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Cpf1
Cas12a (CRISPR associated protein 12a, previously known as Cpf1) is an RNA-guided endonuclease of that forms part of the CRISPR system in some bacteria and is used by scientists to modify DNA. It originates as part of a bacterial immune mechanism, where it serves to destroy the genetic material of viruses and thus protect the cell and colony from viral infection. Cas12a and other CRISPR associated endonucleases are unique in that their use of a guide RNA makes this action highly selective; they only cut DNA when it is adjacent to a certain sequence of nucleotides. In the organisms from which it originates, this guide RNA is a copy of a piece of the genome from a virus that previously infected the cell. It is of interest to researchers because it can be used to make highly targeted modifications of DNA or RNA, similar to the better known CRISPR/Cas9 system. Cas12a is distinguished from Cas9 by being smaller and simpler, not requiring a tracrRNA, and creating sticky rather than b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CRISPR
CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote. They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections. Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral (i.e. anti-phage) defense system of prokaryotes and provide a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR is found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea. Cas9 (or "CRISPR-associated protein 9") is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences as a guide to recognize and cleave specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the CRISPR sequence. Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 that can be used to edit genes within organisms. This ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Drive
A gene drive is a natural process and technology of genetic engineering that propagates a particular suite of genes throughout a population by altering the probability that a specific allele will be transmitted to offspring (instead of the Mendelian 50% probability). Gene drives can arise through a variety of mechanisms. They have been proposed to provide an effective means of genetically modifying specific populations and entire species. The technique can employ adding, deleting, disrupting, or modifying genes. Proposed applications include exterminating insects that carry pathogens (notably mosquitoes that transmit malaria, dengue, and zika pathogens), controlling invasive species, or eliminating herbicide or pesticide resistance. As with any potentially powerful technique, gene drives can be misused in a variety of ways or induce unintended consequences. For example, a gene drive intended to affect only a local population might spread across an entire species. Gene drives ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endonuclease
Endonucleases are enzymes that cleave the phosphodiester bond within a polynucleotide chain. Some, such as deoxyribonuclease I, cut DNA relatively nonspecifically (without regard to sequence), while many, typically called restriction endonucleases or restriction enzymes, cleave only at very specific nucleotide sequences. Endonucleases differ from exonucleases, which cleave the ends of recognition sequences instead of the middle (endo) portion. Some enzymes known as "exo-endonucleases", however, are not limited to either nuclease function, displaying qualities that are both endo- and exo-like. Evidence suggests that endonuclease activity experiences a lag compared to exonuclease activity. Restriction enzymes are endonucleases from eubacteria and archaea that recognize a specific DNA sequence. The nucleotide sequence recognized for cleavage by a restriction enzyme is called the restriction site. Typically, a restriction site will be a palindromic sequence about four to six nucleoti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subgenomic MRNA
Subgenomic mRNAs are essentially smaller sections of the original transcribed template strand. 3' to 5' DNA or RNA During transcription, the original template strand is usually read from the 3' to the 5' end from beginning to end. Subgenomic mRNAs are created when transcription begins at the 3' end of the template strand (or 5' of the to-be-newly synthesized template) and begins to copy towards the 5' end of the template strand before "jumping" to the end of the template and copying the last nucleotides of the 5' end of the template, (finishing the 3' tail for the newly created strand). As a result, the translated strand will have a similar 5' end to varying degrees with the original template (depending on which part of the template the transcription jumped over) and a similar 3' end to the template. 5' to 3' (positive sense) viral RNA Positive-sense (5' to 3') viral RNA which may be directly translated into the desired viral proteins, undergoes a similar process as describe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cas4
Cas4 is an endonuclease found in some CRISPR systems that is used as part of the spacer acquisition stage. Cas4 is required for efficient prespacer processing by forming a Cas4- Cas1-Cas2 Cas2 is a protein associated with CRISPR CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These seque ... complex. In this complex, Cas4 cuts double-stranded substrates with long 3'-overhangs through site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage. Cas4 closely interacts with the integrase active sites of Cas1, recognizes PAM sequences within the substrate and cleaves precisely upstream of them, ensuring the acquisition of functional spacers. References Enzymes {{enzyme-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cas1
CRISPR-associated protein 1 (cas1) is one of the two universally conserved proteins found in the CRISPR prokaryotic immune defense system. Cas1 is a metal-dependent DNA-specific endonuclease that produces double-stranded DNA fragments. Cas1 forms a stable complex with the other universally conserved CRISPR-associated protein, cas2, which is essential to spacer acquisition for CRISPR systems. In July 2017, researchers led by Jennifer Doudna from the University of California at Berkeley, in Berkeley, California, using electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography, at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and the HHMI electron microscope facility at UC Berkeley, discovered how Cas1-Cas2, the proteins responsible for the ability of the CRISPR immune system (CRISPR means: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) in bacteria to adapt to new viral infections, identify the site in the genome where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossover Junction Endodeoxyribonuclease
