CRISPR Shields: Fending Off Diverse Cas Nucleases with Nucleus-like Structures

Rodolphe Barrangou; Erik J Sontheimer

doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2020.02.015

CRISPR Shields: Fending Off Diverse Cas Nucleases with Nucleus-like Structures

Mol Cell. 2020 Mar 5;77(5):934-936. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.02.015.

Authors

Rodolphe Barrangou¹, Erik J Sontheimer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. Electronic address: rbarran@ncsu.edu.
² RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 368 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Electronic address: erik.sontheimer@umassmed.edu.

PMID: 32142691
DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.02.015

Abstract

Two recent studies have uncovered a novel means by which bacteriophages thwart host immunity. Mendoza et al. (2020) and Malone et al. (2020) demonstrate that a nucleus-like proteinaceous structure shields phage DNA from CRISPR-associated nucleases encompassing Cascade-Cas3, Cas9, and Cas12.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

Bacteriophages / genetics*
CRISPR-Cas Systems
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats*
DNA
RNA

Substances

RNA
DNA

Grants and funding

R01 GM125797/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States