The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for the
targeted modification of
RNA molecules by
RNA prime editing. The compositions and methods may be conducted invitro or
in vivo within cells (e.g., human cells) for the therapeutic correction of
disease-causing mutations and / or installation of motifs or mutations in
RNA molecules of interest as a tool for scientific research. The disclosure provides compositions and methods for conducting RNA prime editing of a target
RNA molecule (e.g., an RNA transcript) that enables the incorporation of one or more
nucleotide changes and / or targeted
mutagenesis of a target
RNA molecule. The
nucleotide change can include a single-
nucleotide change, an
insertion of one or more nucleotides, or a deletion of one or more nucleotides. More in particular, the disclosure provides a variety of configurations of the RNA prime editors each comprising a
nucleic acid programmable RNA binding proteins (napRNAbp), such as Cas13, and an RNA-dependent
RNA polymerase (RDRP), which are provided as fusion proteins or which can be separately provided in trans. The RNA prime editors are guided to a target RNA site by a
guide RNA, which can be a rpegRNA that includes a template region for the synthesis of an
RNA sequence to be installed on the
RNA molecule attached to an available 3′ terminus. In others embodiments, the RNA template can be provided in trans.