Efficient gene knockout in goats using CRISPR/Cas9 system

Abstract

The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been adapted as an efficient genome editing tool in laboratory animals such as mice, rats, zebrafish and pigs. Here, we report that CRISPR/Cas9 mediated approach can efficiently induce monoallelic and biallelic gene knockout in goat primary fibroblasts. Four genes were disrupted simultaneously in goat fibroblasts by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing. The single-gene knockout fibroblasts were successfully used for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and resulted in live-born goats harboring biallelic mutations. The CRISPR/Cas9 system represents a highly effective and facile platform for targeted editing of large animal genomes, which can be broadly applied to both biomedical and agricultural applications.