Question:

Which of the following organisms naturally possess CRISPR-Cas systems?

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Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 for adapting the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 immune system into a powerful tool for genome editing.
  • Plants
  • Bacteria
  • Fungi
  • Mammals
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
CRISPR-Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a molecular system used in biotechnology for precise genomic editing.
Before being adapted as a biotechnology tool, CRISPR-Cas evolved as a biological mechanism in single-celled organisms.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:

The CRISPR-Cas system is a natural adaptive immune system found in prokaryotes, specifically in Bacteria and Archaea.
It protects these organisms from foreign genetic material, such as bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) and plasmids:
1. Acquisition: When a bacterium survives a phage infection, it captures a small segment of the viral DNA and inserts it into its CRISPR genomic locus as a "spacer."
2. Expression: Upon subsequent reinfection by the same phage, the CRISPR array is transcribed into guide RNA (crRNA).
3. Interference: This guide RNA forms a complex with Cas nucleases (such as Cas9) and guides the enzyme to bind and cut the complementary invading phage DNA, neutralizing the threat.
Plants (A), Fungi (C), and Mammals (D) are eukaryotic organisms. They do not naturally possess CRISPR-Cas systems.
However, scientists have successfully introduced engineered CRISPR-Cas systems into these eukaryotic cells to perform targeted gene editing.
Therefore, bacteria naturally possess CRISPR-Cas systems.

Step 4: Final Answer:

The organisms that naturally possess CRISPR-Cas systems are bacteria, matching Option (B).
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