Volume 26, No 10, Oct 2016

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 26 Issue 10, October 2016: 1165-1168   |  Open Access

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A CRISPR evolutionary arms race: structural insights into viral anti-CRISPR/Cas responses

Jiuyu Wang^1,2,*, Jun Ma^3,4,*, Zhi Cheng^1,2, Xu Meng^1,5, Lilan You^1,2,6, Min Wang^1,2, Xinzheng Zhang^3,4 and Yanli Wang^1,2,6

¹Key Laboratory of RNA Biology, Beijing 100101, China
²Beijing Key Laboratory of Noncoding RNA, Beijing 100101, China
³National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Beijing 100101, China
⁴Center for Biological Imaging, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
⁵Institute of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China
⁶University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Correspondence: Yanli Wang, E-mail: ylwang@ibp.ac.cn; Xinzheng Zhang,(xzzhang@ibp.ac.cn)

CRISPR/Cas systems are widespread RNA-mediated prokaryotic adaptive immune systems providing protection against invading nucleic acids1. However, throughout evolution, this host defense system has not resulted in the eradication of phages, suggesting that phages have evolved counter strategies to thrive within bacteria despite these mechanisms2. Thus, both bacterial CRISPR system and phage anti-CRISPR system are part of a continuing evolutionary battle between bacterial host and their bacteriophage invaders.

10.1038/cr.2016.103

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