Genome aware CRISPR gRNA target prediction for parasitic nematodes.

The pace of research towards a genetic model to understand the unique molecular biology of parasitic nematodes has increased recently. This research has developed a diverse suite of genetic tools for a variety of parasitic nematodes. CRISPR/Cas9 technology in particular offers much promise as a game changing tool for researchers studying parasitic nematodes. Unlike RNAi, which depends on diverse nematode effectors to silence gene expression, the effectors for CRISPR/Cas9 mutations are typically supplied by the experimenter, making gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 ideal for testing on genetically intractable nematode systems. To facilitate the development of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for parasitic nematodes, I here describe a tool for identifying gRNA targets and diagnostic primers to a user supplied sequence. The software attempts to minimize non-specific targets by interrogating the genomes of parasitic nematodes. This software is freely available online and features an intuitive interface to help researchers design effective CRISPR experiments for parasitic nematodes.