Xiaohan Tong , Tianle Li , Kun Zhang , Dongming Zhao , Ying Zhang , Hao Yin
{"title":"Structure-Guided design of Cas12a variants improves detection of nucleic acids","authors":"Xiaohan Tong , Tianle Li , Kun Zhang , Dongming Zhao , Ying Zhang , Hao Yin","doi":"10.1016/j.cellin.2025.100228","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>CRISPR-Cas12a holds promising potential for pathogen detection. However, its performance is not optimal when combined with isothermal amplification. Hence, we engineered a mutant of LbCas12a (K595A) with reduced <em>cis</em>-cleavage activity, to minimize interference with isothermal amplification. Compared to wild-type Cas12a, the K595A mutant exhibited a 2–3 times faster reaction speed and a 1,000–10,000 times increase in sensitivity in a one-pot reaction. We applied this mutant for detection of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). This K595A mutant successfully detected all 30 ASFV samples within 20 minutes. Our study suggests a universal approach to improve the performance of Cas12a for pathogen detection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72541,"journal":{"name":"Cell insight","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100228"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell insight","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772892725000021","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas12a holds promising potential for pathogen detection. However, its performance is not optimal when combined with isothermal amplification. Hence, we engineered a mutant of LbCas12a (K595A) with reduced cis-cleavage activity, to minimize interference with isothermal amplification. Compared to wild-type Cas12a, the K595A mutant exhibited a 2–3 times faster reaction speed and a 1,000–10,000 times increase in sensitivity in a one-pot reaction. We applied this mutant for detection of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). This K595A mutant successfully detected all 30 ASFV samples within 20 minutes. Our study suggests a universal approach to improve the performance of Cas12a for pathogen detection.