title: Unravelling the structural and mechanistic basis of CRISPR-Cas systems.
abstract: Bacteria and archaea have evolved sophisticated adaptive immune systems, known as CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-CRISPR-associated proteins) systems, which target and inactivate invading viruses and plasmids. Immunity is acquired by integrating short fragments of foreign DNA into CRISPR loci, and following transcription and processing of these loci, the CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) guide the Cas proteins to complementary invading nucleic acid, which results in target interference. In this Review, we summarize the recent structural and biochemical insights that have been gained for the three major types of CRISPR-Cas systems, which together provide a detailed molecular understanding of the unique and conserved mechanisms of RNA-guided adaptive immunity in bacteria and archaea.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Oost
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands. [2] Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK.
authors.forename: Edze R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Westra
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, PO Box 173520, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University, PO Box 173520, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA.
authors.forename: Blake
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wiedenheft
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D064112:Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats / Q000502:physiology*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins