BN forum Alicia Rodriguez Molina

CRISPR-Cas systems provide adaptive immunity in prokaryotes through targeting of invading nucleic acids by ribonucleoprotein effector complexes. Besides target recognition and degradation by these effectors, some of these systems also contain ancillary proteins with different activities that further expand the immunity effect, including other nucleases and proteases. Additionally, some CRISPR-Cas systems have been repurposed during evolution for alternative functions rather than providing adaptive immunity. These non-canonical CRISPR-Cas systems often lack nuclease activity and exploit their specific CRISPR-RNA (crRNA) guided target detection for other purposes. We are working on understanding the molecular mechanism of a repurposed DNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas system that lacks nuclease activity and co-occurs with a transcriptional regulator and a putative toxin. We hypothesize that all the components of this system work together to provide protection against invaders such as bacteriophages and conjugated plasmids, probably activating cell dormancy or cell death.

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