CRISPR Nickase-Mediated Base Editing in Yeast

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system has enabled efficient, markerless genome editing in a wide range of organisms. However, there is an off-target effect and a limit to the area of precise editing. Bases that can be precisely edited are limited to within the 20-base pair gRNA-targeting site and protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequence. We have developed a CRISPR nickase system that can perform a precise genome-wide base editing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a single Cas9 nickase. This system can precisely edit a broader genomic region by the avoidance of double-strand break (DSB) and subsequent non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Furthermore, unintended mutations were not found at off-target sites in this system. In combination with yeast gap repair cloning, precise genome editing of yeast cells can be performed in 5 days. Here, we describe the methods for precise and convenient genome editing using this novel CRISPR nickase system.