Crossover junction endodeoxyribonuclease, also known as Holliday junction resolvase, Holliday junction endonuclease, Holliday junction-cleaving endonuclease, Holliday junction-resolving endoribonuclease, crossover junction endoribonuclease, and cruciform-cutting endonuclease, is an enzyme involved in DNA repair and homologous recombination. Specifically, it performs endonucleolytic cleavage that results in single-stranded crossover between two homologous DNA molecules at the Holliday junction to produce recombinant DNA products for chromosomal segregation. This process is known as Holliday junction resolution. Biological Function The Holliday junction is a structure that forms during genetic recombination, and links two double-stranded DNA molecules with a single-stranded crossover, which form during mitotic and meiotic recombination. Crossover junction endodeoxyribonucleases catalyze Holiday junction resolution, which is the formation of separate recombinant DNA molecules an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zinc Finger
A zinc finger is a small protein structural motif that is characterized by the coordination of one or more zinc ions (Zn2+) in order to stabilize the fold. It was originally coined to describe the finger-like appearance of a hypothesized structure from the African clawed frog (''Xenopus laevis'') transcription factor IIIA. However, it has been found to encompass a wide variety of differing protein structures in eukaryotic cells. '' Xenopus laevis'' TFIIIA was originally demonstrated to contain zinc and require the metal for function in 1983, the first such reported zinc requirement for a gene regulatory protein followed soon thereafter by the Krüppel factor in ''Drosophila''. It often appears as a metal-binding domain in multi-domain proteins. Proteins that contain zinc fingers (zinc finger proteins) are classified into several different structural families. Unlike many other clearly defined supersecondary structures such as Greek keys or β hairpins, there are a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beta Sheet
The beta sheet, (β-sheet) (also β-pleated sheet) is a common motif of the regular protein secondary structure. Beta sheets consist of beta strands (β-strands) connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds, forming a generally twisted, pleated sheet. A β-strand is a stretch of polypeptide chain typically 3 to 10 amino acids long with backbone in an extended conformation. The supramolecular association of β-sheets has been implicated in the formation of the fibrils and protein aggregates observed in amyloidosis, notably Alzheimer's disease. History The first β-sheet structure was proposed by William Astbury in the 1930s. He proposed the idea of hydrogen bonding between the peptide bonds of parallel or antiparallel extended β-strands. However, Astbury did not have the necessary data on the bond geometry of the amino acids in order to build accurate models, especially since he did not then know that the peptide bond was planar. A refined version was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpha Helix
The alpha helix (α-helix) is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues earlier along the protein sequence. The alpha helix is also called a classic Pauling–Corey–Branson α-helix. The name 3.613-helix is also used for this type of helix, denoting the average number of residues per helical turn, with 13 atoms being involved in the ring formed by the hydrogen bond. Among types of local structure in proteins, the α-helix is the most extreme and the most predictable from sequence, as well as the most prevalent. Discovery In the early 1930s, William Astbury showed that there were drastic changes in the X-ray fiber diffraction of moist wool or hair fibers upon significant stretching. The data suggested that the unstretched fibers had a coiled molecular structure with a characteristic repeat of ≈. Astbu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequence Homology
Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a speciation event (orthologs), or a duplication event (paralogs), or else a horizontal (or lateral) gene transfer event (xenologs). Homology among DNA, RNA, or proteins is typically inferred from their nucleotide or amino acid sequence similarity. Significant similarity is strong evidence that two sequences are related by evolutionary changes from a common ancestral sequence. Alignments of multiple sequences are used to indicate which regions of each sequence are homologous. Identity, similarity, and conservation The term "percent homology" is often used to mean "sequence similarity”, that is the percentage of identical residues (''percent identity''), or the percentage of residues conserved with similar physicochemical properties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francisella
''Francisella'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria. They are small coccobacillary or rod-shaped, nonmotile organisms, which are also facultative intracellular parasites of macrophages. Strict aerobes, ''Francisella'' colonies bear a morphological resemblance to those of the genus '' Brucella''. Some ''Francisella'' species are pathogenic bacteria but some others are endosymbionts of ticks. Ticks do not use any other food source than vertebrate blood and therefore ingest high levels of protein, iron and salt, but few vitamins. To overcome these nutritional deficiencies, ticks have evolved obligate interactions with nutritional endosymbionts, including ''Francisella'' endosymbionts. Their experimental elimination typically results in decreased tick survival, molting, fecundity and egg viability, as well as in physical abnormalities, which all are fully restored with an oral supplement of B vitamins. The genome sequencing of ''Francisella'' endosymbionts confirmed that they cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
