Design of Cas9 nucleases with reduced basal DNA binding and enhanced recombinase activity for human genome engineering

Cas9最近成为基因组工程的变革工具。该酶由短RNA引导与感兴趣的DNA序列配对并引入断裂。这种DNA断裂成为修复途径的底物：非同源末端连接或同源末端连接。HR的速率通常较低，限制了插入新DNA的效率。该项目旨在确定HR率有限的原因，并通过蛋白质工程提高这些比率。

Cas9 has recently emerged as a transformative tool for genome engineering. The enzyme is guided by a short RNA to pair with a DNA sequence of interest and to introduce a break. This DNA break becomes a substrate for repair pathways: Non-Homologous End-Joining or Homologous Recombination. The rate of HR is typically lower, limiting the efficiency of insertion of new DNA. The project aims to determine these reasons for limited rates of HR, and to improve these rates through protein engineering.