{"id":163,"date":"2022-09-08T09:13:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T08:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/?post_type=research_group&p=163"},"modified":"2022-12-21T10:18:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T10:18:26","slug":"crispr-and-dna-repair-systems","status":"publish","type":"research_group","link":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/research-group\/crispr-and-dna-repair-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"CRISPR and DNA Repair Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

CRISPR<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cells must defend their genomes against attack by selfish genetic elements such as viruses. Although CRISPR is widely known as a genome editing technology, the CRISPR system functions as an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes. CRISPR is not synonymous with Cas9, which is an unusual type II system that is rarely present in bacteria. In contrast, type I and type III systems are much more common, and arguably much more interesting. Our lab studies type III CRISPR systems, which confer a complex, multi-layered defence against mobile genetic elements. Detection of viral RNA leads the Cas10 subunit of type III systems to generate the second messenger cyclic oligoadenylate (cOA), which sculpts the cellular response to infection. cOA activates a range of effector proteins which degrade RNA or DNA non-specifically to slow down both viral and host metabolism and \u201cbuy some time\u201d. We recently identified and characterised a \u201cRing nuclease\u201d enzyme, which degrades the cOA signal and returns cells to an uninfected state following viral RNA clearance. Predictably, viruses have evolved countermeasures known as anti-CRISPRs, and we recently discovered a viral anti-CRISPR that circumvents type III CRISPR immunity by rapidly degrades the cOA signalling molecule.<\/p>\n

CBASS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

CBASS is another prokaryotic defence system that defends against viruses using a wide range of cyclic nucleotide second messengers and effectors. CRISPR and CBASS overlap in the signals \u00a0and the effectors they use, but CBASS seemly primarily to result in Abortive Infection (or altruistic cell death). We are investigating the mechanism of CBASS systems and the links with cyclic nucleotide signalling more generally in bacterial cells. The hunt is now on for anti-CBASS proteins in viruses!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our group website: https:\/\/crispr.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cells must defend their genomes against attack by selfish genetic elements such as viruses. Although CRISPR is widely known as a genome editing technology, the CRISPR system functions as an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":164,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-163","research_group","type-research_group","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"group_members":"

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White, Prof Malcolm:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0[Group PI] Professor<\/p>\r\ntel: 01334 463432\r\nfax:\r\nroom: 307 Annexe\r\nemail:\u00a0mfw2@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Athukoralage, Mr Januka:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Postgraduate Student\/Demonstrator<\/p>\r\ntel:\r\nfax:\r\nroom:\r\nemail:\u00a0jsa8@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Graham, Dr Shirley:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Research Technician Lab Manager<\/p>\r\ntel: 01334 463419\/3436\r\nfax:\r\nroom: B313 Annexe\r\nemail:\u00a0sg71@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Gruschow, Dr Sabine:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Research Fellow<\/p>\r\ntel:\r\nfax:\r\nroom:\r\nemail:\u00a0sg200@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Petrovic-Stojanovska, Mrs Biljana:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Research Technician<\/p>\r\ntel: 01334 463436\/3419\r\nfax:\r\nroom: Annex Level 3\r\nemail:\u00a0bp20@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Zhu, Mr Wenlong:<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Postgraduate Student<\/p>\r\ntel: 3436\r\nroom: Annex\r\nemail:\u00a0wz29@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","publications":"[publications flag='individual' code='mfw2' dois='1' max='10' categorise='1']","research_projects":"The Archaea<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe CRISPR System<\/a>\r\n\r\nDNA Damage and Repair<\/a>\r\n\r\nBioinformatics Tools<\/a>","related_theme":false,"related_centre":[{"ID":77,"post_title":"Biomedical Sciences Research Complex","post_content":"The\u00a0Biomedical Sciences Research Complex (BSRC) is an interdisciplinary centre for biomedical research with contributions from the Schools of Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Physics and Astronomy.\u00a0The BSRC's main research themes are infection and immunity, biophysics, molecular medicine, and chemical biology.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nMain Website<\/a>","post_excerpt":"","post_author":"4","post_date":"2022-01-17 15:53:50","post_date_gmt":"2022-01-17 15:53:50","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"biomedical-sciences-research-complex","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-09-20 13:31:47","post_modified_gmt":"2022-09-20 12:31:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/?post_type=research_centre&p=77","menu_order":0,"post_type":"research_centre","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","comments":false,"id":77}],"contact":"

Join Us<\/h1>\r\nPostdoc positions will be advertised here and on the website jobs.ac.uk when available. If you are interested in the possibility of bringing your own fellowship to our lab, so much the better!\r\n\r\nPhD recruitment begins in Oct-Dec with advertisement on FindaPhD.com.\r\n\r\nThere is specific funding available for Chinese nationals to undertake a PhD in our lab; more details\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a>.\r\n\r\nPlease get in touch (mfw2@st-andrews.ac.uk) for further information","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research_group\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research_group"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research_group"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}