Intrinsic disorder is essential for Cas9 inhibition of anti-CRISPR AcrIIA5.

ABSTRACT: Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins provide adaptive immunity to prokaryotes against invading phages and plasmids. As a countermeasure, phages have evolved anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins that neutralize the CRISPR immunity. AcrIIA5, isolated from a virulent phage of Streptococcus thermophilus, strongly inhibits diverse Cas9 homologs, but the molecular mechanism underlying the Cas9 inhibition remains unknown. Here, we report the solution structure of AcrIIA5, which features a novel α/β fold connected to an N-terminal intrinsically disordered region (IDR). Remarkably, truncation of the N-terminal IDR abrogates the inhibitory activity against Cas9, revealing that the IDR is essential for Cas9 inhibition by AcrIIA5. Progressive t

SUBMITTER: An SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7367191 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature