University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Roles of non-Cas nucleases in Type III-A CRISPR-Cas immunity

Chou Zheng, Lucy

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121357

Description

Title
Roles of non-Cas nucleases in Type III-A CRISPR-Cas immunity
Author(s)
Chou Zheng, Lucy
Issue Date
2023-07-13
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Hatoum-Aslan, Asma
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Hatoum-Aslan, Asma
Committee Member(s)
  • Kuzminov, Andrei
  • Mera, Paola E.
  • Nair, Satish K.
Department of Study
Microbiology
Discipline
Microbiology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • CRISPR-Cas10
  • Type III-A CRISPR-Cas
  • Cas10-Csm
  • CRISPR-Cas
  • Degradosome, Staphylococci
  • Staphylococcus epidermidis
  • PNPase
  • RNase R
  • RNase J2
  • Nhi
  • anti-phage defense.
Abstract
The overuse of antibiotics has led to a new wave of resistant bacterial pathogens insensitive to current antibiotics. Staphylococcus species are ubiquitous residents of human skin that can acquire and disseminate antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Therefore, it is essential to understand cellular processes that naturally block HGT and prevent the transfer of ARGs. One such process is mediated by Clustered Regulatory Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) and their CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins. CRISPR-Cas systems are a class of prokaryotic immune systems that use small CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) as guides and Cas nucleases as weapons to detect and destroy mobile genetic elements, including plasmids and bacteriophages. The work in this thesis investigates the mechanism of CRISPR-Cas immunity using S. epidermidis RP62a, a commensal opportunistic pathogen, as the model organism. This research investigates and proves the central hypothesis that the Type III-A CRISPR-Cas system collaborates with housekeeping nucleases to mount a successful defense against genetic invaders.
Graduation Semester
2023-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2023 Lucy Chou Zheng

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