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Title: Structural basis for AcrVA4 inhibition of specific CRISPR-Cas12a

Journal Article · · eLife
DOI:https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49110· OSTI ID:1560609
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Gladstone Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. Gladstone Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States); Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  7. 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.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1560609
Journal Information:
eLife, Vol. 8; ISSN 2050-084X
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Making the cut(s): how Cas12a cleaves target and non-target DNA journal October 2019
Anti‐CRISPR proteins targeting the CRISPR‐Cas system enrich the toolkit for genetic engineering journal November 2019
Machine learning predicts new anti-CRISPR proteins journal April 2020

Figures / Tables (9)


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