# A CRISPRi screen of essential genes of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

> **NIH NIH R21** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $240,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the sole causative agent of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea that
only lives in the human population. N. gonorrhoeae has co-evolved with its human host throughout
modern history and has evolved specific mechanisms of pathogenesis that relate to its mode of
transmission and the anatomical sites it colonizes. Rates of gonorrhea are rising along with the rapid
acquisition of antibiotic resistance. There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms of N.
gonorrhoeae pathogenesis to develop new treatment options or vaccine candidates. N. gonorrhoeae
is naturally competent for DNA transformation and is one of a few bacterial species that does not
regulate competence. This grant will use CRISPR interference technology (CRISPRi) to determine
the essential genes of N. gonorrhoeae and provide the research community with the ability to regulate
the essential genes. This work will complement our funded R24 resource grant, which creates
insertional mutants of every open reading frame of N. gonorrhoeae but cannot mutate essential
genes. The R24 project is leveraging the transformation competence of N. gonorrhoeae and synthetic
DNA constructs to create ordered gene knockout libraries of the two most used N. gonorrhoeae
strains, MS11 and FA1090. These strains represent different phylogenetic clades of the bacterium.
With this conditional mutant library of CRISPRi, researchers can interrogate the entire N.
gonorrhoeae gene content to advance fundamental research and vaccine or antimicrobial
development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10656956
- **Project number:** 1R21AI176389-01
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Hank S. SEIFERT
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $240,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-07-21 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10656956

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10656956, A CRISPRi screen of essential genes of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (1R21AI176389-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10656956. Licensed CC0.

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