TY - JOUR AU - Tuminauskaite, Donata AU - Norkunaite, Danguole AU - Fiodorovaite, Marija AU - Tumas, Sarunas AU - Songailiene, Inga AU - Tamulaitiene, Giedre AU - Sinkunas, Tomas PY - 2020 DA - 2020/06/15 TI - DNA interference is controlled by R-loop length in a type I-F1 CRISPR-Cas system JO - BMC Biology SP - 65 VL - 18 IS - 1 AB - CRISPR-Cas systems, which provide adaptive immunity against foreign nucleic acids in prokaryotes, can serve as useful molecular tools for multiple applications in genome engineering. Diverse CRISPR-Cas systems originating from distinct prokaryotes function through a common mechanism involving the assembly of small crRNA molecules and Cas proteins into a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) effector complex, and formation of an R-loop structure upon binding to the target DNA. Extensive research on the I-E subtype established the prototypical mechanism of DNA interference in type I systems, where the coordinated action of a ribonucleoprotein Cascade complex and Cas3 protein destroys foreign DNA. However, diverse protein composition between type I subtypes suggests differences in the mechanism of DNA interference that could be exploited for novel practical applications that call for further exploration of these systems. SN - 1741-7007 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00799-z DO - 10.1186/s12915-020-00799-z ID - Tuminauskaite2020 ER -