Improved Genome Editing in the Ascidian Ciona with CRISPR/Cas9 and TALEN

Yasunori Sasakura & Takeo Horie

Genome Editing in Animals 659: pp 375–388 (12 February 2023)

The ascidian Ciona intestinalis type A (or Ciona robusta) is an important organism for elucidating the mechanisms that make the chordate body plan. CRISPR/Cas9 and TAL effector nuclease (TALEN) are widely used to quickly address genetic functions in Ciona. Our previously reported method of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis in this animal has inferior mutation rates compared to those of TALENs. We here describe an updated way to effectively mutate genes with CRISPR/Cas9 in Ciona. Although the construction of TALENs is much more laborious than that of CRISPR/Cas9, this technique is useful for tissue-specific knockouts that are not easy even by the optimized CRISPR/Cas9 method.

See https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-3016-7_28