Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA
This paper introduced prime editing, a versatile genome-editing method that uses a Cas9 nickase fused to a reverse transcriptase guided by a prime editing guide RNA (pegRNA) to write new genetic information directly into a target site. Without requiring double-strand breaks or donor DNA, prime editing can install targeted insertions, deletions, and all 12 types of point mutations. The authors demonstrated correction of disease-relevant mutations in human cells with broad targeting flexibility and relatively low off-target activity.