Some bacterial CRISPRs can snip RNA, too
This is an illustration of how the CRISPR/Cas system works, courtesy of Devaki Bhaya, Michelle Davison, and Rodolphe Barrangou. You've probably seen news stories about the highly lauded, much-discussed genome editing system CRISPR/Cas9. But did you know the system was actually derived from bacteria, which use it to fight off foreign invaders such as viruses? It allows many bacteria to snip and store segments of DNA from an invading virus, which they can then use to "remember" and destroy DNA from similar invaders if they are encountered again. Recent work from a team of researchers including Carnegie's Devaki Bhaya demonstrates that some bacteria also use the CRISPR/Cas system to snip and recognize segments of RNA, not just DNA. It was published by Science.