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Treatment of severe gastrointestinal illness caused by Shiga-toxin-producing enteropathogenic bacteria is a growing challenge owing to increasing antimicrobial resistance. We engineered a conjugative CRISPR-associated transposase to insert a genetic payload that inactivates the Shiga toxin gene of Enterobacteriaceae pathogens in the gut, establishing a foundation for microbial gene therapy.
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References
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Gencay, Y. E. et al. Engineered phage with antibacterial CRISPR–Cas selectively reduce E. coli burden in mice. Nat. Biotechnol. 42, 265–274 (2024). This study reports the development and evaluation of engineered phages armed with CRISPR–Cas systems that selectively reduce pathogenic E. coli.
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Vo, P. L. H. et al. CRISPR RNA-guided integrases for high-efficiency, multiplexed bacterial genome engineering. Nat. Biotechnol. 39, 480–489 (2021). This paper describes RNA-guided transposases that allow high-efficiency and multiplexed genome editing in bacteria.
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This is a summary of: Ronda, C. et al. Precise virulence inactivation using a CRISPR-associated transposase for combating Enterobacteriaceae gut pathogens. Nat. Biomed. Eng. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01453-1 (2025).
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A live, programmable microbiota therapeutic disables virulence in gut pathogens. Nat. Biomed. Eng (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01452-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01452-2
