Investigating the association between the CRISPR-Cas system and antibiotic resistance genes in Neisseria spp.

Abstract

The study aims to examine the CRISPR Cas-systems in the Neisseria species, with a specific focus on its potential role in antibiotic resistance (AR). A total of 360 Neisseria strains belonging to different species were retrieved from the NCBI database. The CRISPR Cas arrays were found among 89 Neisseria genomes with 140 distinct direct repeats and 1661 spacer regions. While, 69% were determined to have the type II-C system and 28% had the I-C system. The CRISPR type II-C was found to have eflux pump AR (71%) majorly. It was found that species with several CRISPR arrays often had either no or just one AR genes in their genomes. The study highlights multiple CRISPR array in Neisseria spp. might have played a prominent role in the prevention of horizontal gene transfer of AR genes.