Tuning the Expression of Long Noncoding RNA Loci with CRISPR Interference.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as important regulators of gene expression networks. Over 50,000 lncRNA loci have been annotated in the human genome, but only a subset has been involved in regulation of key cellular processes, organismal development, and diseases. Hence, the functional role for the majority of the lncRNA genes remains unknown. With the recent developments of different CRISPR/Cas9 technologies, the function of lncRNAs can now be examined. CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) is one of these methods that can be used to inhibit the expression of any genomic locus including lncRNAs. This system utilizes catalytically inactive (d)Cas9 fused to KRAB repression domain and single guide RNA against targeted genomic locus. Since CRISPRi has negligible off-target effects and does not involve changes in the underlying genomic DNA sequence, it represents a valuable addition to the existing armamentarium used to investigate lncRNA biology.