Evolution of CRISPR-associated Endonucleases as Inferred from Resurrected Proteins
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Evolution of CRISPR-associated Endonucleases as Inferred from Resurrected Proteins
CIC nanoGUNE Seminars
- Speaker
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Ylenia Jabalera, Post-doctoral Researcher, Nanobiotechnology
- When
-
2022/10/03
13:00
- Place
- nanoGUNE seminar room, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia - San Sebastian
- Add to calendar
-
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**Evolution of CRISPR-associated Endonucleases as Inferred from Resurrected
Proteins**
Ylenia Jabalera
Post-doctoral Researcher, Nanobiotechnology, CIC nanoGUNE
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated
Cas9 protein is an effector that plays a major role in a prokaryotic adaptive
immune system, by which invading DNA can be targeted and cut for inactivation.
In this mechanism, the Cas9 endonuclease is directed to target sites by a
guide RNA (gRNA) where Cas9 can recognize specific sequences (protospacer-
adjacent motif; PAMs) in foreign DNA, which then serve as an anchoring point
for cleavage of the adjacent RNA-matching DNA region. Since its discovery, the
nature and application of CRISPR-Cas9 systems have been extensively studied.
However, its origin and evolution are matter of debate. In this work, we trace
the evolutionary history of CRISPR-Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes from
ancient nucleases (anCas) in extinct firmicutes species 2.6 billion years old
to the current day Cas9s. The characterization of anCas proteins and their
evolutionary trajectory uncovers unique Cas endonucleases with unexpected
properties.