TransCRISPR - sgRNA design tool for CRISPR/Cas9 experiments targeting DNA sequence motifs

ABSTRACT Eukaryotic genomes contain several types of recurrent DNA motifs, e.g. transcription factor motifs, miRNA binding sites, repetitive elements. CRISPR/Cas9 can facilitate identification and study of crucial DNA motifs. We present transCRISPR, the first online tool dedicated to search for DNA sequence motifs in the user-provided genomic regions and design optimal sgRNAs targeting them. Users can obtain sgRNAs for chosen DNA motifs, for up to tens of thousands of target regions in 30 genomes, either for the Cas9 or dCas9 system. TransCRISPR provides user-friendly tables and visualizations, summarizing features of identified motifs and designed sgRNAs such as genomic localization, quality scores, closest transcription start sites, and others. Experimental validation of sgRNAs for MYC binding sites designed with transCRISPR confirmed efficient disruption of the targeted motifs and effect on expression of MYC-regulated genes. TransCRISPR is available from https://transcrispr.igcz.poznan.pl/transcrispr/