Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-assisted gene targeting enables rapid and precise genetic manipulation of mammalian neural stem cells

Abstract

Mammalian neural stem cell (NSC) lines provide a tractable model for discovery across stem cell and developmental biology, regenerative medicine and neuroscience. They can be derived from foetal or adult germinal tissues and continuously propagated <i>in vitro</i> as adherent monolayers. NSCs are clonally expandable, genetically stable, and easily transfectable - experimental attributes compatible with targeted genetic manipulations. However, gene targeting, which is crucial for functional studies of embryonic stem cells, has not been exploited to date in NSC lines. Here, we deploy CRISPR/Cas9 technology to demonstrate a variety of sophisticated genetic modifications via gene targeting in both mouse and human NSC lines, including: (1) efficient targeted transgene insertion at safe harbour loci (<i>Rosa26</i> and <i>AAVS1</i>); (2) biallelic knockout of neurodevelopmental transcription factor genes; (3) simple knock-in of epitope tags and fluorescent reporters (e.g. <i>Sox2-V5</i> and <i>Sox2-mCherry</i>); and (4) engineering of glioma mutations (<i>TP53</i> deletion; <i>H3F3A</i> point mutations). These resources and optimised methods enable facile and scalable genome editing in mammalian NSCs, providing significant new opportunities for functional genetic analysis.