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Genome Editing by CRISPR/Cas9 in Trypanosoma cruzi

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Book cover T. cruzi Infection

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1955))

Abstract

The genetic manipulation of the human parasite Trypanosoma cruzi has been significantly improved since the implementation of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome editing in this organism. The system was initially used for gene knockout in T. cruzi, later on for endogenous gene tagging and more recently for gene complementation. Mutant cell lines obtained by CRISPR/Cas9 have been used for the functional characterization of proteins in different stages of this parasite’s life cycle, including infective trypomastigotes and intracellular amastigotes. In this chapter we describe the methodology to achieve genome editing by CRISPR/Cas9 in T. cruzi. Our method involves the utilization of a template cassette (donor DNA) to promote double-strand break repair by homologous directed repair (HDR). In this way, we have generated homogeneous populations of genetically modified parasites in 4–5 weeks without the need of cell sorting, selection of clonal populations, or insertion of more than one resistance marker to modify both alleles of the gene. The methodology has been organized according to three main genetic purposes: gene knockout, gene complementation of knockout cell lines generated by CRISPR/Cas9, and C-terminal tagging of endogenous genes in T. cruzi. In addition, we refer to the specific results that have been published using each one of these strategies.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Brazil (2013/50624-0), and the US National Institutes of Health (grant AI107663). N.L. and M.A.C. were postdoctoral fellows of FAPESP (2014/08995-4 and 2014/13148-9).

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Author notes

  1. Noelia Lander & Miguel A. Chiurillo

    Present address: Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

  2. Noelia Lander and Miguel A. Chiurillo contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Roberto Docampo

  2. Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Roberto Docampo

  3. Departamento de Patologia Clínica, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Noelia Lander, Miguel A. Chiurillo & Roberto Docampo

Authors
  1. Noelia Lander
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  2. Miguel A. Chiurillo
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  3. Roberto Docampo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Noelia Lander .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. INGEBI-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Karina Andrea Gómez

  2. UNSAM-CONICET, IIB-INTECH, San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Carlos Andrés Buscaglia

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Lander, N., Chiurillo, M.A., Docampo, R. (2019). Genome Editing by CRISPR/Cas9 in Trypanosoma cruzi. In: Gómez, K., Buscaglia, C. (eds) T. cruzi Infection. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1955. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9148-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9148-8_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9147-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9148-8

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