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CRISPR-Cas system

traitmech:000094 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A genomics trait describing possession of a CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune system that records fragments of invading nucleic acids in CRISPR arrays and uses Cas proteins to recognize and cleave matching sequences.

CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity against invading nucleic acids

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking Cas-protein-mediated CRISPR machinery to defense against invading mobile genetic elements.

CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity against invading nucleic acids Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for CRISPR-Cas system.

Edge evidence

  • Cas proteins enables CRISPR-Cas system RO:0002327

    Cas nucleases together with CRISPR arrays realize the adaptive immune system.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41579-019-0299-x Makarova et al. classify CRISPR-Cas systems by Cas-protein content.
  • CRISPR-Cas system participates in defense response to virus biolink:participates_in

    CRISPR-Cas mounts sequence-specific defense against invading genetic elements.

    • DOI:10.1016/j.molcel.2014.03.011 Barrangou & Marraffini frame CRISPR-Cas as prokaryotic adaptive immunity.
  • Cas1-Cas2 complex integrates spacers via spacer acquisition (adaptation)

    Cas1-Cas2 complexes act as molecular recorders that integrate new spacers into the CRISPR array during adaptation.

    • DOI:10.5483/bmbrep.2023-0050 Cas1-Cas2 complexes function as molecular recorders to integrate spacers; core adaptation edge, broad across canonical CRISPR-Cas systems.
  • CRISPR array transcription and processing produces crRNA METPO:2000202

    Transcription and processing of the CRISPR array yields mature crRNAs.

    • DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39538 CRISPR arrays are transcribed and processed into crRNAs; general edge across systems.
  • crRNA guides crRNA-Cas effector complex

    crRNA assembles with Cas effector(s) to form the interference-competent effector complex.

    • DOI:10.5483/bmbrep.2023-0050 Effector-crRNA complexes drive the RNA-guided interference pathways.
  • crRNA-Cas effector complex cleaves invading nucleic acid target

    The crRNA-Cas effector complex recognizes and cleaves complementary invading nucleic acid targets.

    • DOI:10.5483/bmbrep.2023-0050 Effector-crRNA complexes perform RNA-guided interference against invading targets; high-level interference edge.
  • phage and plasmid pressure selects for CRISPR-Cas system METPO:2007401

    Selective pressure from invading phages and plasmids favors maintenance of CRISPR-Cas immunity.

    • DOI:10.5483/bmbrep.2023-0050 CRISPR-Cas protects hosts from invasion by bacteriophages and plasmids; broad ecological selection edge.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1038/s41579-019-0299-x

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • CRISPR array RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1038/s41579-019-0299-x

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000188 [-0.956, -1.962, -3.148, +1.274, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate GENOMICS trait (CRISPR-Cas system) from literature research to fill the genome-defense-system gap.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (CRISPR adaptive immunity) with GO node grounding and RO/biolink predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 5 evidence-backed generic edges (7 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  4. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 2 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000202×1, METPO:2007401×1).