Imagine wanting to use a phage against an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. The only thing standing in the way of that phage killing the bacteria and eradicating the infection might be the ...

While it once proved a technical challenge, scientists are now using CRISPR to turn bacteria into disease- and climate change-fighting microbes.

"Our results indicate that the bacteria's CRISPR system was more effective at using the naturally dormant phage to pull parts of the viral genetic code into their genome," says Modell.

Bacteria-attacking viruses, known as bacteriophages, use small RNAs to disarm the CRISPR-Cas immune systems of bacteria. This discovery has now been documented by researchers at the University of ...

CRISPR-based technologies can be quite powerful in the journey to genetically manipulate the microbiome, according to Marsh. “We can target harmful bacteria. We can engineer beneficial bacteria. We ...

CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and Cas9: CRISPR DNA serves as a permanent record of past infections, but for bacteria to use these sequences to thwart viruses, they must convert them into DNA's cousin, RNA.

Scientists have demonstrated a new potential way to edit the genomes of bacteria in complex environments, by equipping viruses to hunt them down and insert the CRISPR gene-editing system.

With the first medical therapy approved and systems like CRISPR-Cas showing up in complex cells, there’s a lot happening in the genome editing field.

The potential for using CRISPR to improve crops is "remarkable," said Ringeisen, and could help secure food for billions of people, even as climate change threatens more floods, droughts and diseases.

Call it a CRISPR conundrum. Bacteria use CRISPR-Cas systems as adaptive immune systems to withstand attacks from enemies like viruses. These systems have been adapted by scientists to remove or cut ...