PHAGE-ENCODED AcrVIA1 FOR USE AS AN INHIBITOR OF THE RNA-TARGETING CRISPR-Cas13 SYSTEMS

Abstract

Provided is an anti-CRISPR protein (AcrVIA1), which acts as an inhibitor of the nuclease of Cas13. Cas13 recognizes complementary viral transcripts to trigger the degradation of both host and viral RNA during the type VI CRISPR-Cas antiviral response. AcrVIA1 is provided as an isolated or recombinantly expressed protein comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or derivatives thereof, expression vectors that encode the same sequence, and methods of making and using proteins that comprise the same sequence, or derivatives thereof, for inhibiting the function of Cas13 and/or protein complexes and/or ribonucleoprotein complexes that comprise Cas13. The disclosure further includes use of the described inhibitor protein in improved diagnostic assays that include Cas13. Inclusion of the inhibitor is expected to preclude a requirement to reverse transcribe and/or create cDNA amplifications of the particular RNA that is the subject of the analysis.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.