RNA-seq of engineered K562 cell line by CRISPR/Cas9 generation of t(7;12)(q36;p13) chromosomal translocation

We recreated the t(7;12) translocation in K562 cells by CRISPR/Cas9 to understand its effects on haematopoietic cells, which is of relevance to understand how this cytogenetic abnormalities causes and promotes acute leukaemia in infants. Wild-type K562 were edited by electroporation of ribonucleoprotein complexes consisting of Cas9 enzyme and two guide RNAs targeting patient-specific breakpoint loci. K562 electroporated with Cas9 enzyme only were used as control. Edited K562 harbouring the t(7;12) were single-cell cloned to obtain homogeneous populations (hereby referred to as K562-t(7;12)). We performed RNA sequencing analysis of K562-t(7;12) compared to K562 control to uncover transcriptional changes associated with the translocation.