DNA, RNA, WTF Part II: CRISPRs: The Mini-Immune System of Bacteria
Taught by Jessica S.
Despite her NYC pedigree, Jessica has always been obsessed with the natural world, above and beyond pigeons, rats, and cockroaches. By day, Jessica studies membrane biogenesis and signaling in M. tuberculosis, the nasty bacterium that causes TB. She holds an MPH from Columbia and a PhD from Cornell. Her grandmother would like you to know that this kind of doctorate means that Jessica does not come equipped with a prescription pad (and therefore “is not the real kind of doctor.").
Bacteria have enemies. In addition to crumbling beneath penicillin, bleach, and the modern human-induced terrorist tactics raged by hand sanitizer, bacteria must contend with a more sinister biological entity - the phage, also known as virus specific for bacteria. While one handful of soil contains more bacterial cells than there are humans on earth, it is thought that phages outnumber number bacteria by about ten-fold, which means that there are about 5^10300 phages on earth, waiting in the wings to strike any rod, coccus, or spiral shaped beauty that comes its way.
...and just like humans, bacteria must figure out how to avoid viruses or succumb to their wrath. These forces have made for an invisible evolutionary arms race, so tricksy that it makes the Cold War look about as tough as a round of laser tag.
...and just like humans, bacteria have evolved mini-immune systems called CRISPRs to fight off their virus predators...and in a evolutionary twist, phages have evolved counter measures to fight off bacterial immune systems, including stealing the bacterial immune system to use against them during an infection (mwahahaha)!!!!!
This lecture will discuss these CRISPR bacterial immune systems and how they work, as well as the phage stealing twist of fate. No background in biology is required, we will cover the basics!
