PUBLICATION

Rapid mutation of endogenous zebrafish genes using zinc finger nucleases made by Oligomerized Pool ENgineering (OPEN)

Authors
Foley, J.E., Yeh, J.R., Maeder, M.L., Reyon, D., Sander, J.D., Peterson, R.T., and Joung, J.K.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090217-13
Date
2009
Source
PLoS One   4(2): e4348 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Peterson, Randall, Yeh, Jing-Ruey (Joanna)
Keywords
Zebrafish, Embryos, Polymerase chain reaction, Genetic engineering, Zinc finger nucleases, Frameshift mutation, Gene targeting, Insertion mutation
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Endonucleases/genetics*
  • Endonucleases/metabolism
  • Genetic Engineering/methods*
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Mutation*
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
  • Zinc Fingers/genetics*
PubMed
19198653 Full text @ PLoS One
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Customized zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) form the basis of a broadly applicable tool for highly efficient genome modification. ZFNs are artificial restriction endonucleases consisting of a non-specific nuclease domain fused to a zinc finger array which can be engineered to recognize specific DNA sequences of interest. Recent proof-of-principle experiments have shown that targeted knockout mutations can be efficiently generated in endogenous zebrafish genes via non-homologous end-joining-mediated repair of ZFN-induced DNA double-stranded breaks. The Zinc Finger Consortium, a group of academic laboratories committed to the development of engineered zinc finger technology, recently described the first rapid, highly effective, and publicly available method for engineering zinc finger arrays. The Consortium has previously used this new method (known as OPEN for Oligomerized Pool ENgineering) to generate high quality ZFN pairs that function in human and plant cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we show that OPEN can also be used to generate ZFNs that function efficiently in zebrafish. Using OPEN, we successfully engineered ZFN pairs for five endogenous zebrafish genes: tfr2, dopamine transporter, telomerase, hif1aa, and gridlock. Each of these ZFN pairs induces targeted insertions and deletions with high efficiency at its endogenous gene target in somatic zebrafish cells. In addition, these mutations are transmitted through the germline with sufficiently high frequency such that only a small number of fish need to be screened to identify founders. Finally, in silico analysis demonstrates that one or more potential OPEN ZFN sites can be found within the first three coding exons of more than 25,000 different endogenous zebrafish gene transcripts. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: In summary, our study nearly triples the total number of endogenous zebrafish genes successfully modified using ZFNs (from three to eight) and suggests that OPEN provides a reliable method for introducing targeted mutations in nearly any zebrafish gene of interest.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping