Related papers: How the other half lives: CRISPR-Cas's influence o…
Bacteria and archaea have evolved an adaptive, heritable immune system that recognizes and protects against viruses or plasmids. This system, known as the CRISPR-Cas system, allows the host to recognize and incorporate short foreign DNA or…
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) constitute a multi-functional, constantly evolving immune system in bacteria and archaea cells. A heritable, molecular memory is…
Features of the CRISPR-Cas system, in which bacteria integrate small segments of phage genome (spacers) into their DNA to neutralize future attacks, suggest that its effect is not limited to individual bacteria but may control the fate and…
CRISPR-Cas systems are an adaptive immunity that protects prokaryotes against foreign genetic elements. Genetic templates acquired during past infection events enable DNA-interacting enzymes to recognize foreign DNA for destruction. Due to…
Some prokaryotes possess CRISPR-Cas systems that provide adaptive immunity to viruses guided by DNA segments called spacers acquired from invading phage. However, the patchy incidence and limited memory breadth of CRISPR-Cas systems suggest…
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), linked with CRISPR associated (CAS) genes, play a profound role in the interactions between phage and their bacterial hosts. It is now well understood that CRISPR-CAS…
The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) mechanism allows bacteria to adaptively defend against phages by acquiring short genomic sequences (spacers) that target specific sequences in the viral genome. We…
Some bacteria and archaea possess an immune system, based on the CRISPR-Cas mechanism, that confers adaptive immunity against phage. In such species, individual bacteria maintain a "cassette" of viral DNA elements called spacers as a memory…
CRISPR-Cas mediated immunity in bacteria allows bacterial populations to protect themselves against pathogens. However, it also exposes them to the dangers of auto-immunity by developing protection that targets its own genome. Using a…
CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive immune mechanism that has been harnessed for a variety of genetic engineering applications: the Cas9 protein recognises a 2-5nt DNA motif, known as the PAM, and a programmable crRNA binds a target DNA sequence that…
CRISPR is a newly discovered prokaryotic immune system. Bacteria and archaea with this system incorporate genetic material from invading viruses into their genomes, providing protection against future infection by similar viruses. The…
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in bacterial and archaeal DNA have recently been shown to be a new type of anti-viral immune system in these organisms. We here study the diversity of spacers in CRISPR…
Protein tagging with CRISPR-Cas9 enables the investigation of protein function in its native environment but is limited by low homology-directed repair (HDR) efficiency causing low knock-in rates. We present a detailed pipeline using HDR…
We estimate the number of spacers in a CRISPR array of a bacterium which maximizes its protection against a viral attack. The optimality follows from a competition between two trends: too few distinct spacers make the bacteria vulnerable to…
Certain defense mechanisms of phages against the immune system of their bacterial host rely on cooperation of phages. Motivated by this example we analyse invasion probabilities of cooperative parasites in host populations that are…
The biological immune system is a robust, complex, adaptive system that defends the body from foreign pathogens. It is able to categorize all cells (or molecules) within the body as self or non-self substances. It does this with the help of…
Today, the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) region within bacterial and archaeal genomes is known to encode an adaptive immune system. We rely on previous results on the evolution of the CRISPR arrays,…
Related groups of microbes are widely distributed across Earth's habitats, implying numerous dispersal and adaptation events over evolutionary time. However, to date, relatively little is known about the characteristics and mechanisms of…
The biological immune system is a robust, complex, adaptive system that defends the body from foreign pathogens. It is able to categorize all cells (or molecules) within the body as self-cells or non-self cells. It does this with the help…
CRISPR/Cas has the potential to revolutionize medicine, agriculture, and biology. Understanding the trajectory of CRISPR research, how it is influenced and who pays for it, is an essential research policy question. We use a combination of…