The cover image of the February issue of Current Protocols shows the CRISPR-Cas3 machinery as a locomotive moving along railway tracks (the genome), shredding DNA into pieces. Image credit: Valentine He.
CRISPR-Cas technology has revolutionized genome engineering by allowing programmable sequence alterations at targeted sites. However, current Cas9- and Cas12a-based CRISPR technologies are limited in their capacity to engineer large-scale edits. The February issue of Current Protocols includes a protocol for applying the Type I-E CRISPR-Cas3 system to create targeted large deletions in human cells. This strategy enables chromosomal deletions of up to 100 kilobases, paving the way for long-range genome manipulations, including full gene or chromosome deletions. Dr. Zhonggang Hou and Dr. Chunyi Hu (Cornell) are the paper’s first authors, and Dr. Yan Zhang and Dr. Ailong Ke (Cornell) are the corresponding authors.