Base editors which enable highly efficient nucleotide
substitutions without inducing DNA double-strand breaks have
promising potential applications in various fields. In this issue
of Protein & Cell, two independent groups demonstrated highly
efficient “A” to “G” conversions in mouse and rat embryos
using the adenine base editor (ABE) technology. With the
help of this powerful tool, Liang et al. successfully generated
a new mouse Dunchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) model
by mutating the base pairs involved in DMD gene mRNA
splicing. In addition to making mouse and rat models using the
ABE technology, Yang et al. reported expansion of the ABE
targeting scope by fusion of the edTadA with different Cas9
variants. Moreover, they also demonstrated their method
of increasing the ABE efficiency via using the chemically
modified guide RNAs.