Researchers used a modified CRISPR/Cas9 system, in which a catalytically inactive Cas9 enzyme was fused to an epigenetic regulator, to efficiently and specifically reprogram gene expression in the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum; the authors used this system to alter the parasite's erythrocyte invasion efficiency by increasing and decreasing histone acetylation near the transcription start sites of invasion-related genes.
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Article #18-13542: "Epigenetic editing by CRISPR/dCas9 in Plasmodium falciparum," by Bo Xiao et al .
MEDIA CONTACT: Lubin Jiang, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA; tel: +86-21-54923070, +86-21-54923072; e-mail: lbjiang@ips.ac.cn
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences