Biology

Gene

Genotype

Loss of heterozygosity

Genome editing

Allele

Single-nucleotide polymorphism

SNP genotyping

Genotyping

Computational biology

CRISPR

Genetics

Locus (genetics)

Cell Reports

CRISPR genome editing is a promising tool for translational research but can cause undesired editing outcomes, both on target at the edited locus and off target at other genomic loci. Here, we investigate the occurrence of deleterious on-target effects (OnTEs) in human stem cells after insertion of disease-related mutations by homology-directed repair (HDR) and gene editing using non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). We identify large, mono-allelic genomic deletions and loss-of-heterozygosity escaping standard quality controls in up to 40% of edited clones. To reliably detect such events, we describe simple, low-cost, and broadly applicable quantitative genotyping PCR (qgPCR) and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping-based tools and suggest their usage as additional quality controls after editing. This will help to ensure the integrity of edited loci and increase the reliability of CRISPR editing.

Detection of Deleterious On-Target Effects after HDR-Mediated CRISPR Editing