The Adaptive Immune System of Haloferax volcanii.

ABSTRACT: To fight off invading genetic elements, prokaryotes have developed an elaborate defence system that is both adaptable and heritable-the CRISPR-Cas system (CRISPR is short for: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and Cas: CRISPR associated). Comprised of proteins and multiple small RNAs, this prokaryotic defence system is present in 90% of archaeal and 40% of bacterial species, and enables foreign intruders to be eliminated in a sequence-specific manner. There are three major types (I-III) and at least 14 subtypes of this system, with only some of the subtypes having been analysed in detail, and many aspects of the defence reaction remaining to be elucidated. Few archaeal examples have so far been analysed. Here we summarize the characteristics of the CRISPR-Cas system

SUBMITTER: Maier LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4390866 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature