Regulation of CRISPR trans-cleavage activity by an overhanging activator

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas12a system exhibits extraordinary capability in the field of molecular diagnosis and biosensing, attributed to its trans-cleavage ability. The precise modulation of performance has emerged as a significant challenge in advancing CRISPR technology to the next stage of development. Herein, we reported a CRISPR/Cas12a regulation strategy based on an overhanging activator. The presence of overhanging domains in activators creates steric hindrances that have a substantial impact on the trans-cleavage activity and activation timing of Cas12a. The trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a can be finely tuned by adjusting the position, length, and complementarity of the overhanging domains. Moreover, specific structures exhibit characteristics of automatic delayed activation. The presence of overhanging domains enables precise and timely activation of Cas12a, facilitating multifunctional applications. This system effectively accomplishes dynamic regulation, programmable release of cargo, logical operations, and multi-enzyme detection. The flexibility and versatility of this simple and powerful CRISPR regulatory strategy will pave the way for expanded applications of CRISPR/Cas in biotechnology, bioengineering, and biomedicine.