Fluorescent protein tagging of endogenous protein in brain neurons using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in and in utero electroporation techniques

Genome editing is a powerful technique for studying gene functions. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knock-in has recently been applied to various cells and organisms. Here, we successfully knocked in an EGFP coding sequence at the site immediately after the first ATG codon of the beta-actin gene in neurons in the brain by the combined use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and in utero electroporation technique, resulting in the expression of the EGFP-tagged beta-actin protein in cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons. We detected EGFP fluorescence signals in the soma and neurites of EGFP knock-in neurons. These signals were particularly abundant in the head of dendritic spines, corresponding to the localization of the endogenous beta-actin protein. EGFP knock-in neurons showed no detectable changes in spine density and basic electrophysiological properties. In contrast, exogenously overexpressed EGFP-beta-actin showed increased spine density and EPSC frequency, and changed resting membrane potential. Thus, our technique provides a potential tool to elucidate the localization of various endogenous proteins in neurons by epitope tagging without altering neuronal and synaptic functions. This technique can be also useful for introducing a specific mutation into genes to study the function of proteins and genomic elements in brain neurons.