A guild of 45 CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein families and multiple CRISPR/Cas subtypes exist in prokaryotic genomes

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) are a family of DNA direct repeats found in many prokaryotic genomes. Repeats of 21-37 bp typically show weak dyad symmetry and are separated by regularly sized, nonrepetitive spacer sequences. Four CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein families, designated Cas1 to Cas4, are strictly associated with CRISPR elements and always occur near a repeat cluster. Some spacers originate from mobile genetic elements and are thought to confer "immunity" against the elements that harbor these sequences. In the present study, we have systematically investigated uncharacterized proteins encoded in the vicinity of these CRISPRs and found many additional protein families that are strictly associated with CRISPR loci across multiple prokaryotic species. Multiple sequence alignments and hidden Markov models have been built for 45 Cas protein families. These models identify family members with high sensitivity and selectivity and classify key regulators of development, DevR and DevS, in Myxococcus xanthus as Cas proteins. These identifications show that CRISPR/cas gene regions can be quite large, with up to 20 different, tandem-arranged cas genes next to a repeat cluster or filling the region between two repeat clusters. Distinctive subsets of the collection of Cas proteins recur in phylogenetically distant species and correlate with characteristic repeat periodicity. The analyses presented here support initial proposals of mobility of these units, along with the likelihood that loci of different subtypes interact with one another as well as with host cell defensive, replicative, and regulatory systems. It is evident from this analysis that CRISPR/cas loci are larger, more complex, and more heterogeneous than previously appreciated.     

醋酸菌中CRISPR位点的比较基因组学与进化分析

CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)是近几年发现的一种广泛存在于细菌和古菌中,能够应对外源DNA干扰(噬菌体、病毒、质粒等),并提供免疫机制的重复序列结构。CRISPR系统通常由同向重复序列、前导序列、间隔序列和CRISPR相关蛋白组成。本研究以醋酸发酵中常见3个属醋杆菌属(Acetobacter)、葡糖醋杆菌属(Gluconacetobacter)和葡糖杆菌属(Gluconobacter)的48个菌株为研究对象,通过其基因组上CRISPR相关基因序列的生物信息学分析,探索CRISPR位点在醋酸菌中的多态性及其进化模式。结果表明48株醋酸菌中有32株存在CRISPR结构,大部分CRISPR-Cas结构属于type I-E和type I-C类型。除了葡糖杆菌属外,葡糖醋杆菌属和醋杆菌属中的部分菌株含有II类的CRISPR-Cas系统结构(CRISPR-Cas9)。来自不同属菌株的CRISPR结构中重复序列具有较强的保守性,而且部分菌株CRISPR结构中的前导序列具有保守的motif (与基因的转录调控有关)及启动子序列。进化树分析表明cas1适合用于醋酸菌株的分类,而不同菌株间cas1基因的进化与重复序列的保守性相关,预示它们可能受相似的功能选择压力。此外,间隔序列的数量与噬菌体数量及插入序列(Insertion sequence, IS)数量有正相关的趋势,说明醋酸菌在进化过程中可能正不断受新的外源DNA入侵。醋酸菌中CRISPR结构位点的分析,为进一步研究不同醋酸菌株对醋酸胁迫耐受性差异及其基因组稳定性的分子机制奠定了基础。     

The Repetitive DNA Elements Called CRISPRs and Their Associated Genes: Evidence of Horizontal Transfer Among Prokaryotes

We have found direct DNA repeats 21–47 bp in length interspersed with nonrepetitive sequences of similar length, or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) in a wide range of diverse prokaryotes, including many Archaeal and Eubacterial species. A number of cas, CRISPR-associated genes have also been characterized in many of the same organisms. Phylogenetic analysis of these cas genes suggests that the CRISPR loci have been propagated via HGT, horizontal gene transfer. We suggest a mechanism by which this HGT has occurred, namely, that the CRISPR loci can be carried between cells on megaplasmids ≥40 kb in length. Electronic Supplementary Material Electronic Supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users. [Reviewing Editor: Dr. Stuart Newfeld]     

