Harnessing the CRISPR-Cas Systems to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria has become one of the most serious threats to global health, necessitating the development of novel antimicrobial strategies. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) system, known as a bacteria...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in microbiology 2021-08, Vol.12, p.716064-716064
Main Authors: Duan, Cheng, Cao, Huiluo, Zhang, Lian-Hui, Xu, Zeling
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antimicrobial resistance
CRISPR-Cas system
genome targeting
Microbiology
phage delivery
plasmid curing
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Summary:The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria has become one of the most serious threats to global health, necessitating the development of novel antimicrobial strategies. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) system, known as a bacterial adaptive immune system, can be repurposed to selectively target and destruct bacterial genomes other than invasive genetic elements. Thus, the CRISPR-Cas system offers an attractive option for the development of the next-generation antimicrobials to combat infectious diseases especially those caused by AMR pathogens. However, the application of CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials remains at a very preliminary stage and numerous obstacles await to be solved. In this mini-review, we summarize the development of using type I, type II, and type VI CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials to eradicate AMR pathogens and plasmids in the past a few years. We also discuss the most common challenges in applying CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials and potential solutions to overcome them.
ISSN:1664-302X
1664-302X
DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2021.716064