CRISPR interference

CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) is a genetic perturbation technique that allows for sequence-specific repression of gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.^[1] It was first developed by Stanley Qi and colleagues in the laboratories of Wendell Lim, Adam Arkin, Jonathan Weissman, and Jennifer Doudna.^[2] Sequence-specific activation of gene expression refers to CRISPR activation (CRISPRa).

Based on the bacterial genetic immune system - CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) pathway,^[3] the technique provides a complementary approach to RNA interference. The difference between CRISPRi and RNAi, though, is that CRISPRi regulates gene expression primarily on the transcriptional level, while RNAi controls genes on the mRNA level.