9 and single gRNA or various combinations of gRNAs. The EcoHIV DNA cleaving efficiency was evaluated by Direct-PCR genotyping, and the EcoHIV transcription/replication activity was examined by a luciferase reporter assay., Results: Most of the designed gRNAs are effective to eliminate the predicted HIV-1 genome sequence between the selected two target sites. This is evidenced by the presence of PCR genotypic deletion/insertion and the decrease of luciferase reporter activity. In particular, a combination of viral structural gRNAs with LTR gRNAs provided a higher efficiency of genome eradication and an easier approach for PCR genotyping., Conclusion: Our screening strategy can specifically and effectively identify gRNAs targeting HIV-1 LTR and structural region to excise proviral HIV-1 from the host genome.
- Published
- 2016
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