Diversity of CRISPR loci in Escherichia coli

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) and CAS (CRISPR-associated sequence) proteins are constituents of a novel genetic barrier that limits horizontal gene transfer in prokaryotes by means of an uncharacterized mechanism. The fundamental discovery of small RNAs as the gu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbiology (Society for General Microbiology) 2010-05, Vol.156 (Pt 5), p.1351-1361
Main Authors: Díez-Villaseñor, C, Almendros, C, García-Martínez, J, Mojica, F J M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
DNA, Bacterial
DNA, Intergenic
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli Proteins - genetics
Genetic Variation
Inverted Repeat Sequences
Molecular Sequence Data
Species Specificity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) and CAS (CRISPR-associated sequence) proteins are constituents of a novel genetic barrier that limits horizontal gene transfer in prokaryotes by means of an uncharacterized mechanism. The fundamental discovery of small RNAs as the guides of the defence apparatus arose as a result of Escherichia coli studies. However, a survey of the system diversity in this species in order to further contribute to the understanding of the CRISPR mode of action has not yet been performed. Here we describe two CRISPR/CAS systems found in E. coli, following the analysis of 100 strains representative of the species' diversity. Our results substantiate different levels of activity between loci of both CRISPR types, as well as different target preferences and CRISPR relevances for particular groups of strains. Interestingly, the data suggest that the degeneration of one CRISPR/CAS system in E. coli ancestors could have been brought about by self-interference.
ISSN:1350-0872
1465-2080
DOI:10.1099/mic.0.036046-0