Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026
08:31
CRISPR/Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein-mediated Precise Gene Editing by Tube Electroporation
Published on: June 20, 2019
Highly efficient CRISPR editing enabled by magnetic nanoparticle delivery
1Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Frontiers in Genome Editing
|August 11, 2026
Summary
Magnetic nanoparticle-assisted gene delivery (magnetofection) significantly boosts CRISPR genome editing efficiency compared to conventional lipofection. This method enhances both indel formation and prime editing across various systems and cell types.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Gene Editing Technologies
- Nanotechnology in Medicine
Background:
- Efficient delivery of CRISPR components is crucial for successful genome editing.
- Conventional methods like lipofection often yield suboptimal editing efficiencies.
- Novel delivery strategies are needed to improve CRISPR-Cas systems' performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficiency of magnetofection versus lipofection for CRISPR-mediated genome editing.
- To evaluate magnetofection's effectiveness with different CRISPR nucleases (SpCas9 and AsCas12a) and editing types (indel formation and prime editing).
- To assess the reproducibility and robustness of magnetofection across various genomic loci and cell lines.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of lipofection and magnetic nanoparticle-assisted gene delivery (magnetofection) for CRISPR genome editing.
- Utilized both SpCas9 and AsCas12a nuclease systems.
- Assessed editing efficiency via indel formation and prime editing assays in multiple cell lines and genomic loci, including RNP-based delivery.
Main Results:
- Magnetofection achieved significantly higher average indel efficiencies (42.29%-45.04%) compared to lipofection (8.1%-12.47%), representing a 3.39- to 5.56-fold increase.
- This enhancement was consistent across SpCas9 and AsCas12a systems, independent of the nuclease platform.
- Magnetofection also substantially improved prime editing efficiency (13.95%) over lipofection (3.81%) and demonstrated reproducibility across different cell lines and genomic targets.
Conclusions:
- Magnetic nanoparticle-mediated delivery (magnetofection) is a highly efficient and reproducible strategy for CRISPR genome editing.
- Magnetofection significantly outperforms conventional lipofection for both indel formation and prime editing applications.
- This robust delivery method holds promise for advancing next-generation genome editing technologies.
Related Concept Videos
01:28CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing
The CRISPR-Cas system serves as a bacterial defense mechanism against invading genetic elements such as viruses and plasmids, forming the foundation for its adaptation as a powerful genome-editing tool. Originally discovered in prokaryotes, this system has been repurposed to revolutionize genetic engineering across a wide range of organisms, including plants, animals, and humans. The core component, Cas9, is an endonuclease derived from Streptococcus pyogenes, capable of introducing...
01:59CRISPR
Genome editing technologies allow scientists to modify an organism’s DNA via the addition, removal, or rearrangement of genetic material at specific genomic locations. These types of techniques could potentially be used to cure genetic disorders such as hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. One popular and widely used DNA-editing research tool that could lead to safe and effective cures for genetic disorders is the CRISPR-Cas9 system. CRISPR-Cas9 stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short...
01:59CRISPR
Genome editing technologies allow scientists to modify an organism’s DNA via the addition, removal, or rearrangement of genetic material at specific genomic locations. These types of techniques could potentially be used to cure genetic disorders such as hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. One popular and widely used DNA-editing research tool that could lead to safe and effective cures for genetic disorders is the CRISPR-Cas9 system. CRISPR-Cas9 stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short...
02:53CRISPR and crRNAs
Bacteria and archaea are susceptible to viral infections just like eukaryotes; therefore, they have developed a unique adaptive immune system to protect themselves. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas) are present in more than 45% of known bacteria and 90% of known archaea.
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...
02:31Homologous Recombination
The basic reaction of homologous recombination (HR) involves two chromatids that contain DNA sequences sharing a significant stretch of identity. One of these sequences uses a strand from another as a template to synthesize DNA in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. The final product is a novel amalgamation of the two substrates. To ensure an accurate recombination of sequences, HR is restricted to the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. At these stages, the DNA has been replicated already and the...
02:53Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
Because the DNA segments are cut and reorganized in a direction-specific manner, site-specific recombination has emerged as an efficient genetic engineering technique. Flippase and Cyclization recombinases or Flp and Cre, respectively, are two members of the tyrosine recombinase family derived from bacteriophages, that are used to mediate site-specific DNA insertions, deletions, and targeted expression of proteins in mammalian cell lines.
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...