It is not uncommon for a CRISPR genotyping workflow to need 12 days of cell growth before there is enough material to extract usable DNA. The bottleneck usually is not the editing. It is the extraction method afterwards.

Magnetic bead and silica-column extraction methods lose DNA during the process. To compensate, labs grow larger starting populations of cells, which means longer proliferation windows before genotyping can even begin. A process that could take days stretches into weeks.

Enzymatic extraction sidesteps that trade-off. A single-tube, temperature-driven reaction lyses cells and preserves nucleic acids without the multiple washes and transfers that cost DNA along the way. The result is usable DNA from a very small number of cells, in some cases a single cell, without the multi-step losses of conventional methods.

That changes the maths on proliferation time. Fewer cells needed means less time spent waiting for colonies to grow before screening can start.

How much of your CRISPR workflow timeline is editing, and how much is just waiting for cells to multiply?