On 13th December, Professor Xiao Yibei from the Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Chongqing China Pharmaceutical University Innovation Research Institute and State Key Laboratory of Multi-target Natural Medicines, Associate Professor Chen Meirong from the Department of Pharmacology, and Associate Professor Lu Meiling from the College of Life Science and Technology published a research paper entitled Antiviral signaling of a type III CRISPR-associated deaminase online as‘First Release’ in the journal Science. Yutao Li, a doctoral student, Zhaoxing Li, a postdoctoral student, Purui Yan and Jianping Kong, master's students, and Chenyang Hua, a master's student of the School of Life Sciences and Technology, are the co-first authors of the paper. China Pharmaceutical University is the sole Communication Unit of the paper.
The group discovered a novel bacterial nucleic acid immune system, CRISPR-CAAD, which prevents phage proliferation by ‘depleting’ the bacterium's internal energy molecule, ATP. The study elucidates the mechanism of immunity through ATP depletion through cutting-edge cross-linking research methods, revealing the intrinsic connection between the bacterial immune system and metabolic pathways, and providing new insights into the bacterial resistance to phage infection. The findings will help advance the development of gene editing and biomedical technologies. Still, they may also provide important inspiration for solving the major health problems human beings face.
The research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the Innovative Research Group Project (82321005) and the National Key Research and Development Programme (2023YFC3402300).
In the past three years, members of the team have focused on nucleic acid immunity and regulation, and published research papers as corresponding authors (including co-authors) in Science, Nature Chemical Biology, Cell Research, Nature Communications, PNAS, NAR, Cell Reports, APSB and JMC. The team has published nearly 30 research papers in top journals and more than 50 patents.
In recent years, China Pharmaceutical University has actively promoted the organic integration of free exploration and organized research. Focusing on the major scientific research tasks in the process of ‘Healthy China’ construction, we have strengthened the construction of innovative talents and formed interdisciplinary and cross-field research teams to jointly solve global scientific problems. The project is supported by several teams and technology centers from the School of Life Sciences and Technology, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the National University of Singapore, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Nanfang University of Science and Technology.
Associate Professor Chen Meirong, Associate Professor Lu Meiling, Professor Xiao Yibei
