CRISPR-cas system: biological function in microbes and its use to treat antimicrobial resistant pathogens

Mechanism of CRISPR-cas immunity divided into three stages. Stage 1: Spacer acquisition. In the first stage specific fragments of virus or plasmid double stranded are integrated at the leader end of CRISPR array on host DNA. A CRISPR array consists of unique spacer (red box) interspaced between repeats (blue box). Spacer acquisition occurs in the presence of cas1 and cas2 proteins, which are present near the vicinity of CRISPR array. Stage 2: Biogenesis of crRNA. In this stage RNA polymerase at leader end helps in the transcription of Pre-CRISPR RNA (Pre-crRNA) to mature crRNA. Stage 3: Interference. In the final stage, specific match between crRNA spacer and target sequence leads to the cleavage of foreign genetic elements (blue and red strips) [14, 15