Browsing by Author "Bailey, Scott"

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Altered stoichiometry Escherichia coli Cascade complexes with shortened CRISPR RNA spacers are capable of interference and primed adaptation
(2016-10) Kuznedelov, Konstantin; Mekler, Vladimir; Lemak, Sofia; Tokmina-Lukaszewska, Monika; Datsenko, Kirill A; Jain, Ishita; Savitskaya, Ekaterina; Mallon, John; Shmakov, Sergey; Bothner, Brian; Bailey, Scott; Yakunin, Alexander F; Severinov, Konstantin
The Escherichia coli type I-E CRISPR-Cas system Cascade effector is a multisubunit complex that binds CRISPR RNA (crRNA). Through its 32-nucleotide spacer sequence, Cascade-bound crRNA recognizes protospacers in foreign DNA, causing its destruction during CRISPR interference or acquisition of additional spacers in CRISPR array during primed CRISPR adaptation. Within Cascade, the crRNA spacer interacts with a hexamer of Cas7 subunits. We show that crRNAs with a spacer length reduced to 14 nucleotides cause primed adaptation, while crRNAs with spacer lengths of more than 20 nucleotides cause both primed adaptation and target interference in vivo Shortened crRNAs assemble into altered-stoichiometry Cascade effector complexes containing less than the normal amount of Cas7 subunits. The results show that Cascade assembly is driven by crRNA and suggest that multisubunit type I CRISPR effectors may have evolved from much simpler ancestral complexes.
Mechanism of CRISPR-RNA guided recognition of DNA targets in Escherichia coli
(2015-08) van Erp, Paul B. G.; Jackson, Ryan N.; Carter, Joshua; Golden, Sarah M.; Bailey, Scott; Wiedenheft, Blake A.
In bacteria and archaea, short fragments of foreign DNA are integrated into Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) loci, providing a molecular memory of previous encounters with foreign genetic elements. In Escherichia coli, short CRISPR-derived RNAs are incorporated into a multi-subunit surveillance complex called Cascade (CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense). Recent structures of Cascade capture snapshots of this seahorse-shaped RNA-guided surveillance complex before and after binding to a DNA target. Here we determine a 3.2 Å x-ray crystal structure of Cascade in a new crystal form that provides insight into the mechanism of double-stranded DNA binding. Molecular dynamic simulations performed using available structures reveal functional roles for residues in the tail, backbone and belly subunits of Cascade that are critical for binding double-stranded DNA. Structural comparisons are used to make functional predictions and these predictions are tested in vivo and in vitro. Collectively, the results in this study reveal underlying mechanisms involved in target-induced conformational changes and highlight residues important in DNA binding and protospacer adjacent motif recognition.