Pseudo-chaotic oscillations in CRISPR-virus coevolution predicted by bifurcation analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The CRISPR-Cas systems of adaptive antivirus immunity are present in most archaea and many bacteria, and provide resistance to specific viruses or plasmids by inserting fragments of foreign DNA into the host genome and then utilizing transcripts of these spacers to inactivate the cognate foreign genome. The recent development of powerful genome engineering tools on the basis of CRISPR-Cas has sharply increased the interest in the diversity and evolution of these systems. Comparative genomic data indicate that during evolution of prokaryotes CRISPR-Cas loci are lost and acquired via horizontal gene transfer at high rates. Mathematical modeling and initial experimental studies of CRISPR-carrying microbes and viruses reveal complex coevolutionary dynamics.

Results

We

SUBMITTER: Berezovskaya FS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4096434 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature