Genetic Engineering Publications - GEG Tech top picks

In this study, the scientists present an approach for engineering evolving DNA barcodes in living cells. A homing guide RNA (hgRNA) scaffold directs the Cas9–hgRNA complex to the DNA locus of the hgRNA itself. This integrated approach will have wide-ranging applications, such as in deep lineage tracing, cellular barcoding, molecular recording, dissecting cancer biology, and connectome mapping.

Targeting point mutations using CRISPR/Cas9 so far has required efficient homologous recombination (HR) and donor oligonucleotides. In a recent Nature paper, Komor and colleagues (2016) describe a way to make specific base changes that does not depend on HR or donor DNA and does not involve making double-strand breaks.