Diversity, activity, and evolution of CRISPR loci in Streptococcus thermophilus

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are hypervariable loci widely distributed in prokaryotes that provide acquired immunity against foreign genetic elements. Here, we characterize a novel Streptococcus thermophilus locus, CRISPR3, and experimentally demonstrate its ability to integrate novel spacers in response to bacteriophage. Also, we analyze CRISPR diversity and activity across three distinct CRISPR loci in several S. thermophilus strains. We show that both CRISPR repeats and cas genes are locus specific and functionally coupled. A total of 124 strains were studied, and 109 unique spacer arrangements were observed across the three CRISPR loci. Overall, 3,626 spacers were analyzed, including 2,829 for CRISPR1 (782 unique), 173 for CRISPR2 (16 unique), and 624 for CRISPR3 (154 unique). Sequence analysis of the spacers revealed homology and identity to phage sequences (77%), plasmid sequences (16%), and S. thermophilus chromosomal sequences (7%). Polymorphisms were observed for the CRISPR repeats, CRISPR spacers, cas genes, CRISPR motif, locus architecture, and specific sequence content. Interestingly, CRISPR loci evolved both via polarized addition of novel spacers after exposure to foreign genetic elements and via internal deletion of spacers. We hypothesize that the level of diversity is correlated with relative CRISPR activity and propose that the activity is highest for CRISPR1, followed by CRISPR3, while CRISPR2 may be degenerate. Globally, the dynamic nature of CRISPR loci might prove valuable for typing and comparative analyses of strains and microbial populations. Also, CRISPRs provide critical insights into the relationships between prokaryotes and their environments, notably the coevolution of host and viral genomes.     

Structure and Genetic Content of the Megaplasmids of Neurotoxigenic Clostridium butyricum Type E Strains from Italy

We determined the genetic maps of the megaplasmids of six neutoroxigenic Clostridium butyricum type E strains from Italy using molecular and bioinformatics techniques. The megaplasmids are circular, not linear as we had previously proposed. The differently-sized megaplasmids share a genetic region that includes structural, metabolic and regulatory genes. In addition, we found that a 168 kb genetic region is present only in the larger megaplasmids of two tested strains, whereas it is absent from the smaller megaplasmids of the four remaining strains. The genetic region unique to the larger megaplasmids contains, among other features, a locus for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR associated (cas) genes, i.e. a bacterial adaptive immune system providing sequence-specific protection from invading genetic elements. Some CRISPR spacer sequences of the neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E strains showed homology to prophage, phage and plasmid sequences from closely related clostridia species or from distant species, all sharing the intestinal habitat, suggesting that the CRISPR locus might be involved in the microorganism adaptation to the human or animal intestinal environment. Besides, we report here that each of four distinct CRISPR spacers partially matched DNA sequences of different prophages and phages, at identical nucleotide locations. This suggests that, at least in neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E, the CRISPR locus is potentially able to recognize the same conserved DNA sequence of different invading genetic elements, besides targeting sequences unique to previously encountered invading DNA, as currently predicted for a CRISPR locus. Thus, the results of this study introduce the possibility that CRISPR loci can provide resistance to a wider range of invading DNA elements than previously appreciated. Whether it is more advantageous for the peculiar neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E strains to maintain or to lose the CRISPR-cas system remains an open question.     

Evolutionary conservation of sequence and secondary structures in CRISPR repeats

Background  

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) are a novel class of direct repeats, separated by unique spacer sequences of similar length, that are present in approximately 40% of bacterial and most archaeal genomes analyzed to date. More than 40 gene families, called CRISPR-associated sequences (CASs), appear in conjunction with these repeats and are thought to be involved in the propagation and functioning of CRISPRs. It has been recently shown that CRISPR provides acquired resistance against viruses in prokaryotes.     

Lactobacillus buchneri Genotyping on the Basis of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) Locus Diversity

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in combination with associated sequences (cas) constitute the CRISPR-Cas immune system, which uptakes DNA from invasive genetic elements as novel “spacers” that provide a genetic record of immunization events. We investigated the potential of CRISPR-based genotyping of Lactobacillus buchneri, a species relevant for commercial silage, bioethanol, and vegetable fermentations. Upon investigating the occurrence and diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems in Lactobacillus buchneri genomes, we observed a ubiquitous occurrence of CRISPR arrays containing a 36-nucleotide (nt) type II-A CRISPR locus adjacent to four cas genes, including the universal cas1 and cas2 genes and the type II signature gene cas9. Comparative analysis of CRISPR spacer content in 26 L. buchneri pickle fermentation isolates associated with spoilage revealed 10 unique locus genotypes that contained between 9 and 29 variable spacers. We observed a set of conserved spacers at the ancestral end, reflecting a common origin, as well as leader-end polymorphisms, reflecting recent divergence. Some of these spacers showed perfect identity with phage sequences, and many spacers showed homology to Lactobacillus plasmid sequences. Following a comparative analysis of sequences immediately flanking protospacers that matched CRISPR spacers, we identified a novel putative protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM), 5′-AAAA-3′. Overall, these findings suggest that type II-A CRISPR-Cas systems are valuable for genotyping of L. buchneri.     

