报告题目/Title：Conformational Checkpoints Regulating CRISPR Target Discrimination Revealed by Site-Directed Spin Labeling

报告时间/Time：2023年5月22日13:00 (13:00, May 22 2023)

报告地点/Venue：物质科研楼A309会议室(Room A309, Material Science Building)

报告人/Speaker：Prof. Peter Qin, University of Southern California

报告摘要/Abstract：CRISPR (Clustered-Regularly-Interspaced-Short-Palindromic-Repeats) systems have been adapted into programmable agents for genome-wide manipulation of nucleic acids in many organisms, unleashing a revolution in genome editing and manipulation that is still rapidly advancing. Fundamental understanding on mechanisms of CRISPR target discrimination provides the foundation for CRISPR revolution, and is critical for overcoming remaining obstacles, such as the “off-target effects” that result in undersigned aberrant actions. Our group has been studying mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas9 and Cas12a that target double-stranded DNA. In this presentation, I will describe work on identifying conformational checkpoints contributing to DNA target recognitions in Cas12a and Cas9 using site-directed spin-labeling in conjunction with fluorescence spectroscopy and enzymology. The work elucidates connections between DNA physical properties and CRISPR activities that may be explored in CRISPR-based genome manipulation applications.