Title: The Microbial Arms Race Across Kingdoms: From cGAS to CRISPR-Cas
Speaker:
Nicole Marino, PhD, University of California San Francisco
Topic:
Bacteria encode diverse antiviral defense systems, including CRISPR-Cas and cGAS, that are conserved across kingdoms. Many bacterial viruses (phage), in turn, encode proteins to inactivate these defenses. Here, I will present evidence that a phage-encoded anti-CRISPR specifically inhibits Cas12a biogenesis by triggering translation-dependent mRNA degradation. This novel strategy by a virus to disarm bacterial immunity appears to be widespread and may impact diverse microbial and molecular conflicts.
Host:
Bacteriology Search Committee
M.-N. Frances Yap, PhD, Committee Chair
Dept. of Microbiology-Immunology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL
Cynthia Naugles
(312) 503-0489
Email