Structural basis for AcrVA4 inhibition of specific CRISPR-Cas12a

Knott, Gavin J.; Cress, Brady F.; Liu, Jun-Jie; Thornton, Brittney W.; Lew, Rachel J.; Al-Shayeb, Basem; Rosenberg, Daniel J.; Hammel, Michal; Adler, Benjamin A.; Lobba, Marco J.; Xu, Michael; Arkin, Adam P.; Fellmann, Christof; Doudna, Jennifer A.

doi:10.7554/eLife.49110

Structural basis for AcrVA4 inhibition of specific CRISPR-Cas12a

Journal Article · Fri Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · eLife

DOI:https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49110· OSTI ID:1560609

^[1]; Cress, Brady F. ^[1]; Liu, Jun-Jie ^[1]; Thornton, Brittney W. ^[1]; Lew, Rachel J. ^[2]; Al-Shayeb, Basem ^[1]; ^[3]; Hammel, Michal ^[4]; Adler, Benjamin A. ^[1]; Lobba, Marco J. ^[1]; Xu, Michael ^[1]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[7]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Gladstone Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Gladstone Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States); Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Gladstone Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

CRISPR-Cas systems provide bacteria and archaea with programmable immunity against mobile genetic elements. Evolutionary pressure by CRISPR-Cas has driven bacteriophage to evolve small protein inhibitors, anti-CRISPRs (Acrs), that block Cas enzyme function by wide-ranging mechanisms. We show here that the inhibitor AcrVA4 uses a previously undescribed strategy to recognize the L. bacterium Cas12a (LbCas12a) pre-crRNA processing nuclease, forming a Cas12a dimer, and allosterically inhibiting DNA binding. The Ac. species Cas12a (AsCas12a) enzyme, widely used for genome editing applications, contains an ancestral helical bundle that blocks AcrVA4 binding and allows it to escape anti-CRISPR recognition. Using biochemical, microbiological, and human cell editing experiments, we show that Cas12a orthologs can be rendered either sensitive or resistant to AcrVA4 through rational structural engineering informed by evolution. Together, these findings explain a new mode of CRISPR-Cas inhibition and illustrate how structural variability in Cas effectors can drive opportunistic co-evolution of inhibitors by bacteriophage.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1560609

Journal Information:: eLife, Journal Name: eLife Vol. 8; ISSN 2050-084X

Publisher:: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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