Identification of a novel family of sequence repeats among prokaryotes

The rapid increase in genomic sequences provides new opportunities for comparative genomics. In this report, we describe a novel family of repeat sequences that is present in Bacteria and Archaea but not in Eukarya. The repeat loci typically consisted of repetitive stretches of nucleotides with a length of 25 to 37 bp alternated by nonrepetitive DNA spacers of approximately equal size as the repeats. The nucleotide sequences and the size of the repeats were highly conserved within a species, but between species the sequences showed no similarity. Due to their characteristic structure, we have designated this family of repeat loci as SPacers Interspersed Direct Repeats (SPIDR). The SPIDR loci were identified in more than forty different prokaryotic species. Individual species such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis contain one SPIDR locus, while other species such as Methanococcus jannaschii contained up to 20 different loci. The number of repeats in a locus varies greatly from two repeats to several dozens of repeats. The SPIDR loci were flanked by a common 300-500-bp leader sequence, which appeared to be conserved within a species but not between species. The SPIDR locus of M. tuberculosis is extensively used for strain typing. The finding of SPIDR loci in other prokaryotes, including the pathogens Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Pasteurella may extend this surveillance to other species.     

Intricate interactions between the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and foreign genetic elements, revealed by diversified clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) signatures

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) confer sequence-dependent, adaptive resistance in prokaryotes against viruses and plasmids via incorporation of short sequences, called spacers, derived from foreign genetic elements. CRISPR loci are thus considered to provide records of past infections. To describe the host-parasite (i.e., cyanophages and plasmids) interactions involving the bloom-forming freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa, we investigated CRISPR in four M. aeruginosa strains and in two previously sequenced genomes. The number of spacers in each locus was larger than the average among prokaryotes. All spacers were strain specific, except for a string of 11 spacers shared in two closely related strains, suggesting diversification of the loci. Using CRISPR repeat-based PCR, 24 CRISPR genotypes were identified in a natural cyanobacterial community. Among 995 unique spacers obtained, only 10 sequences showed similarity to M. aeruginosa phage Ma-LMM01. Of these, six spacers showed only silent or conservative nucleotide mutations compared to Ma-LMM01 sequences, suggesting a strategy by the cyanophage to avert CRISPR immunity dependent on nucleotide identity. These results imply that host-phage interactions can be divided into M. aeruginosa-cyanophage combinations rather than pandemics of population-wide infectious cyanophages. Spacer similarity also showed frequent exposure of M. aeruginosa to small cryptic plasmids that were observed only in a few strains. Thus, the diversification of CRISPR implies that M. aeruginosa has been challenged by diverse communities (almost entirely uncharacterized) of cyanophages and plasmids.     

Comparative genomic structures of Mycobacterium CRISPR-Cas

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are inheritable genetic elements of many archaea and bacteria, conferring acquired immunity against invading nucleic acids. CRISPR might be indicative of the bacterial niche adaptation and evolutionary. Mycobacterium is an important genus occupying diverse niches with profound medical and environmental significance. To present a comparative genomic landscape of the Mycobacterium CRISPR, the feature of mycobacterium CRISPR structures with sequenced complete genomes were bioinformatically analyzed. The results show that CRISPR structures can be found among 14 mycobacteria, and all loci are chromosomally located. Long CRISPRs present in three species, namely M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, and M. avium. Integrated CRISPR-Cas system can only be found in M. tuberculosis and M. bovis, with highly conserved repeat sequences, very short leaders, and promoterless. M. tuberculosis and M. bovis repeat sequences cannot form stable RNA secondary structure, consistent with a Cas6-binding sequence. M. avium repeat sequences can form classical stem-loop structure. A three-step model of M. tuberculosis CRISPR-Cas system action was put forward based on the composition and function of cas genes cluster. M. tuberculosis and M. bovis CRISPRs might interfere with the invading nucleic acids, but have somehow lost the capacity to incorporate new spacers and co-evolve with corresponding mycobacteriophages.     

