Cas9 slide-and-seek for phage defense and genome engineering

How does the Cas9 nuclease locate a specific 20-nucleotide target sequence in a crowded intracellular environment packed with mega bases of distracting non-target DNA? Previously, it was shown that Cas9 finds DNA targets via three-dimensional diffusion. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Globyte et al (2019) reveal another dimension of the search process, which involves short-range one-dimensional sliding. These results have implications for understanding the natural function of Cas9 and its applications in genome engineering experiments.

Source: EMBO Journal - February 15, 2019 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Santiago-Frangos, A., Wiegand, T., Wiedenheft, B. Tags: DNA Replication, Repair & Recombination, Methods & Resources News [amp ] Views Source Type: research