Transcriptional response to collateral RNA cleavage by LbuCas13a

LbuCas13a exhibits widespread collateral RNA cleavage in human cells after activation by a specific target RNA. We wanted to explore the cells response to this collateral RNA cleavage. Therefore we performed RNA-seq at 16 hours after RNP transduction. From prior experiments we know that at this timepoint RNA integrity has largely recovered and cells are entering apoptosis. dEGFP expressing HAP1 cells were transduced with either an empty transduction, LbuCas13a protein, LbuCas13a protein and a non-targeting crRNA or LbuCas13a protein an a dEGFP targeting crRNA. RNA was harvested 16 hours after transduction and gene expression profiles compared using RNA-seq.