Variant-aware saturating mutagenesis using multiple Cas9 nucleases identifies regulatory elements at trait-associated loci

Matthew C. Canver, Samuel Lessard, Luca Pinello, Yuxuan Wu, Yann Ilboudo, Emily N. Stern, Austen J. Needleman, Frédéric Galactéros, Carlo Brugnara, Abdullah Kutlar, Colin McKenzie, Marvin Reid, Diane D. Chen, Partha Pratim Das, Mitchel A Cole, Jing Zeng, Ryo Kurita, Yukio Nakamura, Guo Cheng Yuan, Guillaume LettreDaniel E. Bauer, Stuart H. Orkin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

76 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cas9-mediated, high-throughput, saturating in situ mutagenesis permits fine-mapping of function across genomic segments. Disease- and trait-associated variants identified in genome-wide association studies largely cluster at regulatory loci. Here we demonstrate the use of multiple designer nucleases and variant-aware library design to interrogate trait-associated regulatory DNA at high resolution. We developed a computational tool for the creation of saturating-mutagenesis libraries with single or multiple nucleases with incorporation of variants. We applied this methodology to the HBS1L-MYB intergenic region, which is associated with red-blood-cell traits, including fetal hemoglobin levels. This approach identified putative regulatory elements that control MYB expression. Analysis of genomic copy number highlighted potential false-positive regions, thus emphasizing the importance of off-target analysis in the design of saturating-mutagenesis experiments. Together, these data establish a widely applicable high-throughput and high-resolution methodology to identify minimal functional sequences within large disease- and trait-associated regions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)625-634
Number of pages10
JournalNature Genetics
Volume49
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 30 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Variant-aware saturating mutagenesis using multiple Cas9 nucleases identifies regulatory elements at trait-associated loci'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this