Scale and Speed: How CRISPR was used to identify host factors that regulate SARS-CoV-2 entry (Copy)

A recent publication in Nature Communications showed how CRISPR has been used to understand host factors that regulate SARS-CoV-2 entry. This is a really interesting study arising from a collaboration between several universities in China. While the findings are very important and suggest why some treatments won’t work against COVID-19, it also highlights how the speed and scale of CRISPR is helping to advance science at a much faster rate that was previously possible.

Speed and scale have characterised the response of the research community to the COVID-19 pandemic. Research into the virus took off quickly under the most difficult of circumstances and vaccines to the SARS-CoV-2 virus were developed in record time. Tools like CRISPR have also played their part. The speed at which genome modifications can be made in eukaryotic cell lines is much faster that it has ever been before thanks to CRISPR. This makes doing large scale screens of mutant cell libraries a real experimental possibility, as was the case in this study.

The research team used a CRISPR knockout pooled library that encompassed 76,441 different sgRNAs targeting 19,114 genes. After transfection, the resulting knockout cell population was then screened for infection with SARS-CoV-2 with a mutation in the S1/S2 residues in the spike protein.

Such complex molecular approaches to dissect viral entry are becoming more widespread an much faster to perform. It means that when we are faced with a novel coronavirus like SARS-CoV-2, researchers are able to react and generate data far quicker than they were before.

At Moligo Technologies, our aim is to enable this kind of research and clinical studies by providing ultra-pure ssDNA oligos at industrial scales. Our process is unique meaning that we are not limited by sequence complexity and all of our oligos can be functionalised. To find out more, contact us via the form below.

Reference

Zhu, Y., Feng, F., Hu, G. et al. A genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies host factors that regulate SARS-CoV-2 entry. Nat Commun 12, 961 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21213-4