Researchers Build fPE7max Fungal Editor With Nearly 90% Accuracy and 10-kb Deletions
Updated
Updated · Nature.com · Jun 30
Researchers Build fPE7max Fungal Editor With Nearly 90% Accuracy and 10-kb Deletions
1 articles · Updated · Nature.com · Jun 30
Summary
fPE7max delivered average editing efficiency approaching 90% in filamentous fungi, establishing prime editing in a group where the method had not previously been available.
The platform handled base substitutions, small insertions and deletions, plus larger edits including insertions up to 1 kb and deletions up to 10 kb across multiple loci and species.
Editing upstream open reading frames in the regulator gene laeA let the team tune fungal metabolism, activating previously weak biosynthetic pathways in several species.
Metabolomic profiling identified 18 metabolites from those engineered strains, including 8 previously unreported structures; 3 showed cytotoxic activity.
The study positions prime editing as a new genome-engineering and natural-product discovery tool for ecologically important fungi and industrial production hosts.