CRISPR platforms edit genome-wide at single-base level

Two studies in Nature Biotechnology describe CRISPR-Cas9-based techniques can produce trackable edits at single nucleotide resolution in eukaryotic cells. The methods stand to make genetic screens more precise and efficient.

In eukaryotic cells, double-stranded DNA breaks made by the CRISPR machine tend to induce the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair pathway, which is imprecise and often leads to unwanted mutations, resulting in only a small fraction of the cells having the correct edit...