In:
mBio, American Society for Microbiology, Vol. 8, No. 4 ( 2017-09-06)
Kurzfassung:
While the majority of CRISPR-Cas immune systems adapt to foreign genetic elements by capturing segments of invasive DNA, some systems carry reverse transcriptases (RTs) that enable adaptation to RNA molecules. From analysis of available bacterial sequence data, we find evidence that RT-based RNA adaptation machinery has been able to join with CRISPR-Cas immune systems in many, diverse bacterial species. To investigate whether the abilities to adapt to DNA and RNA molecules are utilized for defense against distinct classes of invaders in nature, we sequenced CRISPR arrays from samples of commercial-scale open-air cultures of Arthrospira platensis , a cyanobacterium that contains both RT-lacking and RT-containing CRISPR-Cas systems. We uncovered a diverse pool of naturally occurring immune memories, with the RT-lacking locus acquiring a number of segments matching known viral or bacterial genes, while the RT-containing locus has acquired spacers from a distinct sequence pool for which the source remains enigmatic.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
2161-2129
,
2150-7511
DOI:
10.1128/mBio.00897-17
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
American Society for Microbiology
Publikationsdatum:
2017
ZDB Id:
2557172-2
