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Cited by 246

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 10 of the 10 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Major bacterial lineages are essentially devoid of CRISPR-Cas viral defence systems

Open access
Burstein, David, Sun, Christine L., Brown, Christopher T., Sharon, Itai, Anantharaman, Karthik, Probst, Alexander J., Thomas, Brian C., Banfield, Jillian F.·2016·Nature Communications

Abstract

Current understanding of microorganism–virus interactions, which shape the evolution and functioning of Earth’s ecosystems, is based primarily on cultivated organisms. Here we investigate thousands of viral and microbial genomes recovered using a cultivation-independent approach to study the frequency, variety and taxonomic distribution of viral defence mechanisms. CRISPR-Cas systems that confer microorganisms with immunity to viruses are present in only 10% of 1,724 sampled microorganisms, compared with previous reports of 40% occurrence in bacteria and 81% in archaea. We attribute this large difference to the lack of CRISPR-Cas systems across major bacterial lineages that have no cultivated representatives. We correlate absence of CRISPR-Cas with lack of nucleotide biosynthesis capacity and a symbiotic lifestyle. Restriction systems are well represented in these lineages and might provide both non-specific viral defence and access to nucleotides.

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Metadata

Authors
Burstein, D., Sun, C. L., Brown, C. T., Sharon, I., Anantharaman, K., Probst, A. J., Thomas, B. C., & Banfield, J. F.
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2016-02-03
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
10613-10613
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2260201183
Cited by
246
References
10
FWCI
23.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
gold

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Major bacterial lineages are essentially devoid of CRISPR-Cas viral defence systems. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/ncomms10613
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Burstein, D., Sun, C. L., Brown, C. T., Sharon, I., Anantharaman, K., Probst, A. J., Thomas, B. C., & Banfield, J. F. (2016). Major bacterial lineages are essentially devoid of CRISPR-Cas viral defence systems. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10613

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