Designed Transcriptional Regulation in Mammalian Cells Based on TALE- and CRISPR/dCas9

Transcriptional regulation lies at the center of many cellular processes and is the result of cellular response to different external and internal signals. Control of transcription of selected genes enables an unprecedented access to shape the cellular response. While orthogonal transcription factors from bacteria, yeast, plants, or other cells have been used to introduce new cellular logic into mammalian cells, the discovery of designable modular DNA binding domains, such as Transcription Activator-Like Effectors (TALEs) and the CRISPR system, enable targeting of almost any selected DNA sequence. Fusion or conditional association of DNA targeting domain with transcriptional effector domains enables controlled regulation of almost any endogenous or ectopic gene. Moreover, the designed regulators can be linked into genetic circuits to implement complex responses, such as different types of Boolean functions and switches. In this chapter, we describe the protocols for achieving efficient transcriptional regulation with TALE- and CRISPR-based designed transcription factors in mammalian cells.