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Targeted Modification of Epigenetic Marks Using CRISPR/dCas9-SunTag-Based Modular Epigenetic Toolkit

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Neuroprotection

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2761))

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Abstract

The epigenome, consisting of chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins, can alter gene expression. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/dead CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/dCas9) systems enable precise target gene-specific gene modulation by attaching different “effector” domains to the dCas9 protein to activate or repress specific genes. CRISPR/dCas9-SunTag is an improved system version, allowing more efficient and precise gene activation or repression by recruiting multiple copies of the protein of interest. A CRISPR/dCas9-SunTag-based modular epigenetic toolkit was developed, enabling gene-specific epigenetic architecture modulation. This protocol generated a stable SH-SY5Y cell line expressing the CRISPR/dCas9-SunTag-JARID1A system to study H3K4Me3-mediated promoter regulation at a 200–400 bp of fine resolution. The procedure involved designing sgRNAs, subcloning dCas9-5XGCN4 into pLvx-DsRed, validating epigenetic mark changes with ChIP, and validating gene expression changes with RT-qPCR. This epigenetic toolkit is valuable for researchers to understand the relationship between gene-specific epigenetic modifications and gene expression.

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Correspondence to Yoon-Seong Kim .

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Song, M.K., Kim, YS. (2024). Targeted Modification of Epigenetic Marks Using CRISPR/dCas9-SunTag-Based Modular Epigenetic Toolkit. In: Ray, S.K. (eds) Neuroprotection. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2761. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_7

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3661-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3662-6

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