Anti-CRISPR: discovery, mechanism and function
April Pawluk1, Alan R Davidson2, Karen L Maxwell1
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1M1, Canada.
Abstract:
CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems are widespread among bacteria and archaea. Recent studies have shown that these systems have minimal long-term evolutionary effects in limiting horizontal gene transfer. This suggests that the ability to evade CRISPR-Cas immunity must also be widespread in phages and other mobile genetic elements. In this Progress article, we discuss recent discoveries that highlight how phages inactivate CRISPR-Cas systems by using anti-CRISPR proteins, and we outline evolutionary and biotechnological implications of their activity.
Related Concept Videos
CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing
CRISPR
The Antiviral System of Bacteria and Archaea: CRISPR
CRISPR and crRNAs
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...
Homologous Recombination
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...


