Confirming the binding specificity of CRISPR-Cas9

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system has two major components: a synthetic RNA "guide RNA" (gRNA) and a non-specific CRISPR-Cas9 protein with nuclease activity. Structurally, the gRNA is composed of a "scaffold" sequence which is essential for Cas9 enzyme's binding to gRNA and a user-designated "spacer" or "targeting" sequence which defines the genomic target to be manipulated. Using ChIP grade CRISPR-Cas9 antibodies, it is very easy to detect/quantify the binding specificity of Cas9 enzyme with a given gRNA and targeted or non-targeted region primers.