Vectors

CRISPRi effector protein

pNTI647 Expression of the CRISPRi effector protein dCas9-Mxi1, along with the TetR regulator controlling guide expression, is provided by pNTI647. This integrating plasmid is based on the KanR-marked EasyClone 2.0 vector pCfB2225.

Inducible guide RNAs

pNTI661 The base guide RNA expression vector is an episomal, Leu-marked plasmid. Barcoded guide RNA libraries are constructed in a two-step process.

Guide RNAs are introduced by digesting the pNTI661 vector with BamHI and HindIII, amplifying the guide RNA pool using primers NM636 and NM637, and performing Gibson-style assembly (we like NEBuilder HiFi) to introduce guide RNAs into the plasmid:

pNTI661     …cgcggctgggaacgaaactctgggagctgcgattgg/gatcctcgaagct/ttttagagctagaaatagcaagttaaaataaggctag…

digest  …cgcggctgggaacgaaactctgggagctgcgattgg     gatcctcgaagct     ttttagagctagaaatagcaagttaaaataaggctag…
            |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||                       ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PCR      5'-ggctgggaacgaaactctgggagctgcgattggcaCATTTCATTACCCGCAGAGCgttttagagctagaaatagcaagttaaaataaggc-3'

NM636       ggctgggaacgaaactctgggagctgcgattggca
pool                       tctgggagctgcgattggcaCATTTCATTACCCGCAGAGCgttttagagctagaaatagc
NM637 reverse complement                                           gttttagagctagaaatagcaagttaaaataaggc

After the guide library is cloned and amplified, barcodes are introduced in a second Gibson-style assembly reaction. The library is digested with SphI, leaving 3’ overhangs that are not resected during the assembly reaction. The barcodes are amplified from a degenerate oligo template using primers that introduce the Illumina TruSeq Read 1 primer site and a T7 RNA polymerase promoter.

pNTI661                                 …AGCTATCAGGCGCGCCACTTCACG/CATG/CTCAAGAGCTCGATCCGCAGGC…    

digest …AGCTATCAGGCGCGCCACTTCACGCATG                                                               CATGCTCAAGAGCTCGATCCGCAGGC…
           |||||||||||||||||||||||||                                                               |||||||||||||||||||||||
PCR     5'-TATCAGGCGCGCCACTTCACGCATGCNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAGATCGGAAGAGCGTCGTGCTATAGTGAGTCGTATTACATGCTCAAGAGCTCGATCCGCA-3'

NI-1027    TATCAGGCGCGCCACTTCACGCATGC
NI-1026             CGCCACTTCACGCATGCNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAGATCGGAAGAGCGTCGT
NI-1041 reverse complement                                    AGATCGGAAGAGCGTCGTGCTATAGTGAGTCGTATTACATGCTCAAGAGCTCGATCCGCA