TY - JOUR TI - Diversity of CRISPR loci in Escherichia coli AU - Díez-Villaseñor, César AU - Almendros, Cristóbal AU - García-Martínez, Jesús AU - Mojica, Francisco J.M. DA - 2010-05-01 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10045/75217 AB - CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) and CAS (CRISPR-associated sequence) proteins are constituents of a novel genetic barrier that limits horizontal gene transfer in prokaryotes by means of an uncharacterized mechanism. The fundamental discovery of small RNAs as the guides of the defence apparatus arose as a result of Escherichia coli studies. However, a survey of the system diversity in this species in order to further contribute to the understanding of the CRISPR mode of action has not yet been performed. Here we describe two CRISPR/CAS systems found in E. coli, following the analysis of 100 strains representative of the species' diversity. Our results substantiate different levels of activity between loci of both CRISPR types, as well as different target preferences and CRISPR relevances for particular groups of strains. Interestingly, the data suggest that the degeneration of one CRISPR/CAS system in E. coli ancestors could have been brought about by self-interference. KW - MLEE KW - Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis KW - ECOR KW - Escherichia coli reference KW - CRISPR KW - Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats KW - CAS KW - CRISPR-associated sequence DO - 10.1099/mic.0.036046-0 SN - 1350-0872 (Print) PB - Microbiology Society ER -