SunTag-NOVA robustly installed DNA methylation and repressed transcription at the endogenous FWA, FT and TMM genes with minimal genome-wide off-target consequences, and establishes SunTag-NOVA as a specific epigenome-editing platform for plants.
Abstract
Precise installation of DNA methylation at selected loci offers a powerful strategy for regulating gene expression without altering DNA sequence, but existing plant epigenome editors are constrained by limited efficiency, locus dependence, and genome-wide off-target methylation. Here, we developed SunTag-MQ1v variants incorporating TRBIP1, which promotes removal of the antagonistic H3K4me3 mark, and CHLAMY, an oligomerizing alpha crystalline domain protein from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. TRBIP1 enhanced methylation and silencing at the Arabidopsis FWA promoter but caused widespread off-target methylation and severe developmental defects. Adding CHLAMY produced SunTag-CHLAMY-TRBIP1-MQ1v (designated as SunTag-NOVA), which successfully overcame the lethality and widespread off-target effects associated with direct TRBIP1-MQ1v fusions. We demonstrate that CHLAMY drives higher-order oligomerization of the editing complex, which enhances target specificity and mitigates off-target accumulation. SunTag-NOVA robustly installed DNA methylation and repressed transcription at the endogenous FWA, FT and TMM genes with minimal genome-wide off-target consequences. These results show that combining local chromatin modification with controlled effector assembly can improve targeted DNA methylation, and establish SunTag-NOVA as a specific epigenome-editing platform for plants.
It is argued that formation of a tumour-intrinsic niche is a prerequisite for BRAF-mutant CRC seeding to distant organs and that interference with niche formation may help avoid metastatic relapse.
J. Bugter, L. El Bouazzaoui, E. Küçükköse et al.· bioRxiv· 2 citations
It is concluded that bridging the gap between foundational CRISPR research and its real-world applications is imperative and future efforts should focus on democratizing tools via open-source platforms, advancing delivery systems, and fostering sustainable innovation through synthetic biology integration to fully realize the transformative potential of genome editing in organisms beyond model organisms.
S. Sarsaiya, Archana Jain, Jishuang Chen et al.· Biotechnology Advances· 2 citations
A virus-like particle (VLP)-based toolkit that delivers diverse CRISPR editing modalities to human monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells with high efficiency while preserving viability and innate immune responsiveness is presented.
Hyuncheol Jung, Pascal Devant, Carter Ching et al.· Nature Biotechnology· 0 citations
Findings provide direct functional evidence that szl regulates median caudal patterning in goldfish and suggest that szl-dependent modulation of the Chordin/BMP network can generate twin-tail-like caudal morphology.
Huijuan Li, Xiaoying Zhang, Xiaowen Wang et al.· International Journal of Mol...· 0 citations
Avian coccidiosis, caused by Eimeria spp., remains a major parasitic disease of poultry and imposes significant economic burdens on the global poultry industry. This review systematically synthesizes key advances over the past decade concerning host-Eimeria interactions, molecular regulatory mechanisms, and novel control strategies, while contextualizing these findings with earlier seminal discoveries. In recent years, novel diagnostic tools based on molecular detection and antigen capture have emerged, offering improved sensitivity and interspecies specificity over conventional methods. These techniques complement traditional approaches relying on oocyst morphology and histopathology, and provide critical support for accurate assessment of field infection status, species and genotype discrimination, monitoring of drug-sensitivity shifts, and elucidation of transmission dynamics. Epidemiological investigations have further revealed the impacts of rearing management, environmental temperature and humidity, host genetic background, and gut microbiota composition on infection kinetics, underscoring the necessity of integrating biosecurity and precision management into regionally tailored control programs. Utilizing chicken embryo and chick infection models, in conjunction with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, single-cell transcriptomics, and high-resolution proteomics, researchers have gained deeper insights into key regulatory genes governing invasion, asexual multiplication, and gametogenesis, as well as invasion-related effector molecules and resistance-associated markers, thereby laying a foundation for the identification of novel intervention targets. In immunology, growing knowledge of the intestinal epithelial barrier response, Th1/Th17 polarization, regulatory T-cell function, and immune evasion strategies (e.g., antigenic variation and downregulation of host antigen presentation) provides a theoretical basis for the rational optimization of subunit vaccines and live oocyst vaccines. On the therapeutic front, novel combination regimens of conventional anticoccidials and plant-derived bioactive compounds have shown efficacy in reducing oocyst shedding and alleviating intestinal lesions, while nanoparticle-based targeted delivery systems and adjuvant combination strategies are being explored to enhance drug bioavailability or vaccine-induced protective immunity. Nevertheless, the effective integration of ever-expanding omics data, immune-protective mechanisms, and field-applicable control measures, while concurrently addressing drug residues and resistance management, remains a central challenge for achieving sustainable coccidiosis control.
A new method for surgically removing training examples from a model reveals that as datasets grow, the link between what a model learns and what it produces dissolves.
MIT News · Artificial Intelligence· news.mit.eduAug 17, 2026