Catalytically Active Cas9 Mediates Transcriptional Interference to Facilitate Bacterial Virulence (Molecular Cell)

Ratner et al. elucidate the mechanism of natural gene repression by Cas9, which is required for the virulence of Francisella novicida. Cas9 interferes with transcription by RNA-directed binding to DNA targets. Transcriptional repression may be a common feature of CRISPR-Cas9 systems that leads to diverse functions in bacterial physiology.