Mobile CRISPR/Cas-Mediated Bacteriophage Resistance in Lactococcus lactis

Lactococcus lactis is a biotechnological workhorse for food fermentations and potentially therapeutic products and is therefore widely consumed by humans. It is predominantly used as a starter microbe for fermented dairy products, and specialized strains have adapted from a plant environment through reductive evolution and horizontal gene transfer as evidenced by the association of adventitious traits with mobile elements. Specifically, L. lactis has armed itself with a myriad of plasmid-encoded bacteriophage defensive systems to protect against viral predation. This known arsenal had not included CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated proteins), which forms a remarkable microbial immunity system against invading DNA. Although CRISPR/Cas systems are common in the genomes of closely related lactic acid bacteria (LAB), none was identified within the eight published lactococcal genomes. Furthermore, a PCR-based search of the common LAB CRISPR/Cas systems (Types I and II) in 383 industrial L. lactis strains proved unsuccessful. Here we describe a novel, Type III, self-transmissible, plasmid-encoded, phage-interfering CRISPR/Cas discovered in L. lactis. The native CRISPR spacers confer resistance based on sequence identity to corresponding lactococcal phage. The interference is directed at phages problematic to the dairy industry, indicative of a responsive system. Moreover, targeting could be modified by engineering the spacer content. The 62.8-kb plasmid was shown to be conjugally transferrable to various strains. Its mobility should facilitate dissemination within microbial communities and provide a readily applicable system to naturally introduce CRISPR/Cas to industrially relevant strains for enhanced phage resistance and prevention against acquisition of undesirable genes.