Timeline milestone
tracrRNA is identified as a key CRISPR component
From From Bacterial Defence to Medicine: The CRISPR Gene-Editing Revolution
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Discovery
tracrRNA is identified as a key CRISPR component
Emmanuelle Charpentier's team discovered tracrRNA, an RNA molecule required to process crRNA in Streptococcus pyogenes, a finding that opened the door to engineering Cas9.
While studying Streptococcus pyogenes, Emmanuelle Charpentier's team discovered a small RNA molecule, tracrRNA, that base-pairs with the CRISPR repeat sequences and is essential for processing crRNA into its mature, functional form. The finding revealed a missing piece of the Cas9 system's machinery. A year later, that same tracrRNA would be fused with crRNA into a single guide RNA, the design that let Doudna and Charpentier turn Cas9 into a programmable tool.
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