Pathogen-Specific Bactericidal Method Mediated by Conjugative Delivery of CRISPR-Cas13a Targeting Bacterial Endogenous Transcripts

Abstract

Antibiotics with broad-spectrum activities are known to disturb both pathogens and beneficial gut microbiota and cause many undesired side effects, prompting increased interest in developing therapies that specifically eliminate pathogenic bacteria without damaging gut resident flora. To achieve this goal, we developed a strategy utilizing bacterial conjugation to deliver CRISPR-Cas13a programmed to specifically kill S. Typhimurium.