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Philippe Horvath (DuPont), Discovery of CRISPR-Cas, bacterial immune system: From fundamental research to industrial applications
6 April 2016 | 11 h 00 min - 12 h 00 min
Philippe Horvath (DuPont):
Discovery of CRISPR-Cas, the bacterial immune system: From fundamental research to industrial applications
Slides of the talk: Slides Horvath.
- Abstract:
Discovered in 2007, CRISPR-Cas is a bacterial immunity system directed against nucleic acids, notably viral DNA. In this system, the immunological memory is built through the acquisition of short viral DNA sequences into the chromosome of the bacterial host, within peculiar regions called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). In the interference stage, these sequences are transcribed into small RNA molecules named crRNAs, that are used by Cas (CRISPR-associated) proteins to recognize and inactivate any foreign DNA showing sequence complementary to the crRNAs. The ability of certain Cas proteins, notably Cas9, to be directed by a short RNA towards a DNA target and to cleave it at a precise position has been diverted and transformed in 2012 into a simple and efficient tool for genome editing. Since then, the Cas9 tool has been applied successfully to genome modification of numerous organisms, including microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans. This presentation will focus on the milestone and fundamental discoveries about CRISPR-Cas systems, and on some of their applications. - Links to know in more detail Philippe Horvath’s role in the discovery of the CRISPR-Cas system:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17379808
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20056882
- Big crowd for Philippe Horvath’s talk:
