The CRISPR-Cas immune system: Biology, mechanisms and applications

Viruses are a common threat to cellular life, not the least to bacteria and archaea who constitute the majority of life on Earth. Consequently, a variety of mechanisms to resist virus infection has evolved. A recent discovery is the adaptive immune system in prokaryotes, a type of system previously thought to be present only in vertebrates. The system, called CRISPR-Cas, provide sequence-specific adaptive immunity and fundamentally affect our understanding of virus-host interaction. CRISPR-based immunity acts by integrating short virus sequences in the cell's CRISPR locus, allowing the cell to remember, recognize and clear infections. There has been rapid advancement in our understanding of this immune system…

• WS
  Wenner-Gren Stiftelserna
• V
  Vetenskapsrådet
• UU
  Uppsala Universitet
• UO
  University of Mumbai
• BA
  Bhabha Atomic Research Centre