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A Photolabile Semiconducting Polymer Nanotransducer for Near‐Infrared Regulation of CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing
Author(s) -
Lyu Yan,
He Shasha,
Li Jingchao,
Jiang Yuyan,
Sun He,
Miao Yansong,
Pu Kanyi
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201909264
Subject(s) - crispr , cas9 , genome editing , gene , plasmid , polyethylenimine , genetic enhancement , computational biology , regulation of gene expression , chemistry , biology , transfection , genetics
Abstract Noninvasive regulation of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing is conducive to understanding of gene function and development of gene therapy; however, it remains challenging. Herein, a photolabile semiconducting polymer nanotransducer (pSPN) is synthesized to act as the gene vector to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids into cells and also as the photoregulator to remotely activate gene editing. pSPN comprises a 1 O 2 ‐generating backbone grafted with polyethylenimine brushes through 1 O 2 ‐cleavable linkers. NIR photoirradiation spontaneously triggers the cleavage of gene vectors from pSPN, resulting in the release of CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids and subsequently initiating gene editing. This system affords 15‐ and 1.8‐fold enhancement in repaired gene expression relative to the nonirradiated controls in living cells and mice, respectively. As this approach does not require any specific modifications on biomolecular components, pSPN represents the first generic nanotransducer for in vivo regulation of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.