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Title: Broad-spectrum enzymatic inhibition of CRISPR-Cas12a

Journal Article · · Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Cas12a is a bacterial RNA-guided nuclease used widely for genome editing and, more recently, as a molecular diagnostic. In bacteria, Cas12a enzymes can be inhibited by bacteriophage-derived proteins, anti-CRISPRs (Acrs), to thwart clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) adaptive immune systems. How these inhibitors disable Cas12a by preventing programmed DNA cleavage is unknown. We show that three such inhibitors (AcrVA1, AcrVA4 and AcrVA5) block Cas12a activity via functionally distinct mechanisms, including a previously unobserved enzymatic strategy. AcrVA4 and AcrVA5 inhibit recognition of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), with AcrVA4 driving dimerization of Cas12a. In contrast, AcrVA1 is a multiple-turnover inhibitor that triggers cleavage of the target-recognition sequence of the Cas12a-bound guide RNA to irreversibly inactivate the Cas12a complex. Finally, these distinct mechanisms equip bacteriophages with tools to evade CRISPR-Cas12a and support biotechnological applications for which multiple-turnover enzymatic inhibition of Cas12a is desirable.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1605236
Journal Information:
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Vol. 26, Issue 4; ISSN 1545-9993
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 72 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Anti‐CRISPRs: The natural inhibitors for CRISPR‐Cas systems journal May 2019
The pan-immune system of bacteria: antiviral defence as a community resource journal November 2019
The arms race between bacteria and their phage foes journal January 2020
Making the cut(s): how Cas12a cleaves target and non-target DNA journal October 2019
Structural insight into multistage inhibition of CRISPR-Cas12a by AcrVA4 journal August 2019
Keeping crispr in check: diverse mechanisms of phage-encoded anti-crisprs journal May 2019
Atypical organizations and epistatic interactions of CRISPRs and cas clusters in genomes and their mobile genetic elements journal November 2019
Anti‐CRISPR proteins targeting the CRISPR‐Cas system enrich the toolkit for genetic engineering journal November 2019
Regulation of genetic flux between bacteria by restriction–modification systems journal May 2016
Machine learning predicts new anti-CRISPR proteins journal April 2020
Structural basis for inhibition of the type I-F CRISPR–Cas surveillance complex by AcrIF4, AcrIF7 and AcrIF14 journal December 2020

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