Overview:

Cas13a is RNA-guided RNA endonuclease that belongs to class 2 type VI CRISPR-Cas system (1). Cas13a possess both RNA recognition and cleavage activities and cleaves RNA through conserved basic residues within its two HEPN domains (2). Interestingly, activated Cas13a induces collateral cleavage of nearby non-targeted RNAs in a nonspecific manner. This property of Cas13a enzyme has been leveraged for the development of sensitive and robust nucleic acid detection diagnostic tool for clinical samples. Diagnostics using Cas13a for detection of SARS-CoV-2 offers promising alternative to quantitative PCR (3). In addition, CRISPR-Cas13a system provides opportunity for the development of clinical research in precision oncology (4).

Gene Aliases:

LwCas13a, LwaCas13a, LwC2c2, EndoRNase, CRISPR-associated endoribonuclease Cas13a

Genbank Number:

WP_021746774

References:

1. East-Seletsky A, et al: Two distinct RNase activities of CRISPR-C2c2 enable guide-RNA processing and RNA detection. Nature. 2016, 538:270–3.

2. Abudayyeh O, et al: C2c2 is a single-component programmable RNA-guided RNA-targeting CRISPR effector. Science. 2016, 353:5573.

3. Patchsung, M, et al: Clinical validation of a Cas13-based assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Nat Biomed Eng. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-00603-x.

4. Zhang J, You Y. CRISPR-Cas13a system: A novel approach to precision oncology. Cancer Biol Med. 2020, 17(1):6-8.