Yinghui Wei, Pengfei Gao, Deng Pan, Guoling Li, Yufei Chen, Shangpu Li, Henan Jiang, Yang Yue, Zhenmin Wu, Zujiang Liu, Min Zhou, Yulin Chen, Kun Xu, Zhaowei Wu, Xiaolong Wang
{"title":"Engineering eukaryotic transposon-encoded Fanzor2 system for genome editing in mammals","authors":"Yinghui Wei, Pengfei Gao, Deng Pan, Guoling Li, Yufei Chen, Shangpu Li, Henan Jiang, Yang Yue, Zhenmin Wu, Zujiang Liu, Min Zhou, Yulin Chen, Kun Xu, Zhaowei Wu, Xiaolong Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41589-025-01902-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Eukaryotic transposon-encoded Fanzor proteins hold great promise for genome-engineering applications as a result of their compact size and mechanistic resemblance to TnpB. However, the unmodified Fanzor systems show extremely low activity in mammalian cells. Guided by the predicted structure of a Fanzor2 complex using AlphaFold3, we engineered the NlovFz2 nuclease and its cognate ωRNA to create an evolved enNlovFz2 system, with an expanded target-adjacent motif (TAM) recognition scope (5′-NMYG) and a substantially improved genome-editing efficiency, achieving an 11.1-fold increase over the wild-type NlovFz2, comparable to two previously reported IS200 or IS605 transposon-encoded TnpBs and two CRISPR–Cas12f1 nucleases. Notably, enNlovFz2 efficiently mediated gene disruption in mouse embryos and restored dystrophin expression in a humanized Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse model with single adeno-associated virus delivery. Our findings underscore the potential of eukaryotic RNA-guided Fanzor2 nucleases as a versatile toolbox for both biological research and therapeutic applications.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18832,"journal":{"name":"Nature chemical biology","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature chemical biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-025-01902-7","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Eukaryotic transposon-encoded Fanzor proteins hold great promise for genome-engineering applications as a result of their compact size and mechanistic resemblance to TnpB. However, the unmodified Fanzor systems show extremely low activity in mammalian cells. Guided by the predicted structure of a Fanzor2 complex using AlphaFold3, we engineered the NlovFz2 nuclease and its cognate ωRNA to create an evolved enNlovFz2 system, with an expanded target-adjacent motif (TAM) recognition scope (5′-NMYG) and a substantially improved genome-editing efficiency, achieving an 11.1-fold increase over the wild-type NlovFz2, comparable to two previously reported IS200 or IS605 transposon-encoded TnpBs and two CRISPR–Cas12f1 nucleases. Notably, enNlovFz2 efficiently mediated gene disruption in mouse embryos and restored dystrophin expression in a humanized Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse model with single adeno-associated virus delivery. Our findings underscore the potential of eukaryotic RNA-guided Fanzor2 nucleases as a versatile toolbox for both biological research and therapeutic applications.
期刊介绍：
Nature Chemical Biology stands as an esteemed international monthly journal, offering a prominent platform for the chemical biology community to showcase top-tier original research and commentary. Operating at the crossroads of chemistry, biology, and related disciplines, chemical biology utilizes scientific ideas and approaches to comprehend and manipulate biological systems with molecular precision.
The journal embraces contributions from the growing community of chemical biologists, encompassing insights from chemists applying principles and tools to biological inquiries and biologists striving to comprehend and control molecular-level biological processes. We prioritize studies unveiling significant conceptual or practical advancements in areas where chemistry and biology intersect, emphasizing basic research, especially those reporting novel chemical or biological tools and offering profound molecular-level insights into underlying biological mechanisms.
Nature Chemical Biology also welcomes manuscripts describing applied molecular studies at the chemistry-biology interface due to the broad utility of chemical biology approaches in manipulating or engineering biological systems. Irrespective of scientific focus, we actively seek submissions that creatively blend chemistry and biology, particularly those providing substantial conceptual or methodological breakthroughs with the potential to open innovative research avenues. The journal maintains a robust and impartial review process, emphasizing thorough chemical and biological characterization.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
