Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS

Background: CRISPR-Cas systems provide adaptive immunity to mobile genetic elements in prokaryotes. In many bacteria, including E. coli, a specialized ribonucleoprotein complex called Cascade enacts immunity by “an interference reaction" between CRISPR encoded RNA (crRNA) and invader DNA sequen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Majsec, Kristina, Bolt, Edward L., Ivančić-Baće, Ivana
Format: Article
Published: BioMed Central 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35111/
_version_ 1848795004683681792
author Majsec, Kristina
Bolt, Edward L.
Ivančić-Baće, Ivana
author_facet Majsec, Kristina
Bolt, Edward L.
Ivančić-Baće, Ivana
author_sort Majsec, Kristina
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: CRISPR-Cas systems provide adaptive immunity to mobile genetic elements in prokaryotes. In many bacteria, including E. coli, a specialized ribonucleoprotein complex called Cascade enacts immunity by “an interference reaction" between CRISPR encoded RNA (crRNA) and invader DNA sequences called “protospacers”. Cascade recognizes invader DNA via short “protospacer adjacent motif” (PAM) sequences and crRNA-DNA complementarity. This triggers degradation of invader DNA by Cas3 protein and in some circumstances stimulates capture of new invader DNA protospacers for incorporation into CRISPR as “spacers” by Cas1 and Cas2 proteins, thus enhancing immunity. Co-expression of Cascade, Cas3 and crRNA is effective at giving E. coli cells resistance to phage lysis, if a transcriptional repressor of Cascade and CRISPR, H-NS, is inactivated (Δhns). We present further genetic analyses of the regulation of CRISPR-Cas mediated phage resistance in Δhns E. coli cells. Results: We observed that E. coli Type I-E CRISPR-Cas mediated resistance to phage λ was strongly temperature dependent, when repeating previously published experimental procedures. Further genetic analyses highlighted the importance of culture conditions for controlling the extent of CRISPR immunity in E. coli. These data identified that expression levels of cas3 is an important limiting factor for successful resistance to phage. Significantly, we describe the new identification that cas3 is also under transcriptional control by H-NS but that this is exerted only in stationary phase cells. Conclusions: Regulation of cas3 is responsive to phase of growth, and to growth temperature in E. coli, impacting on the efficacy of CRISPR-Cas immunity in these experimental systems.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:25:12Z
format Article
id nottingham-35111
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:25:12Z
publishDate 2016
publisher BioMed Central
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-351112020-05-04T17:42:30Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35111/ Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS Majsec, Kristina Bolt, Edward L. Ivančić-Baće, Ivana Background: CRISPR-Cas systems provide adaptive immunity to mobile genetic elements in prokaryotes. In many bacteria, including E. coli, a specialized ribonucleoprotein complex called Cascade enacts immunity by “an interference reaction" between CRISPR encoded RNA (crRNA) and invader DNA sequences called “protospacers”. Cascade recognizes invader DNA via short “protospacer adjacent motif” (PAM) sequences and crRNA-DNA complementarity. This triggers degradation of invader DNA by Cas3 protein and in some circumstances stimulates capture of new invader DNA protospacers for incorporation into CRISPR as “spacers” by Cas1 and Cas2 proteins, thus enhancing immunity. Co-expression of Cascade, Cas3 and crRNA is effective at giving E. coli cells resistance to phage lysis, if a transcriptional repressor of Cascade and CRISPR, H-NS, is inactivated (Δhns). We present further genetic analyses of the regulation of CRISPR-Cas mediated phage resistance in Δhns E. coli cells. Results: We observed that E. coli Type I-E CRISPR-Cas mediated resistance to phage λ was strongly temperature dependent, when repeating previously published experimental procedures. Further genetic analyses highlighted the importance of culture conditions for controlling the extent of CRISPR immunity in E. coli. These data identified that expression levels of cas3 is an important limiting factor for successful resistance to phage. Significantly, we describe the new identification that cas3 is also under transcriptional control by H-NS but that this is exerted only in stationary phase cells. Conclusions: Regulation of cas3 is responsive to phase of growth, and to growth temperature in E. coli, impacting on the efficacy of CRISPR-Cas immunity in these experimental systems. BioMed Central 2016-03-08 Article PeerReviewed Majsec, Kristina, Bolt, Edward L. and Ivančić-Baće, Ivana (2016) Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS. BMC Microbiology, 16 (28). pp. 1-9. ISSN 1471-2180 CRISPR-Cas H-NS PAM HtpG Temperature E. coli http://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12866-016-0643-5 doi:10.1186/s12866-016-0643-5 doi:10.1186/s12866-016-0643-5
spellingShingle CRISPR-Cas
H-NS
PAM
HtpG
Temperature
E. coli
Majsec, Kristina
Bolt, Edward L.
Ivančić-Baće, Ivana
Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title_full Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title_fullStr Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title_full_unstemmed Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title_short Cas3 is a limiting factor for CRISPR-Cas immunity in Escherichia coli cells lacking H-NS
title_sort cas3 is a limiting factor for crispr-cas immunity in escherichia coli cells lacking h-ns
topic CRISPR-Cas
H-NS
PAM
HtpG
Temperature
E. coli
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35111/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35111/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35111/