Quantifying Genome-Editing Outcomes at Endogenous Loci with SMRT Sequencing

Abstract

Targeted genome editing with engineered nucleases has transformed the ability to introduce precise sequence modifications at almost any site within the genome. A major obstacle to probing the efficiency and consequences of genome editing is that no existing method enables the frequency of different editing events to be simultaneously measured across a cell population at any endogenous genomic locus. We have developed a method for quantifying individual genome-editing outcomes at any site of interest with single-molecule real-time (SMRT) DNA sequencing. We show that this approach can be applied at various loci using multiple engineered nuclease platforms, including transcription-activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), RNA-guided endonucleases (CRISPR/Cas9), and zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), and in different cell lines to identify conditions and strategies in which the desired engineering outcome has occurred. This approach offers a technique for studying double-strand break repair, facilitates the evaluation of gene-editing technologies, and permits sensitive quantification of editing outcomes in almost every experimental system used.