Saturation-seq integrates single-cell saturation genome editing and RNA-seq to quantify NFE2L2 (NRF2) variant effects

Authors

Strauss, M. E., Waters, A. J., Roberston, H., Brendler-Spaeth, T., Gontarczyk, A., Gupta, P., Kataria, S., Gitterman, D., Ntereke, T., Wells, L., Billington, J., Bassett, A., Cooper, S., Adams, D. J.

Abstract

Interpreting the functional consequences of variants remains one of the central unsolved problems in genomics and clinical genetics. Compounding this, most existing approaches rely on reductive, one-dimensional proxies such as cell growth to score variant effects, which can be a poor substitute for the rich, multidimensional phenotyping that is ultimately needed to understand how variants alter biology. This is especially true for variants known to act through gain-of-function/neomorphic mechanisms. We developed Saturation-seq, a high-throughput platform that combines saturation genome editing with single-cell DNA and RNA profiling to systematically map variant effects. Using CRISPR-based editing in a barcoded haploid cell line, we install hundreds of variants directly into endogenous genomic loci, testing them in multiplex and preserving the native coding and regulatory context. Single-cell amplicon and transcriptome sequencing enables direct linkage of each genomic edit to its transcriptional impact. We apply Saturation-seq to comprehensively characterize 230 variants in the recurrently mutated N-terminal region of NFE2L2 (NRF2), a master regulator of oxidative stress and an oncogene mutated in lung cancer. We define variant function with disruption scores computed from misregulation of known NRF2 targets in single-cell transcriptomes; scores separate pathogenic/benign truthset variants with >90% accuracy and enabled interpretation of TCGA and TRACERx patient tumor data, as well as a rare NFE2L2 germline variant linked to a developmental syndrome. Thus, we establish a broadly applicable high-resolution single-cell variant-to-function platform with a rich phenotypic readout.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 05 Jul 2026.

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