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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Gene Digital Circuits Based on CRISPR-Cas Systems and Anti-CRISPR Proteins
Published on: October 18, 2022
Hybrid Boolean gates show that Cas12c controls transcription activation effectively in the yeast S. cerevisiae
Yifan Liu1, Huanhuan Ge1, Mario Andrea Marchisio1
1School of Pharmaceutical Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Abstract:
Among CRISPR-Cas systems, type V CRISPR-Cas12c is of significant interest because Cas12c recognizes a very simple PAM (TN) and has the ability to silence gene expression without cleaving the DNA. We studied how new transcription factors for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be built on Cas12c. We found that, upon fusion to a strong activation domain, Cas12c is an efficient activator. Its functionality was proved as a component of hybrid Boolean gates, i.e., logic circuits that mix transcriptional and translational control (the latter reached via tetracycline-responsive riboswitches). Moreover, Cas12c activity can be strongly inhibited by the anti-CRISPR AcrVA1 protein. Thus, Cas12c has the potential to be a new tool to control the activation of gene expression within yeast synthetic gene circuits.
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