Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Gene Knockin in Mouse Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells

Authors:
Ngoc Tung Tran , Thomas Sommermann , Robin Graf , Janine Trombke , Jenniffer Pempe , Kerstin Petsch , Ralf Kühn , Klaus Rajewsky , Van Trung Chu 
In:
Source: Cell Rep
Publication Date: (2019)
Issue: 28(13): 3510-3522
Research Area:
Immunotherapy / Hematology
Stem Cells
Gene Expression
Regenerative medicine
Cells used in publication:
Bone marrow, mouse
Species: mouse
Tissue Origin: bone marrow
Hematopoietic stem cells, mouse
Species: mouse
Tissue Origin: bone marrow
Platform:
Nucleofector® I/II/2b
4D-Nucleofector® X-Unit
Experiment

The Sca1+ cells were cultured for 2 days and then washed 1 time with PBS. 3x105 Sca1+ cells were suspended into 20 µL of electroporation buffer containing the synthetic modified sgLmnb1, sgActb (100 (3.3 µg), 150 (4.95 µg) or 200 (6.6 µg) pmol) or RNPs (50pmol (8.2 µg) Cas9 and 100pmol (3.3 µg) sgRNA). After electroporation using the ‘mouse B cell program’ (Lonza), the cells were transferred to pre-warmed SFEM-II medium supplied with cytokines and placed into an incubator at 37°C and 5% CO2. 30 min later, the rAAV-DJ particles were added to electroporated cells. The medium was changed on the next day. The HSPCs were analyzed by flow cytometry or harvested for genomic DNA extraction 48h-72h post rAAV-DJ infection for further analysis.

Abstract

Mutations accumulating in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) during development can cause severe hematological disorders. Modeling these mutations in mice is essential for understanding their functional consequences. Here, we describe an efficient CRISPR/Cas9-based system to knock in and repair genes in mouse HSPCs. CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoproteins, in combination with recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-DJ donor templates, led to gene knockin efficiencies of up to 30% in the Lmnb1 and Actb loci of mouse HSPCs in vitro. The targeted HSPCs engraft and reconstitute all immune cell lineages in the recipient mice. Using this approach, we corrected a neomycin-disrupted Rag2 gene. The Rag2-corrected HSPCs restore B and T cell development in vivo, confirming the functionality of the approach. Our method provides an efficient strategy to study gene function in the hematopoietic system and model hematological disorders in vivo, without the need for germline mutagenesis.