The Cas10 nuclease activity relieves host dormancy to facilitate spacer acquisition and retention during type III-A CRISPR immunity.

ABSTRACT: A hallmark of CRISPR immunity is the acquisition of short viral DNA sequences, known as spacers, that are transcribed into guide RNAs to recognize complementary sequences. The staphylococcal type III-A CRISPR-Cas system uses guide RNAs to locate viral transcripts and start a response that displays two mechanisms of immunity. When immunity is triggered by an early-expressed phage RNA, degradation of viral ssDNA can cure the host from infection. In contrast, when the RNA guide targets a late-expressed transcript, defense requires the activity of Csm6, a non-specific RNase. Here we show that Csm6 triggers a growth arrest of the host that provides immunity at the population level which hinders viral propagation to allow the replication of non-infected cells. We demonstrate that this mechanism

SUBMITTER: Aviram N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10888962 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature