CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing in a reef-building coral

著者: Phillip A. Cleves, Marie E. Strader, Line K. Bay, John R. Pringle, Mikhail V. Matz - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS 2018 被引用: 168

Significance Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots of great ecological, economic, and aesthetic importance. Their global decline due to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors has increased the urgency to understand the molecular bases of various aspects of coral biology, including the interactions with algal symbionts and responses to stress. Recent genomic and transcriptomic studies have yielded many hypotheses about genes that may be important in such processes, but rigorous testing of these hypotheses will require the generation of mutations affecting these genes. Here, we demonstrate the efficient production of mutations in three target genes using the recently developed CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technique. By clarifying aspects of basic coral biology, such genetic approaches should also provide a more solid foundation for coral-conservation efforts.