crisprVerse

crisprVerse provides a Bioconductor ecosystem of R packages for designing and annotating guide RNAs (gRNAs) across CRISPR modalities to support accurate gRNA selection and off-target assessment.

Key Features:

• Versatile gRNA Design: Supports design of gRNAs for CRISPR knockout (CRISPRko), activation (CRISPRa), interference (CRISPRi), base editing (CRISPRbe), and knockdown (CRISPRkd) within R packages.
• Comprehensive Annotation: The crisprDesign core package provides a unified interface to add off-target annotations, gene and SNP annotations, and to calculate on- and off-target activity scores.
• Broad Nuclease Compatibility: Compatible with RNA- and DNA-targeting nucleases including Cas9, Cas12, and Cas13.

Scientific Applications:

• CRISPR-mediated gene perturbation: Enables selection and annotation of gRNAs for experiments involving knockout, activation, interference, base editing, and knockdown.
• Off-target specificity assessment: Provides off-target prediction and activity scoring to improve experimental specificity and reduce unintended edits.
• Genetic and translational research: Supports basic genetic studies and preclinical/therapeutic applications by incorporating gene- and SNP-aware annotations into gRNA design.

Methodology:

R packages in the crisprVerse implement unified gRNA design and annotation functions via the crisprDesign package, including off-target annotation, gene and SNP annotation, and calculation of on- and off-target activity scores.