Gene editing has been increasingly used in biological research and applications, such as synthetic biology, gene therapy, drug target discovery, mRNA splicing, protein directed evolution, and so on. When we use various gene editing tools, we cannot help but marvel at how exquisite these tools are. But researchers have discovered that improving the functionality and efficiency of gene editing tools is not an easy task. Efficient, precise, and convenient gene editing tools have always been a coveted research tool for people.

The CRISPR system that we are familiar with is the Cas9 protein, but Cas proteins are not limited to Cas9. The classification of Cas proteins is shown in the following figure.

Functional classification diagram of Cas protein^[1]

Among so many Cas proteins, it is rare to find Cas9, Cas12a, Cas13a, and others that can be used as gene editing tools. From the report of CRISPR repeat sequences in 1987, to the discovery of Cas4 gene with exonuclease function in 2002, to the discovery in 2012 that Cas9 can control genome editing through RNA mediation, it has been more than 20 years.

After the popularity of CRISPR, the development of the system did not stop, and technical experts developed:

CRISPRa and CRISPRi technologies, based on the CRISPR system, activate or inhibit gene expression through sgRNA mediated Cas9 protein (dCas9) that does not have cleavage activity after mutation;

Fusing Cas proteins (dCas) that have lost catalytic activity or Cas proteins (nCas) that only have the activity to cut one strand with deaminase that can act on single stranded DNA, to achieve cytosine base editor (CBE) and adenine base editor (ABE) for target base substitution^[2]；

Sharp tools make good work. For gene editing, the diamond of gene editing tools is needed. For the development of gene editing tools, a powerful tool is even more needed. Beckman can provide researchers with a complete solution for gene editing technology and tool development.