Ecological drivers of CRISPR immune systems.

ABSTRACT: CRISPR-Cas is the only known adaptive immune system of prokaryotes. It is a powerful defense system against mobile genetic elements such as bacteriophages. While CRISPR-Cas systems can be found throughout the prokaryotic tree of life, they are distributed unevenly across taxa and environments. Since adaptive immunity is more useful in environments where pathogens persist or reoccur, the density and/or diversity of the host/pathogen community may drive the uneven distribution of CRISPR systems. We directly tested hypotheses connecting CRISPR incidence with prokaryotic density/diversity by analyzing 16S rRNA and metagenomic data from publicly available environmental sequencing projects. In terms of density, we found that CRISPR systems are significantly favored in lower abundance (less dense

SUBMITTER: Xiao W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11651112 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature