A novel strategy for orthogonal genetic regulation on different RNA targeted loci simultaneously

No current RNA-targeted interference tools have been reported to simultaneously up and down-regulate different gene expressions. Here we characterized an RNA-targeted genetic regulatory strategy composed of a flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) and specific mis-hairpin DNA probes (mis-hpDNA), to realize the orthogonal genetic regulation. By targeting mRNA, the strategy hindered the translation and silenced genes in human cells with efficiencies of ~60%. By targeting miRNA, the strategy prevented the combination of miRNA to its specific mRNA and increased this mRNA expression by about 3-folds. In combination, we simultaneously performed CXCR4 gene knock-down (~50%) and EGFR gene activation (1.5-folds) in human cells. Although the functional property can be further improved, this RNA-targeted orthogonal genetic regulating strategy is complementary to classical tools.