Molecular Cell

UIC researchers show that persistent Cas9 binding to a double strand break prevents the cell from repairing the DNA break and causes CRISPR genome editing to fail approximately 15 percent of the time. Study results demonstrate that when RNA polymerases collide with Cas9 from one direction on DNA (template orientation), they can dislodge Cas9 from the DNA and increase genome editing efficiency. (Photo Credit: UIC/Clarke, et al)