Controlling Gene Expression in Mammalian Cells Using Multiplexed Conditional Guide RNAs for Cas12a

Spatiotemporal control of the activity of CRISPR‐associated (Cas) proteins is of considerable interest for basic research and therapeutics. Here, we show that conditional guide RNAs (gRNAs) for Cas12a can be transcribed in mammalian cells by RNA polymerase II, followed by activation via input‐dependent processing of the 3′ tail of the gRNA transcript. We demonstrate processing using an RNA strand displacement mechanism, as well as microRNA‐dependent processing, and cleavage by a guanine‐responsive ribozyme. We further demonstrate that Cas12a along with several independently switchable gRNAs can be compactly integrated on a single transcript using stabilizing RNA triplexes, providing a route towards Cas12a‐based gene regulation constructs with multi‐input switching capabilities. The principle is shown to work in HEK and mouse fibroblast cells using luminescence, fluorescence, and is also demonstrated for the conditional upregulation of an endogenous gene.