CRISPR Explorer: A fast and intuitive tool for designing guide RNA for genome editing

Abstract

The RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeat-CRISPR-associated 9) system has become a revolutionary technology for targeted genome engineering. The critical step of this technology requires the design of a highly specific and efficient guide RNA (gRNA) that will guide the Cas9 nuclease to the complementary DNA target sequence. CRISPR-Explorer is a new and user-friendly web server for selecting optimal CRISPR sites. It implements the latest scoring schemes of gRNA specificity and efficiency based on published empirical studies. The gRNA design results are generated instantly, thus removing wait times. The user can visualize the high-quality gRNAs with detailed design information through an interactive genome browser. Furthermore, the user can define and specify the parameters for gRNA selection in the Batch Design mode, which recognizes various input formats. CRISPR Explorer is freely accessible at: http://crisprexplorer.org.