Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39719706›Full record

ArticleCell genomics2025

CRISPR-Cas spacer acquisition is a rare event in human gut microbiome.

An-Ni Zhang, Jeffry M Gaston, Pablo Cárdenas, Shijie Zhao, Xiaoqiong Gu, Eric J Alm

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell genomics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

An-Ni ZhangDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: anni.zhang@ntu.edu.sg.
Jeffry M GastonSchool of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore; Google, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Pablo CárdenasDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Shijie ZhaoDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Xiaoqiong GuSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Eric J AlmDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: ejalm@mit.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Host-parasite relationships drive the evolution of both parties. In microbe-phage dynamics, CRISPR functions as an adaptive defense mechanism, updating immunity via spacer acquisition. Here, we investigated these interactions within the human gut microbiome, uncovering low frequencies of spacer acquisition at an average rate of one spacer every ∼2.9 point mutations using isolates' whole genomes and ∼2.7 years using metagenome time series. We identified a highly prevalent CRISPR array in Bifidobacterium longum spreading via horizontal gene transfer (HGT), with six spacers found in various genomic regions in 15 persons from the United States and Europe. These spacers, targeting two prominent Bifidobacterium phages, comprised 76% of spacer occurrence of all spacers targeting these phages in all B. longum populations. This result suggests that HGT of an entire CRISPR-Cas system introduced three times more spacers than local CRISPR-Cas acquisition in B. longum. Overall, our findings identified key ecological and evolutionary factors in prokaryote adaptive immunity.

Indexed as

CRISPR-Cas SystemsGastrointestinal MicrobiomeBacteriophagesBifidobacterium longumClustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic RepeatsGene Transfer, HorizontalGenome, BacterialHumansMetagenomeadaptive immunitybioinformaticscomputational biologyCRISPR-Cas systemshorizontal gene transferhost-virus interactionshuman gut microbiomemicrobial evolutionphage defense

Identifiers

PMID39719706
PMCPMC11770219

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.