The evolution of CRISPR–cas loci, which encode adaptive immune systems in archaea and bacteria, involves rapid changes, in particular numerous rearrangements of the locus architecture and horizontal transfer of complete loci or individual modules. These dynamics complicate straightforward phylogenetic classification, but here we present an approach combining the analysis of signature protein families and features of the architecture of cas loci that unambiguously partitions most CRISPR–cas loci into distinct classes, types and subtypes. The new classification retains the overall structure of the previous version but is expanded to now encompass two classes, five types and 16 subtypes. The relative stability of the classification suggests that the most prevalent variants of CRISPR–Cas systems are already known. However, the existence of rare, currently unclassifiable variants implies that additional types and subtypes remain to be characterized.

SUMMARY Compelling evidence indicates that the CRISPR-Cas system protects prokaryotes from viruses and other potential genome invaders. This adaptive prokaryotic immune system arises from the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) found in prokaryotic genomes, which harbor short invader-derived sequences, and the CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein-coding genes. Here we have identified a CRISPR-Cas effector complex that is comprised of small invader-targeting RNAs from the CRISPR loci (termed prokaryotic silencing (psi)RNAs) and the RAMP module (or Cmr) Cas proteins. The psiRNA-Cmr protein complexes cleave complementary target RNAs at a fixed distance from the 3' end of the integral psiRNAs. In Pyrococcus furiosus, psiRNAs occur in two size forms that share a common 5' sequence tag but have distinct 3' ends that direct cleavage of a given target RNA at two distinct sites. Our results indicate that prokaryotes possess a unique RNA silencing system that functions by homology-dependent cleavage of invader RNAs.

Recent advances have fuelled rapid growth in our appreciation of the tremendous number, diversity and biological importance of non-coding (nc)RNAs. Because ncRNAs typically function as ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes and not as naked RNAs, understanding their biogenesis is crucial to comprehending their regulation and function. The small nuclear and small nucleolar RNPs are two well studied classes of ncRNPs with elaborate assembly and trafficking pathways that provide paradigms for understanding the biogenesis of other ncRNPs.

An RNA-based gene silencing pathway that protects bacteria and archaea from viruses and other genome invaders is hypothesized to arise from guide RNAs encoded by CRISPR loci and proteins encoded by the cas genes. CRISPR loci contain multiple short invader-derived sequences separated by short repeats. The presence of virus-specific sequences within CRISPR loci of prokaryotic genomes confers resistance against corresponding viruses. The CRISPR loci are transcribed as long RNAs that must be processed to smaller guide RNAs. Here we identified Pyrococcus furiosus Cas6 as a novel endoribonuclease that cleaves CRISPR RNAs within the repeat sequences to release individual invader targeting RNAs. Cas6 interacts with a specific sequence motif in the 5 region of the CRISPR repeat element and cleaves at a defined site within the 3 region of the repeat. The 1.8 angstrom crystal structure of the enzyme reveals two ferredoxin-like folds that are also found in other RNA-binding proteins. The predicted active site of the enzyme is similar to that of tRNA splicing endonucleases, and concordantly, Cas6 activity is metal-independent. cas6 is one of the most widely distributed CRISPR-associated genes. Our findings indicate that Cas6 functions in the generation of CRISPR-derived guide RNAs in numerous bacteria and archaea.[Keywords: CRISPR; Cas; endoribonuclease; RNA processing; Dicer; RNAi] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex that synthesizes telomere repeats in tissue progenitor cells and cancer cells. Active human telomerase consists of at least three principal subunits, including the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), the telomerase RNA (TERC), and dyskerin. Here, we identify a holoenzyme subunit, TCAB1 (telomerase Cajal body protein1), uniquely enriched in Cajal bodies, nuclear sites of RNP processing important for telomerase function. TCAB1 associates with active telomerase enzyme, with established telomerase components, and with small Cajal body RNAs involved in modifying splicing RNAs. Depletion of TCAB1 using RNA interference prevents TERC from associating with Cajal bodies, disrupts telomerase-telomere association and abrogates telomere synthesis by telomerase. Thus, TCAB1 controls telomerase trafficking and is required for telomere synthesis in human cancer cells.TERT and TERC comprise the minimal catalytic core of the telomerase enzyme (1), whereas dyskerin is an RNA binding protein that recognizes the H/ACA sequence motif shared by TERC and two groups of non-coding RNAs involved in RNA modification -small Cajal body (sca) RNAs and small nucleolar (sno) RNAs (2,3). Dyskerin functions in part to support telomerase RNP biogenesis and TERC stability (4,5). TERT, TERC and dyskerin are all components of active telomerase (6), and mutations in any of these genes can cause the human stem cell disorder dyskeratosis congenita (7). Other potential components of active telomerase include three evolutionarily conserved dyskerin-associated proteins, NOP10, NHP2 and GAR1 (8-10), and EST1A, a homologue of the yeast telomerase protein Est1p (11,12). However, the size of active human telomerase, estimated in the 0.65 to 2 MDa range (6,13,14), suggests the existence of additional components. We reasoned that other dyskerin-associated proteins may be telomerase components, and we therefore sought to purify dyskerin complexes.To study dyskerin, we expressed tagged dyskerin protein at endogenous levels in the absence of competing endogenous protein (Fig. S1) and isolated dyskerin complexes using a dual affinity chromatography strategy. Purified dyskerin complexes were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and nanoLC-MS/MS for identification of co-purifying proteins (Fig. 1A,B). Dense peptide coverage was obtained for dyskerin and for the dyskerin-associated ATPases pontin and reptin (14). Each of the evolutionarily conserved dyskerin-binding proteins NHP2, NOP10 and GAR1 was detected, as were the dyskerin-associated proteins Nopp140 and NAF1, a nucleoplasmic factor required for assembly of H/ACA RNPs including telomerase (15) (Fig. 1B). In addition, this approach identified the WD40 repeat protein WDR79, a protein that had not been previously implicated in dyskerin or telomerase function.We further characterized WDR79, hereafter referred to as TCAB1 (Fig. 1B, S2). Endogenous TCAB1 was specifically bound to Flag-dyskerin immunoprecipitated from Flagdyskerin +shRNA HeLa cells, as were endogenous ponti...