Generation of myostatin edited horse embryos using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and somatic cell nuclear transfer

MORO, LUCIA NATALIA; VIALE, DIEGO LUIS; BASTÓN, JUAN IGNACIO; ARNOLD, VICTORIA; SUVÁ, MARIANA; WIEDENMANN, ELISABET; OLGUÍN, MARTÍN; MIRIUKA, SANTIAGO; VICHERA, GABRIEL

Scientific Reports

Nature Research

Año: 2020 vol. 10

The application of new technologies for gene editing in horses may allow the generation of improved sportive individuals.Here, we aimed to knock out the myostatin gene (MSTN), a negative regulator of muscle mass development, using CRISPR/Cas9 and to generate edited embryos for the first time in horses. We nucleofected horse fetal fibroblasts with 1, 2 or 5 µg of 2 different gRNA/Cas9 plasmids targeting the first exon of MSTN. We observed that increasing plasmid concentrations improved mutation efficiency. The average efficiency was 63.6% for gRNA1 (14/22 edited clonal cell lines) and 96.2% for gRNA2 (25/26 edited clonal cell lines). Three clonal cell lines were chosen for embryo generation by somatic cell nuclear transfer: one with a monoallelic edition, one with biallelic heterozygous editions and one with a biallelic homozygous edition, which rendered edited blastocysts in each case. Both MSTN editions and off-targets were analyzed in the embryos. In conclusion, CRISPR/Cas9 proved an efficient method to edit the horse genome in a dose dependent manner with high specificity. Adapting this technology sport advantageous alleles could be generated, and a precision breeding program could be developed.