May 22, 2019
Research Highlight
Virus Immunity in Geographically Diverse Microbial Populations
A recent study provides insight into the interactions between viruses and their hosts. The research focuses on virus immunity in two geographically and genetically distinct population of a thermophilic archaea known as Sulfolobus islandicus. The research team studied how the organism utilized CRISPR-Cas immunity to fight infection from two types of viruses (Sulfolobus spindle-shaped viruses (SSVs) and S. islandicus rod-shaped viruses (SIRVs)).
Samples of the organisms were collected from Kamchatka, Russia, and Yellowstone National Park, USA. The results identified how the diversity and structure of antiviral CRISPR-Cas immunity can differ across a single microbial species, and in relation to both population and virus type. The researchers suggest that the mechanisms viruses use to evade CRISPR-Cas immunity could be different depending on the virus family.
Click here to view a description of CRISPR-Cas from the Microbiology Society.
The study, “Diversified local CRISPR-Cas immunity to viruses of Sulfolobus islandicus,” was published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. The work was supported by NASA Astrobiology through the Exobiology Program.