Yang, H.*, Wang, H.*, Shivalila, C.S.*, Cheng, A.W., Shi, L., Jaenisch, R.#
Cell 154(6):1370-1379
Publication year: 2013

The type II bacterial CRISPR/Cas system is a novel genome-engineering technology with the ease of multiplexed gene targeting. Here, we created reporter and conditional mutant mice by coinjection of zygotes with Cas9 mRNA and different guide RNAs (sgRNAs) as well as DNA vectors of different sizes. Using this one-step procedure we generated mice carrying a tag or a fluorescent reporter construct in the Nanog, the Sox2, and the Oct4 gene as well as Mecp2conditional mutant mice. In addition, using sgRNAs targeting two separate sites in the Mecp2gene, we produced mice harboring the predicted deletions of about 700 bps. Finally, we analyzed potential off-targets of five sgRNAs in gene-modified mice and ESC lines and identified off-target mutations in only rare instances.