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AAT Bioquest

What are the differences between base editing and prime editing?

Posted March 21, 2024


Answer

Basis of differentiation

Base editing

Prime editing

Definition

Base editing is a form of genome editing that allows for precise alterations to the DNA sequence at targeted locations

Prime editing is a gene editing technique designed to make precise alterations to the DNA sequence by introducing targeted small deletions, insertions and substitutions

Capeabilities

Is able to make 4 kinds of DNA substitutions

Is able to make all 12 types of DNA substitutions, large insertions (up to 200 bases), and deletions (more then 5000 bases)

Components

Cas9 protein + deaminase enzyme

Cas9 protein fused to engineered reverse transcriptase

Mechanism

Directly converts one base to another

Uses a prime editing complex for precise edits

Template DNA

No template required

Requires a prime editing guide RNA (pegRNA) and a reverse transcriptase

Additional resources

CRISPR-Cas9 DNA Base-Editing and Prime-Editing

Genome Editing & CRISPR

Transfectamine™ 5000 Transfection Reagent