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Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays

A hallmark of CRISPR-Cas immunity systems is the CRISPR array, a genomic locus consisting of short, repeated sequences (‘repeats’) interspersed with short, variable sequences (‘spacers’). CRISPR arrays are transcribed and processed into individual CRISPR RNAs that each include a single spacer, and d...

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Autores principales: Stringer, Anne M, Baniulyte, Gabriele, Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica, Seed, Kimberley D, Wade, Joseph T
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7665894/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33124980
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58182
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author Stringer, Anne M
Baniulyte, Gabriele
Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica
Seed, Kimberley D
Wade, Joseph T
author_facet Stringer, Anne M
Baniulyte, Gabriele
Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica
Seed, Kimberley D
Wade, Joseph T
author_sort Stringer, Anne M
collection PubMed
description A hallmark of CRISPR-Cas immunity systems is the CRISPR array, a genomic locus consisting of short, repeated sequences (‘repeats’) interspersed with short, variable sequences (‘spacers’). CRISPR arrays are transcribed and processed into individual CRISPR RNAs that each include a single spacer, and direct Cas proteins to complementary sequences in invading nucleic acid. Most bacterial CRISPR array transcripts are unusually long for untranslated RNA, suggesting the existence of mechanisms to prevent premature transcription termination by Rho, a conserved bacterial transcription termination factor that rapidly terminates untranslated RNA. We show that Rho can prematurely terminate transcription of bacterial CRISPR arrays, and we identify a widespread antitermination mechanism that antagonizes Rho to facilitate complete transcription of CRISPR arrays. Thus, our data highlight the importance of transcription termination and antitermination in the evolution of bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems.
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spelling pubmed-76658942020-11-16 Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays Stringer, Anne M Baniulyte, Gabriele Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica Seed, Kimberley D Wade, Joseph T eLife Genetics and Genomics A hallmark of CRISPR-Cas immunity systems is the CRISPR array, a genomic locus consisting of short, repeated sequences (‘repeats’) interspersed with short, variable sequences (‘spacers’). CRISPR arrays are transcribed and processed into individual CRISPR RNAs that each include a single spacer, and direct Cas proteins to complementary sequences in invading nucleic acid. Most bacterial CRISPR array transcripts are unusually long for untranslated RNA, suggesting the existence of mechanisms to prevent premature transcription termination by Rho, a conserved bacterial transcription termination factor that rapidly terminates untranslated RNA. We show that Rho can prematurely terminate transcription of bacterial CRISPR arrays, and we identify a widespread antitermination mechanism that antagonizes Rho to facilitate complete transcription of CRISPR arrays. Thus, our data highlight the importance of transcription termination and antitermination in the evolution of bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020-10-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7665894/ /pubmed/33124980 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58182 Text en © 2020, Stringer et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Genetics and Genomics
Stringer, Anne M
Baniulyte, Gabriele
Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica
Seed, Kimberley D
Wade, Joseph T
Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title_full Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title_fullStr Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title_full_unstemmed Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title_short Transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial CRISPR arrays
title_sort transcription termination and antitermination of bacterial crispr arrays
topic Genetics and Genomics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7665894/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33124980
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58182
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