Diverse CRISPRs evolving in human microbiomes

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) loci, together with cas (CRISPR-associated) genes, form the CRISPR/Cas adaptive immune system, a primary defense strategy that eubacteria and archaea mobilize against foreign nucleic acids, including phages and conjugative plasmids. Short spacer sequences separated by the repeats are derived from foreign DNA and direct interference to future infections. The availability of hundreds of shotgun metagenomic datasets from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) enables us to explore the distribution and diversity of known CRISPRs in human-associated microbial communities and to discover new CRISPRs. We propose a targeted assembly strategy to reconstruct CRISPR arrays, which whole-metagenome assemblies fail to identify. For each known CRISPR type (identified from reference genomes), we use its direct repeat consensus sequence to recruit reads from each HMP dataset and then assemble the recruited reads into CRISPR loci; the unique spacer sequences can then be extracted for analysis. We also identified novel CRISPRs or new CRISPR variants in contigs from whole-metagenome assemblies and used targeted assembly to more comprehensively identify these CRISPRs across samples. We observed that the distributions of CRISPRs (including 64 known and 86 novel ones) are largely body-site specific. We provide detailed analysis of several CRISPR loci, including novel CRISPRs. For example, known streptococcal CRISPRs were identified in most oral microbiomes, totaling ～8,000 unique spacers: samples resampled from the same individual and oral site shared the most spacers; different oral sites from the same individual shared significantly fewer, while different individuals had almost no common spacers, indicating the impact of subtle niche differences on the evolution of CRISPR defenses. We further demonstrate potential applications of CRISPRs to the tracing of rare species and the virus exposure of individuals. This work indicates the importance of effective identification and characterization of CRISPR loci to the study of the dynamic ecology of microbiomes.     

Regulation of dev, an operon that includes genes essential for Myxococcus xanthus development and CRISPR-associated genes and repeats

Expression of dev genes is important for triggering spore differentiation inside Myxococcus xanthus fruiting bodies. DNA sequence analysis suggested that dev and cas (CRISPR-associated) genes are cotranscribed at the dev locus, which is adjacent to CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). Analysis of RNA from developing M. xanthus confirmed that dev and cas genes are cotranscribed with a short upstream gene and at least two repeats of the downstream CRISPR, forming the dev operon. The operon is subject to strong, negative autoregulation during development by DevS. The dev promoter was identified. Its -35 and -10 regions resemble those recognized by M. xanthus sigma(A) RNA polymerase, the homolog of Escherichia coli sigma(70), but the spacer may be too long (20 bp); there is very little expression during growth. Induction during development relies on at least two positive regulatory elements located in the coding region of the next gene upstream. At least two positive regulatory elements and one negative element lie downstream of the dev promoter, such that the region controlling dev expression spans more than 1 kb. The results of testing different fragments for dev promoter activity in wild-type and devS mutant backgrounds strongly suggest that upstream and downstream regulatory elements interact functionally. Strikingly, the 37-bp sequence between the two CRISPR repeats that, minimally, are cotranscribed with dev and cas genes exactly matches a sequence in the bacteriophage Mx8 intP gene, which encodes a form of the integrase needed for lysogenization of M. xanthus.     

Diversity, evolution, and functionality of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) regions in the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas system confers acquired heritable immunity against mobile nucleic acid elements in prokaryotes, limiting phage infection and horizontal gene transfer of plasmids. In CRISPR arrays, characteristic repeats are interspersed with similarly sized nonrepetitive spacers derived from transmissible genetic elements and acquired when the cell is challenged with foreign DNA. New spacers are added sequentially and the number and type of CRISPR units can differ among strains, providing a record of phage/plasmid exposure within a species and giving a valuable typing tool. The aim of this work was to investigate CRISPR diversity in the highly homogeneous species Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight. A total of 18 CRISPR genotypes were defined within a collection of 37 cosmopolitan strains. Strains from Spiraeoideae plants clustered in three major groups: groups II and III were composed exclusively of bacteria originating from the United States, whereas group I generally contained strains of more recent dissemination obtained in Europe, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Strains from Rosoideae and Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica) clustered separately and displayed a higher intrinsic diversity than that of isolates from Spiraeoideae plants. Reciprocal exclusion was generally observed between plasmid content and cognate spacer sequences, supporting the role of the CRISPR/Cas system in protecting against foreign DNA elements. However, in several group III strains, retention of plasmid pEU30 is inconsistent with a functional CRISPR/Cas system.