Utilization of CRISPR/Cas System of Lactic Acid Bacteria in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a group of low-GC content, Gram-positive, facultative anaerob, non-motile, non-spore-forming, acid tolerant bacteria that can ferment various nutrients. This group of bacteria mostly contains starter cultures and probiotics. Discovery of “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)” and “CRISPR-related Cas” proteins accelerated studies pertaining to the subject and provided a simplified genom editing mechanism. Genom editing via CRISPR/Cas system and combination of this system with other genetic tools will break new ground on industrial and clinical applications of lactic acid bacteria and probiotics. This review aims to provide an insight on how CRISPR/Cas system works, which types of CRISPR/Cas system lactic acid bacteria and probiotics contain, how it is applied to biotechnology and genetic engineering as well as the future potential applications.