Cas9
- Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyCombined and Distinct Roles of Agr Proteins in Clostridioides difficile 630 Sporulation, Motility, and Toxin Production...
C. difficile is a spore-forming, toxigenic, anaerobic bacterium that causes severe gastrointestinal illness. Understanding the ways in which C. difficile senses growth conditions to regulate toxin expression and sporulation is essential to advancing our understanding of this pathogen.
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyA CRISPR Interference System for Efficient and Rapid Gene Knockdown in Caulobacter crescentus
Caulobacter crescentus is a major model organism for understanding cell cycle regulation and cellular asymmetry. The current genetic tools for deleting or silencing the expression of individual genes, particularly those essential for viability, are time-consuming and labor-intensive, which limits global genetic studies. Here, we optimized CRISPR interference (CRISPRi...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyPotent Cas9 Inhibition in Bacterial and Human Cells by AcrIIC4 and AcrIIC5 Anti-CRISPR Proteins
As one of their countermeasures against CRISPR-Cas immunity, bacteriophages have evolved natural inhibitors known as anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins. Despite the existence of such examples for type II CRISPR-Cas systems, we currently know relatively little about the breadth of Cas9 inhibitors, and most of their direct Cas9 targets are uncharacterized. In this work we identify two new type II-C anti-CRISPRs and their cognate Cas9 orthologs,...
- Research ArticleRapid, Selection-Free, High-Efficiency Genome Editing in Protozoan Parasites Using CRISPR-Cas9 Ribonucleoproteins
Protozoan parasites remain some of the highest-impact human and animal pathogens, with very limited treatment and prevention options. The development of improved therapeutics and vaccines depends on a better understanding of the unique biology of these organisms, and understanding their biology, in turn, requires the ability to track and manipulate the products of genes. In this work, we describe new methods that are available to...