Breakthrough Tracker record
KNIT editing inserts kilobase-scale DNA without double-strand breaks
The peer-reviewed KNIT system couples a Cas9 nickase to donor-DNA recruitment. Across tested loci and cell types it inserted 0.7-kb to greater-than-10-kb payloads, reached up to 89% efficiency in selected experiments and reduced indels, translocations and off-target editing relative to double-strand-break approaches.
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- Stable ID
science-2026-knit-programmable-dna-knock-in- Revision
science-2026-knit-programmable-dna-knock-in.v1- Field
- Biology and Biotechnology · Genome engineering
- Evidence
- Tier 2 · Peer reviewed: Yes
- Record state
- Current · Peer-reviewed preclinical platform
- Last checked
AI role
No substantive AI role was reported in the inspected article.
Record details
- Problem or result
- Efficient, programmable insertion of large DNA payloads into mammalian genomes without the rearrangement risks associated with double-strand DNA cleavage
- Authors
- Yanmin Gao, Yu Ma, Kexin Yu, Yintian Liu, Haifeng Wang et al.
- Institutions
- Tsinghua University and collaborators
- Result date
- Published July 22, 2026
Why it matters
Large, targeted DNA insertion is a central obstacle in genome engineering. A single-nick method could broaden research, gene-replacement and engineered-cell applications while avoiding some double-strand-break damage.
Limits
This is a preclinical platform result, not a human treatment. Performance varied by experiment; therapeutic-gene rescue was shown in cells, and antitumour activity was tested in vitro and in mouse models. Clinical delivery, durability, immune effects and rare genomic outcomes remain unresolved.
Sources
- Primary: Nature, Efficient and precise programmable DNA knock-in without double-strand breaks
- Primary: Primary KNIT data and project resources
- Independent: Tsinghua University research summary
Correction and revision history
- 2026-07-23 — Added after the final Nature publication, methods, source data, peer-review record and preclinical limits were checked.
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