"The idea that a single-celled bacterium can defend itself against viruses in a similar way as the 1.8-trillion-cell human immune system is still mind-blowing for molecular biologist Joshua Modell of Johns Hopkins University. Scientists discovered 20 years ago that bacteria use an adaptive defense system called CRISPR that allows microbes to recognize and destroy viral invaders on repeat encounters. In a recent study published in Cell Host & Microbe,"
"The CRISPR system allows bacteria to edit their own genome. After being exposed to a virus, bacteria can use a special enzyme to insert small pieces of the virus's DNA, called spacers, into their genome, which helps them recognize and fight off the virus next time. Scientists now use this enzyme as a pair of genetic scissors to tweak DNA in everything from lab experiments to gene therapies, but researchers still knew little about how this process plays out in bacteria."
Bacteria employ an adaptive immune system called CRISPR that enables recognition and destruction of viral invaders after repeat encounters. The CRISPR mechanism inserts short viral DNA fragments, called spacers, into the bacterial genome using a specialized enzyme, providing sequence-based memory of past infections. That enzyme functions as a programmable genetic editor in laboratory and therapeutic applications. Controlled experiments with Streptococcus pyogenes and its infecting phages examined how bacteria acquire viral DNA. Most phages cause immediate cell rupture (lysis), while rare infections result in viral DNA integrating and becoming dormant.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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