title: The bacterial CRISPR/Cas system as analog of the mammalian adaptive immune system.
abstract: Bacteria, like mammals, have to constantly defend themselves from viral attack. Like mammals, they use both innate and adaptive defense mechanisms. In this point of view we highlight the commonalities between defense systems of bacteria and mammals. Our focus is on the recently discovered bacterial adaptive immune system, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and their associated proteins (Cas). We suggest that fundamental aspects of CRISPR/Cas immunity may be viewed in light of the vast accumulated knowledge on the mammalian immune system, and propose that further insights will be revealed by thorough comparison between the systems.
authors.affiliation: Tel Aviv University, Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Moran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goren
authors.forename: Ido
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yosef
authors.forename: Rotem
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Edgar
authors.forename: Udi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Qimron
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000818:Animals; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D055029:Inverted Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes