The group around SUN Jibin used a ribosomal 5S rRNA gene as a promoter to mediate the expression of sgRNA in a novel and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 system which enabled Cas9 to cut 100% of the Aspergillus niger genome. This allowed to establish an efficient Aspergillus niger genome editing toolkit. With a 40 bp short homology donor DNA, single- and multi-site knock-ins and large 48-kb DNA knockout genomes obtained with accurate editing. The new CRISPR/Cas9 approach effectively solved the problem that Aspergillus niger espresses sgRNA activity.
CAS news release, May 3, 2018