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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Substrate Generation for Endonucleases of CRISPR/Cas Systems
Published on: September 8, 2012
Diverse evolutionary roots and mechanistic variations of the CRISPR-Cas systems
Prarthana Mohanraju1, Kira S Makarova2, Bernd Zetsche3
1Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, 6703 HB Wageningen, Netherlands.
Abstract:
Adaptive immunity had been long thought of as an exclusive feature of animals. However, the discovery of the CRISPR-Cas defense system, present in almost half of prokaryotic genomes, proves otherwise. Because of the everlasting parasite-host arms race, CRISPR-Cas has rapidly evolved through horizontal transfer of complete loci or individual modules, resulting in extreme structural and functional diversity. CRISPR-Cas systems are divided into two distinct classes that each consist of three types and multiple subtypes. We discuss recent advances in CRISPR-Cas research that reveal elaborate molecular mechanisms and provide for a plausible scenario of CRISPR-Cas evolution. We also briefly describe the latest developments of a wide range of CRISPR-based applications.
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