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The collection of RNAs in a cell reflects its identity and behavior. Although probing these RNAs in the present is commonplace, peering into the past remains challenging. We developed TIGER (transcribed RNAs inferred by genetically encoded records) to record selected RNAs at the single-cell level, enabling us to connect the past with the present.
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References
Sheth, R. U. et al. DNA-based memory devices for recording cellular events. Nat. Rev. Genet. 19, 718–732 (2018). This review reports the span of technologies available for molecular recording.
Schmidt, F. et al. Transcriptional recording by CRISPR spacer acquisition from RNA. Nature 562, 380–385 (2018). This study reports RNA recording via the integration of RNA fragments into a DNA CRISPR array.
Liao, C. & Beisel, C. L. The tracrRNA in CRISPR biology and technologies. Ann. Rev. Genet. 55, 151–161 (2021). This review describes the role of the tracrRNA in CRISPR biology and how it has been harnessed for different technologies.
Jiao, C. et al. Noncanonical crRNAs derived from host transcripts enable multiplexable RNA detection by Cas9. Science 372, 941–948 (2021). This paper describes the discovery of non-canonical CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) and the subsequent reprogramming of tracrRNAs for the multiplexed detection of RNA biomarkers.
Liu, Y. et al. Reprogrammed tracrRNAs enable repurposing of RNAs as crRNAs and sequence-specific RNA biosensors. Nat. Commun. 13, 1937 (2022). This paper reports the reprogramming of tracrRNA to reveal active RNA expression in bacterial cells.
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This is a summary of: Jiao, C. et al. RNA recording in single bacterial cells using reprogrammed tracrRNAs. Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01604-8 (2023).
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Single-cell recording of cellular RNAs in bacteria.
Nat Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01625-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01625-3
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Becki Antes
