Mitochondrial base editor induces substantial nuclear off-target mutations

Zhixin Lei, Haowei Meng, Lulu Liu, Huanan Zhao, Xichen Rao, Yongchang Yan, Hao Wu, Min Liu, Aibin He and Chengqi Yi ()
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Zhixin Lei: Peking University
Haowei Meng: Peking University
Lulu Liu: Peking University
Huanan Zhao: Tsinghua University
Xichen Rao: Peking University
Yongchang Yan: Peking University
Hao Wu: Peking University
Min Liu: Peking University
Aibin He: Peking University
Chengqi Yi: Peking University

Nature, 2022, vol. 606, issue 7915, 804-811

Abstract: Abstract DddA-derived cytosine base editors (DdCBEs)—which are fusions of split DddA halves and transcription activator-like effector (TALE) array proteins from bacteria—enable targeted C•G-to-T•A conversions in mitochondrial DNA1. However, their genome-wide specificity is poorly understood. Here we show that the mitochondrial base editor induces extensive off-target editing in the nuclear genome. Genome-wide, unbiased analysis of its editome reveals hundreds of off-target sites that are TALE array sequence (TAS)-dependent or TAS-independent. TAS-dependent off-target sites in the nuclear DNA are often specified by only one of the two TALE repeats, challenging the principle that DdCBEs are guided by paired TALE proteins positioned in close proximity. TAS-independent off-target sites on nuclear DNA are frequently shared among DdCBEs with distinct TALE arrays. Notably, they co-localize strongly with binding sites for the transcription factor CTCF and are enriched in topologically associating domain boundaries. We engineered DdCBE to alleviate such off-target effects. Collectively, our results have implications for the use of DdCBEs in basic research and therapeutic applications, and suggest the need to thoroughly define and evaluate the off-target effects of base-editing tools.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04836-5

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