title: [Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats: structure, function and application--a review].
abstract: CRISPRs (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), the basis of spoligotyping technology, can provide prokaryotes with heritable adaptive immunity against phages' invasion. Studies on CRISPR loci and their associated elements, including various CAS (CRISPR-associated) proteins and leader sequences, are still in its infant period. We introduce the brief history', structure, function, bioinformatics research and application of this amazing immunity system in prokaryotic organism for inspiring more scientists to find their interest in this developing topic.
authors.affiliation: State Key laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China. yujuncui@sina.com
authors.forename: Yujun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Ruifu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007110:Immunity, Active; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals