Inhibitors of rna-guided nucleases and uses thereof

Abstract

The need to control the activity and fidelity of CRISPR-associated nucleases has resulted in the demand for inhibitory anti-CRISPR molecules. Current small-molecule inhibitor discovery platforms are not generalizable to multiple nuclease classes, only target the initial step in the catalytic activity, and require high concentration of nuclease, resulting in inhibitors with suboptimal attributes, including poor potency. Herein, Applicants report a high-throughput discovery pipeline consisting of a FRET-based assay that is generalizable to contemporary and emerging nucleases, operates at low nuclease concentration, and targets all catalytic steps. Applicants applied this pipeline to identify BRD7586, a cell-permeable small-molecule inhibitor of SpCas9, that is 2-fold more potent than current inhibitors. Furthermore, unlike the reported inhibitors, BRD7586 enhanced SpCas9 specificity and its activity was independent of the genomic loci, DNA repair pathway, or mode of nuclease delivery. Overall, these studies describe a general pipeline to identify inhibitors of contemporary and emerging CRISPR-associated nucleases. Described herein are compositions and methods for inhibiting the activity of RNA-guided endonucleases, and methods for identifying such compositions.

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