Evolutionary ecology of CRISPR-Cas

Edze Westra   
University of Exeter, UK - E.R.Westra@exeter.ac.uk

(Seminar in English)  

Bacteria have a range of sophisticated immune mechanisms to protect against virus infections, but it is unclear why all these different mechanisms evolved in the first place. Under laboratory conditions, bacteria typically evolve de novo virus resistance using either surface modification or CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems. In this talk I will discuss ecological factors that can tip the balance in the evolution of these two immune mechanisms and examine their distinct co-evolutionary implications.

Recent publications:

van Houte S, Buckling A, Westra ER. Evolutionary Ecology of Prokaryotic Immune Mechanisms. 2016 Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 80(3):745-63.

van Houte S, Ekroth AK, Broniewski JM, Chabas H, Ashby B, Bondy-Denomy J, Gandon S, Boots M, Paterson S, Buckling A, Westra ER. 2016 The diversity-generating benefits of a prokaryotic adaptive immune system. Nature 532(7599):385-8.

Westra ER, van Houte S, Oyesiku-Blakemore S, Makin B, Broniewski JM, Best A, Bondy-Denomy J, Davidson A, Boots M, Buckling A. 2015 Parasite Exposure Drives Selective Evolution of Constitutive versus Inducible Defense. Curr Biol. 25(8):1043-9.