Compact RNA editors with natural miniature Cas13j nucleases
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats–Cas13 effectors are used for RNA editing but the adeno-associated virus (AAV) packaging limitations because of their big sizes hinder their therapeutic application. Here we report the identification of the Cas13j family, with LepCas13j (529 aa) and ChiCas13j (424 aa) being the smallest and most highly efficient variants for RNA interference. The miniaturized Cas13j proteins enable the development of compact RNA base editors. Chi-RESCUE-S, by fusing dChiCas13j with hADAR2dd, demonstrates high efficiency and specificity in A-to-G and C-to-U conversions. Importantly, this system is compatible with single-AAV packaging without the need for protein sequence truncation. It successfully corrected pathogenic mutations, such as APOC3D65N and SCN9AR896Q, to the wild-type forms. In addition, we developed an optimized system, Chi-RESCUE-S-mini3, which pioneered efficient in vivo C-to-U RNA editing of PCSK9 in mice through single-AAV delivery, resulting in reduced total cholesterol levels. These results highlight the potential of Cas13j to treat human diseases.
The RNA-seq data for the detection of DRGs following Cas13j-mediated endogenous mRNA cleavage and off-target SNVs of RNA base editors were deposited to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under accession code PRJNA971358. The hg38 reference genome (Homo sapiens genome assembly GRCh38.p14, NCBI, National Library of Medicine (https://www.nih.gov/)) was used for alignment in the analysis of RNA-seq data from HEK293T cells. The ClinVar database (https://www.nih.gov/) was used to identify pathogenic SNVs that could be corrected by cytosine base editing of RESUCE-S. There are no restrictions on data availability. Source data are provided with this paper.
