Compact Cas12f enables genome editing in avian cells

Precise genome editing in avian species has been constrained by the low delivery efficiency of conventional CRISPR nucleases, such as Cas9 and Cas12a, due to their large molecular sizes. Cas12f (also known as Cas14), a compact CRISPR nuclease, has emerged as a potential genome editing system with enhanced delivery efficiency in mammalian systems. However, its effectiveness in avian systems has not been previously validated. Here, Cas12f showed notable transfection efficiency and intracellular expression in chicken Leghorn male hepatoma (LMH) cells and primordial germ cells (PGCs), with no detectable cytotoxicity. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) revealed that Cas12f achieved locus-dependent on-target editing efficiencies, reaching up to 40% at specific loci in LMH cells. Cas12f consistently generated a deletion-dominant indel profile with minimal insertions, distinct from Cas9-mediated patterns. Off-target analysis using Sanger sequencing and Inference of CRISPR Edits (ICE) revealed a few predicted off-target candidates and no detectable off-target mutations above the detection threshold. Consistent with this observation, cross-species in silico analysis showed only a modest increase in predicted Cas12f off-target proportions with increasing genome size. These findings show that Cas12f is a compact genome editing tool in avian cells, serving as a basis for further improvement in genetic engineering and biotechnological research.