Differential efficacies of Cas nucleases on microsatellites involved in human disorders and associated off-target mutations

Microsatellite expansions are the cause of more than 20 neurological or developmental human disorders. Shortening expanded repeats using specific DNA endonucleases may be envisioned as a gene editing approach. Here, a new assay was developed to test several CRISPR-Cas nucleases on microsatellites involved in human diseases, by measuring at the same time double-strand break rates, DNA end resection and homologous recombination efficacy. Broad variations in nuclease performances were detected on all repeat tracts. Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 was the most efficient of all. All repeat tracts did inhibit double-strand break resection. We demonstrate that secondary structure formation on the guide RNA was a major determinant of nuclease efficacy. Using deep sequencing, off-target mutations were assessed genomewide. Out of 221 CAG/CTG or GAA/TTC trinucleotide repeats of the yeast genome, three were identified as carrying statistically significant low frequency mutations, corresponding to off-target effects.