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Microbiology

Slicer for DNA

Nature volume 468, pages 45–46 (2010)Cite this article

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Many bacteria and archaea protect themselves from viruses and other invasive genomes through a genetic interference pathway. The small RNAs that guide this defence specify the direct cleavage of foreign DNA. See Article p.67

All cells invest heavily in maintaining their genetic identities against invasion by foreign nucleic acids such as viral genomes. This problem is particularly acute for bacteria and archaea because of the pervasive presence of bacteriophages, plasmids and other mobile genetic elements in the biosphere. Genetic entities called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) have been revealed as adaptive, genomically encoded immune systems1 that protect bacteria and archaea from phages2, plasmids3 and probably other forms of foreign DNA.

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Figure 1: RNA-guided DNA cleavage by the core CRISPR machinery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Erik J. Sontheimer is in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. erik@northwestern.edu,

    Erik J. Sontheimer

  2. Luciano A. Marraffini is in the Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA. marraffini@mail.rockefeller.edu,

    Luciano A. Marraffini

Authors
  1. Erik J. Sontheimer
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  2. Luciano A. Marraffini
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Sontheimer, E., Marraffini, L. Slicer for DNA. Nature 468, 45–46 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/468045a

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