Infectious diseases remain a global threat with many people annually contracting the epidemic diseases. Improved understanding of the pathogenesis of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, along with rapid diagnosis and treatment of human infections are essential to improving infectious diseases outcomes worldwide. In many genomic loci in bacteria and archea, termed Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR associated (Cas) proteins, function as an adaptive immune system for prokaryotes protecting against foreign invaders. key elements of this unique prokaryotic defense system are small CRISPR RNAs that guide nucleases to complementary target nucleic acids of invading viruses and plasmids.the CRISPR-Cas9 system is now routinely applied for efficient gene editing contributing to advances in biomedical science.
In this review, we summarize the biology and mechanism of CRISPR-Cas systems and discuss about emerging applications to evaluate mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions, to develop accurate diagnostics, and to advance prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.