Question

You are studying a bacterial species with an active CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Propose detailed steps of an experiment that you could do to figure out which phage has attacked this bacterium in the past.

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Answer 1

CRISPR Cas9 plays an important role in the microbial immunity against the viruses or bacteriophages.

When a microbe is attacked by the virus the special CRISPR Cas9 system is activated and gRNA which is complementary to a target segment of the viral genome chops off a piece of the viral DNA and is stored into the CRISPR locus. This helps in genetic memory against the disabling future infections from the same virus or phage.

CRISPR has enabled a simple and affordable way to manipulate and edit DNA -- used in genetic engineering for new drug development and medical therapeutics