Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (6): 2711-2723.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2025.06.016

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Construction of a Whole Genome Knockout Library of bMECs Based on CRISPR/Cas9 Technology

GAO Linna1,2(), JIANG Yingying2,3, WANG Yue2,3, SHI Qianqian1,2, AN Zhenjiang2,3, WANG Huili2, SHEN Yangyang2, CHEN Kunlin2,*(), ZHANG Leying1,*()   

  1. 1. School of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan 056038, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Crop and Animal Integrated Farming of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center for Precision Animal Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
    3. College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Received:2024-11-19 Online:2025-06-23 Published:2025-06-25
  • Contact: CHEN Kunlin, ZHANG Leying E-mail:13292751837@163.com;chenkunlin@jaas.ac.cn;zhangly056000@126.com

Abstract:

The objective was to construct a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout library in bovine mammary epithelial cells, which would facilitate the identification of functional genes associated with milk production, stress responses, and disease susceptibility in cow. This study focused on the protein-coding genes of the cow whole genome. CRISPR/Cas9 technology was employed to design and synthesize a sgRNAs library, which was subsequently cloned into the LentiCRISPR-V2 lentiviral vector to construct a cow whole-genome CRISPR/Cas9 knockout plasmid library. The gEditing ScreeningTM library sequencing was performed for validation. Next, the knockout plasmid library was packaged into lentivirus particles, and the viral titer was determined. Following infection of bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs), the optimal infection efficiency was confirmed through puromycin resistance screening and validated using RT-qPCR and Western blot analyses. Finally, high-throughput sequencing was conducted to verify the quality of the cell library by assessing the coverage and distribution of sgRNAs in the knockout cell library. A total of 20 545 protein-coding genes were targeted in the whole-genome knockout plasmid library constructed in this study, including 61 237 sgRNAs, of which 3 062 were not previously annotated in the cow genome. Sequencing analysis of the gEditing ScreeningTM plasmid library revealed a 100% coverage rate, a homogeneity index of 2.35, and an average sequencing depth of 577×. The plasmid library was subsequently packaged into lentiviral vectors, yielding a viral stock with a titer of 7.01×108 TU·mL-1, which was used to infect bMECs. Following 14 days of puromycin selection, stable cell lines were established at multiplicities of infection (MOI) of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5, with an optimal MOI determined to be 0.2. High-throughput sequencing results indicated that the cell library achieved a coverage rate of 78.74%, with stable base composition and high-quality sequence reads. In conclusion, both the cow whole-genome plasmid library and the cow whole-genome knockout cell library have met the established quality standards and experimental requirements. These resources can serve as a critical platform for screening cells to investigate key genes that regulate cow lactation traits and mammary gland health.

Key words: cow, CRISPR/Cas9, whole genome, knockout plasmid library, bovine mammary epithelial cells, knockout cell library

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