LshCas13a/C2c2 (Leptotrichia shahii) (7D1-H7) Mouse mAb #43731

CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins) are RNA-guided nuclease effectors that are utilized for precise genome editing in mammalian systems (1). Cas13 proteins are members of the Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system. Class 2 CRISPR systems, such as the well characterized Cas9, rely on single-component effector proteins to mediate DNA/RNA interference rather than the multi-Cas protein complexes that belong to the Class 1 systems (2). Evolutionarily, CRISPR-Cas proteins act as RNA-guided antiviral and anti-plasmid that protect prokaryotes from phage-mediated infections. RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas proteins can act on both DNA and RNA. Cas13 proteins act as RNA-guided RNA nucleases, disrupting phage infection by RNA cleavage. The CRISPR-Cas system is being used for nuclease-based gene-editing. Since the Cas13 proteins act on RNA rather than DNA, Cas13 proteins, coupled with the appropriate guide RNA, can be used to target specific RNA substrates, potentially replacing or complementing RNA interference approaches that interfere with transcript levels (3). Several Cas13 bacterial orthologs have been characterized for CRISPR-mediated mammalian RNA editing, including LshCas13a/C2c2 and PspCas13b derived from Leptotrichia shahii and Prevotella sp. P5–125, respectively (4-6).