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Updated: Aug 3, 2025

Author Spotlight: Characterizing DNA Replication of Pathogenic Repeats to Uncover Mechanisms of Replication Fork Stalling and Expansion
Published on: September 13, 2024
Clarifying CRISPR: Why Repeats Identified in the Human Genome Should Not Be Considered CRISPRs
Murat Buyukyoruk1, William S Henriques1, Blake Wiedenheft1
1Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
Abstract:
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and their associated genes (cas) are essential components of adaptive immune systems that protect bacteria and archaea from viral infection. CRISPR-Cas systems are found in about 40% of bacterial and 85% of archaeal genomes, but not in eukaryotic genomes. Recently, an article published in Communications Biology reported the identification of 12,572 putative CRISPRs in the human genome, which they call "hCRISPR." In this study, we attempt to reproduce this analysis and show that repetitive elements identified as putative CRISPR loci in the human genome contain neither the repeat-spacer-repeat architecture nor the cas genes characteristic of functional CRISPR systems.
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