School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
RNA Biol. 2021 Aug;18(8):1085-1098. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2020.1827803. Epub 2020 Oct 13.
The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas (CRISPR-associated proteins) system represents, in prokaryotes, an adaptive and inheritable immune response against invading DNA. The discovery of anti-CRISPR proteins (Acrs), which are inhibitors of CRISPR-Cas, mainly encoded by phages and prophages, showed a co-evolution history between prokaryotes and phages. In the past decade, the CRISPR-Cas systems together with the corresponding Acrs have been turned into a genetic-engineering tool. Among the six types of CRISPR-Cas characterized so far, type II CRISPR-Cas system is the most popular in biotechnology. Here, we discuss about the discovery, the reported inhibitory mechanisms, and the applications in both gene editing and gene transcriptional regulation of type II Acrs. Moreover, we provide insights into future potential research and feasible applications.
成簇规律间隔短回文重复序列 (CRISPR)-Cas (CRISPR 相关蛋白) 系统代表了原核生物针对入侵 DNA 的适应性和可遗传性免疫反应。抗 CRISPR 蛋白 (Acrs) 的发现，这些蛋白是 CRISPR-Cas 的抑制剂，主要由噬菌体和前噬菌体编码，显示了原核生物和噬菌体之间的共同进化历史。在过去的十年中，CRISPR-Cas 系统与相应的 Acrs 一起被转化为一种基因工程工具。在迄今为止鉴定的六种 CRISPR-Cas 类型中，II 型 CRISPR-Cas 系统在生物技术中最为流行。在这里，我们讨论了 II 型 Acrs 的发现、报道的抑制机制以及在基因编辑和基因转录调控中的应用。此外，我们还对未来的潜在研究和可行应用提供了一些见解。
