CRISPR is A(n)

Question

CRISPR is a(n)
A) bacterial gene.
B) bacterial enzyme.
C) bacterial immune system.
D) inactive viral RNA.
E) cascade protein.

Accepted Answer

CRISPR is a bacterial immune system, specifically a defense mechanism against invading viruses and plasmids. It stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and consists of repeating sequences of DNA separated by spacers, which act as a memory bank of previously encountered invaders. The CRISPR system also involves the Cas (CRISPR-associated) proteins, which use the RNA in the spacers to target and destroy foreign nucleic acids.