Highly efficient CRISPR editing enabled by magnetic nanoparticle delivery

Abstract

Efficient delivery of CRISPR components remains a major determinant of genome editing outcomes. In this study, we compared conventional lipofection with magnetic nanoparticle-assisted gene delivery (magnetofection) for CRISPR-mediated genome editing efficiency using SpCas9 and AsCas12a systems. Based on the average values obtained from multiple independent targets, lipofection resulted in relatively low indel efficiencies, with mean values of average 8.1%–12.47%. In contrast, magnetofection markedly enhanced genome editing outcomes, yielding average indel efficiencies of average 42.29%–45.04%, representing a substantial increase (3.39- and 5.56-fold, respectively) compared with lipofection. This enhancement was consistently observed across both SpCas9-and AsCas12a-mediated editing, indicating that the improved efficiency conferred by magnetic nanoparticle delivery is independent of the nuclease platform. Furthermore, the increased performance of magnetofection was reproducible across multiple genomic loci and cell lines and was also effective under RNP-based delivery conditions, demonstrating its robustness and reliability. In addition to indel-based genome disruption, magnetofection also significantly improved prime editing efficiency (13.95% on average) compared to lipofection (3.81% on average). Overall, our results demonstrate that magnetic nanoparticle-mediated delivery enables highly efficient and reproducible CRISPR genome editing, substantially outperforming conventional lipofection for both indel formation and prime editing. Magnetofection therefore represents a powerful and broadly applicable delivery strategy for next-generation genome editing applications.