CBCB scientists Senthil Kumar and Sridhar Hannenhalli publish a paper in PLOS Computational Biology on the dynamical model of CRISPR-mediated prokaryote-phage coevolution

Lead author and CBCB doctoral student Senthil Kumar, CBCB faculty Sridhar Hannenhalli, and Dr. Plotkin of U Penn have published a paper titled “Regulated CRISPR Modules Exploit a Dual Defense Strategy of Restriction and Abortive Infection in a Model of Prokaryote-Phage Coevolution” on November 6, 2015 in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. In this paper, they develop and analyze a dynamical model of CRISPR-mediated prokaryote-phage coevolution that incorporates classical CRISPR kinetics along with the recently discovered infection-induced activation and autoimmunity side effects. Their results indicate that except in limited growth rates, regulated CRISPRs exploit both autoimmunity and target restriction and can therefore be considered a hybrid class that leverages both restriction and suicide mechanisms to limit phage infection.

"Regulated CRISPR Modules Exploit a Dual Defense Strategy of Restriction and Abortive Infection in a Model of Prokaryote-Phage Coevolution” article: http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.10...