Timeline milestone
Repeated bacterial DNA sequences are reported
From From Bacterial Defence to Medicine: The CRISPR Gene-Editing Revolution
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Discovery
Repeated bacterial DNA sequences are reported
Researchers observed regularly spaced repeats in E. coli without knowing their function.
The discovery came while researchers were sequencing a gene in <em>Escherichia coli</em>. They noticed an unusual pattern: short DNA sequences repeated at regular intervals, separated by unique fragments. Nothing at the time revealed that these sequences formed part of a microbial defence system. The observation mattered because it created the first record of the structure later called CRISPR, even though its biological purpose would remain unclear for years.
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