title: Deciphering and shaping bacterial diversity through CRISPR.
abstract: Phage and bacteria have engaged in a sustainable arms race, a seemingly endless conflict, since the beginning of time. CRISPR-Cas systems shape and generate environmental diversity through evolution of both predator and prey genomes. Indeed, the gain or loss of CRISPR-mediated immunity and genome maintenance can spark speciation in bacteria. Alternatively, turning CRISPR-Cas on the host by targeting chromosomal DNA has led to the development of next-generation smart antimicrobials and genetic screening and engineering technologies. Although the ability to target and cleave DNA in a sequence-specific manner is a powerful mechanism utilized by bacteria to fend off phage, plasmids, and potentially harmful nucleic acids, it is also a promising technology for programmable targeting of undesirable bacteria in microbiome consortia.
authors.affiliation: Genomic Sciences Program, Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, 400 Dan Allen Drive, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624, United States.
authors.forename: Alexandra E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Briner
authors.affiliation: Genomic Sciences Program, Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, 400 Dan Allen Drive, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624, United States. Electronic address: rodolphe_barrangou@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Rodolphe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barrangou
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems / Q000235:genetics*; D064112:Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics*