Recently, Prof. Ouyang Songying’s research group from College of Life Sciences and Biomedical Research Center of South China, has made new progress in the systematical structure and function of the CRISPR-Cas. The related results were published in Nature Communications in the form of the paper Two HEPN Domains Dictate CRISPR RNA Maturation and Target Cleavage in Cas13d [(2019)10:2544, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10507-3, Impact Factor: 12.353]. The College of Life Sciences and Biomedical Research Center of South China are the primary authors of the paper, and Prof. Ouyang, the independent corresponding author.
This research reports the detailed structural and functional analysis of the uncultured Ruminococcus sp. Cas13d (UrCas13d) -crRNA binary complex, and determines the pre-crRNA processing site. Furthermore, both the structure and sequence of the nucleotides U(-8)-C(-1) within the repeat region are specifically recognized by UrCas13d. The research also explains the two hydrated Mg2+ ions aid in stabilizing the conformation of the crRNA repeat region and identifies the mismatch tolerance between the crRNA spacer region and target RNA.
The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and FNU. Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) BL-17U1 provided important technical support for the research.
Full text link：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10507-3
(Translated by Lin Lifen/ Reviewed by Chenfang)
