ArticleMolecular systems biology2022
Single cell variability of CRISPR-Cas interference and adaptation.
Article in Molecular systems biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- CRISPR-Cas immune repertoires as an ecological record of bacterial interactions with mobile genetic elements in the human gut.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Molecular kinetics dictate population dynamics in CRISPR-based plasmid defense.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Distribution of Genetic Determinants Associated with CRISPR-Cas Systems and Resistance to Antibiotics in the Genomes of Archaea and Bacteria.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- From Tradition to Innovation: Diverse Molecular Techniques in the Fight Against Infectious Diseases.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- Investigating the Relationship between CRISPR-Cas Content and Growth Rate in Bacteria.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Single cell variability of CRISPR-Cas interference and adaptation.Molecular systems biology · 2022Article
- CRISPR memories in single cells.Molecular systems biology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While CRISPR-Cas defence mechanisms have been studied on a population level, their temporal dynamics and variability in individual cells have remained unknown. Using a microfluidic device, time-lapse microscopy and mathematical modelling, we studied invader clearance in Escherichia coli across multiple generations. We observed that CRISPR interference is fast with a narrow distribution of clearance times. In contrast, for invaders with escaping PAM mutations we found large cell-to-cell variability, which originates from primed CRISPR adaptation. Faster growth and cell division and higher levels of Cascade increase the chance of clearance by interference, while slower growth is associated with increased chances of clearance by priming. Our findings suggest that Cascade binding to the mutated invader DNA, rather than spacer integration, is the main source of priming heterogeneity. The highly stochastic nature of primed CRISPR adaptation implies that only subpopulations of bacteria are able to respond quickly to invading threats. We conjecture that CRISPR-Cas dynamics and heterogeneity at the cellular level are crucial to understanding the strategy of bacteria in their competition with other species and phages.
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