Increasing the Effective Gene Drive Homing Rate by Targeting the Haploinsufficient Spermatogenesis Gene Klhl10

Abstract

CRISPR-based gene drives represent a powerful new technology for limiting disease transmission and controlling invasive populations. These systems rely on homology-directed repair (HDR) to “drive” a genetic element through a population. However, mammals tend to favor non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), which generates mutations that halt further drive propagation. Here, we describe the experimental characterization of a putative target locus for a gene drive system targeting the haploinsufficient spermatogenesis gene Klhl10 in the laboratory mouse. Using a newly designed “coding sequence cassette,” we introduce downstream guide RNAs within the gene, ensuring that sperm undergoing NHEJ are selectively removed from the population. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that targeting Klhl10 with constitutively expressed LbCas12a results in strong selection against frameshift-containing sperm, validating the core purification mechanism required for this drive strategy. Unexpectedly, we also observed that female offspring lacked most frameshift mutations, suggesting a previously unrecognized role for Klhl10 in oogenesis or early embryonic development.