Seminario impartido por Rafael Molina, del Departamento de Cristalografía del IQF
The discovery of an adaptive prokaryotic immune system called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), in which the repeats associate with Cas (CRISPR associated) proteins, has constituted a revolution in life sciences. Their straightforward development into versatile nucleases by guide RNA exchange paved the way for modifications à la carte that can be employed in biomedicine and biotechnology. Several classes of CRISPR systems have been characterized, of which the type III CRISPR systems exhibit the most unique functions. Members of type III cleave both RNA and DNA not only through their corresponding effector complexes but also by CRISPR-Cas associated proteins activated by second messengers produced by those effector complexes. Furthermore, the recent discovery of second messenger degrading proteins called ring nucleases adds an extra regulatory layer to fine-tune these immunity systems. Hence, this presentation will give a general overview of CRISPR technology focusing on our findings about the bacterial defense mechanisms that govern type III CRISPR interference systems. Finally, I will introduce the current knowledge of the antiphage arsenal beyond CRISPR illuminating that these mechanisms are richer than originally anticipated several years ago. Collectively, understanding the molecular basis of the processes pivoting around bacterial immunity has profound implications for phage-based therapies and the development of new biotechnological tools. References Molina, R*. et al. (2022) Nucleic Acids Research, 50, 11199-11213 Molina, R*. et al. (2021) Nucleic Acids Research, 49, 12577-12590 Molina, R. et al. (2020) Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 65, 119-129 Molina, R. et al. (2019) Nature Communications, 10, 4302.
Fecha del seminario: 30/11/2023 12:00
Lugar del seminario: salón de actos IQF
Ponente del seminario: Rafael Molina
