ABSTRACT
The zebrafish is an increasingly popular model organism for human genetic disease research. CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches are currently used for multiple gene-editing purposes in zebrafish, but few studies have developed reliable ways to introduce precise mutations. Point mutation knock-in using CRISPR/Cas9 and single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (ssODNs) is currently the most promising technology for this purpose. Despite some progress in applying this technique to zebrafish, there is still a great need for improvements in terms of its efficiency, optimal design of sgRNA and ssODNs and broader applicability. The papers discussed in this Editorial provide excellent case studies on identifying problems inherent in the mutation knock-in technique, quantifying these issues and proposing strategies to overcome them. These reports also illustrate how the procedures for introducing specific mutations can be straightforward, such that ssODNs with only the target mutation are sufficient for generating the intended knock-in animals. Two of the studies also develop interesting point mutant knock-in models for cardiac diseases, validating the translational relevance of generating knock-in mutations and opening the door to many possibilities for their further study.
- © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Article navigation
Related articles
Cited by...
More in this TOC section
Similar articles
Subject collections
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
DMM and COVID-19
We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on researchers worldwide. The Editors of all The Company of Biologists’ journals have been considering ways in which we can alleviate concerns that members of our community may have around publishing activities during this time. Read about the actions we are taking at this time.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Editorial Office if you have any questions or concerns.
Monica Justice bids farewell to DMM
In her farewell Editorial, outgoing Editor-in-Chief Monica Justice reminds us of the past half-decade of growth and of DMM's commitment to support the disease modelling community, concluding, “The knowledge and experience I gained during my time as Senior Editor and EiC at DMM is invaluable: working within a not-for-profit community publishing environment is a joy.”
3D imaging of beta cell mass in diabetic mouse models
In their inducible mouse model of diabetes, Roostalu et al. demonstrate how quantitative light-sheet imaging can capture changes in individual islets to help pharmacological research in diabetes.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch more videos from DMM, our sister journals and the Company.
Modelling Joubert syndrome patient-derived mutations in C. elegans
In this issue’s Editor’s choice, Karen Lange and colleagues used C. elegans to model and characterise two patient-derived mutations that cause the ciliopathy Joubert syndrome.
Interview – Karen Lange
First author of our current Editor’s choice, Karen Lange takes us behind the scenes of the paper, and shares her thoughts on how the lack of both time and job security will impact her research.