AUTHOR=Liu Songlei , Striebel Johannes , Pasquini Giovanni , Ng Alex H. M. , Khoshakhlagh Parastoo , Church George M. , Busskamp Volker 

TITLE=Neuronal Cell-type Engineering by Transcriptional Activation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genome Editing

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genome-editing/articles/10.3389/fgeed.2021.715697

DOI=10.3389/fgeed.2021.715697

ISSN=2673-3439

ABSTRACT=<p>Gene activation with the CRISPR-Cas system has great implications in studying gene function, controlling cellular behavior, and modulating disease progression. In this review, we survey recent studies on targeted gene activation and multiplexed screening for inducing neuronal differentiation using CRISPR-Cas transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) and open reading frame (ORF) expression. Critical technical parameters of CRISPRa and ORF-based strategies for neuronal programming are presented and discussed. In addition, recent progress on <italic>in vivo</italic> applications of CRISPRa to the nervous system are highlighted. Overall, CRISPRa represents a valuable addition to the experimental toolbox for neuronal cell-type programming.</p>