Diverse evolutionary roots and mechanistic variations of the CRISPR-Cas systems

作者：Mohanraju Prarthana; Makarova Kira S; Zetsche Bernd; Zhang Feng; Koonin Eugene V; van der Oost John

来源：Science, 2016, 353(6299): 556-+.

DOI：10.1126/science.aad5147

Adaptive immunity had been long thought of as an exclusive feature of animals. However, the discovery of the CRISPR-Cas defense system, present in almost half of prokaryotic genomes, proves otherwise. Because of the everlasting parasite-host arms race, CRISPR-Cas has rapidly evolved through horizontal transfer of complete loci or individual modules, resulting in extreme structural and functional diversity. CRISPR-Cas systems are divided into two distinct classes that each consist of three types and multiple subtypes. We discuss recent advances in CRISPR-Cas research that reveal elaborate molecular mechanisms and provide for a plausible scenario of CRISPR-Cas evolution. We also briefly describe the latest developments of a wide range of CRISPR-based applications.

• 出版日期2016-8-5