Programmable RNA Cleavage and Recognition by a Natural CRISPR-Cas9 System from Neisseria meningitidis.

ABSTRACT: The microbial CRISPR systems enable adaptive defense against mobile elements and also provide formidable tools for genome engineering. The Cas9 proteins are type II CRISPR-associated, RNA-guided DNA endonucleases that identify double-stranded DNA targets by sequence complementarity and protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) recognition. Here we report that the type II-C CRISPR-Cas9 from Neisseria meningitidis (Nme) is capable of programmable, RNA-guided, site-specific cleavage and recognition of single-stranded RNA targets and that this ribonuclease activity is independent of the PAM sequence. We define the mechanistic feature and specificity constraint for RNA cleavage by NmeCas9 and also show that nuclease null dNmeCas9 binds to RNA target complementary to CRISPR RNA. Finally, we demonstrate t

SUBMITTER: Rousseau BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5889306 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature