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Enzymatic anti-CRISPRs improve the bacteriophage arsenal

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Bacteriophage-encoded anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins were previously thought to inhibit CRISPR-mediated immunity by acting as physical barriers against the binding or cleavage of DNA. Two new studies report that recently discovered type V Acr proteins use enzymatic activities to shut down the Cas12a endonuclease, providing a multi-turnover ‘off switch’ for CRISPR-based immunity and technology.

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Fig. 1: Alternative mechanisms for disabling Cas effectors.
Fig. 2: AcrVA1 and AcrVA5 are enzymatic inhibitors of Cas12a.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Shravanti K. Suresh, Karthik Murugan & Dipali G. Sashital

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  1. Shravanti K. Suresh
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  2. Karthik Murugan
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  3. Dipali G. Sashital
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Correspondence to Dipali G. Sashital.

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Suresh, S.K., Murugan, K. & Sashital, D.G. Enzymatic anti-CRISPRs improve the bacteriophage arsenal. Nat Struct Mol Biol 26, 250–251 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-019-0210-5

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