The discovery of clustered DNA repeats has occurred independently in three regions of the world. The first description of this work, later called CRISPR, was made in 1987 by Osaka University researcher Yoshizumi Ishino and colleagues. They cloned part of the CRISPR sequence from the E. coli genome along with the “Lap” gene. The organization of the repetitions was unusual. Repetitive sequences were typically arranged sequentially, with no interspersed distinct sequences. The researchers did not know the exact function of the truncated and clustered repeats.
Author: Ms. Ayça Nur DEMİR