The catalytic activation of the Cas9 HNH domain involves a unique conformational change in the ββα-metal motif that is collectively driven by the interactions with the metal ions and DNA.

In crystallo observation of HNH family I-PpoI nuclease cleaving DNA suggests that one divalent metal ion and a histidine are required for catalysis.

Allostery holds critical role in CRISPR-Cas9 specificity enhancement.

Salmonella antibacterial effectors act on Y-shaped DNA substrates resembling replication forks or transcription bubbles and lead to DNA double-strand breaks.

The upper airway commensal, Neisseria cinerea, competes with related species using a T6SS, with antagonism modulated by the spatial dynamics of attacker and prey strains growing in a mixed community.

Bodo saltans virus defines the most abundant giant viruses in the ocean and highlights the genomic plasticity, rooted in evolutionary arms races, that gave rise to giant viruses.

Prokaryotic TRADD-N and Death-like adaptor domains in diverse predicted apoptosis and immune systems from multicellular prokaryotes and metazoans indicate the common origin of key apoptosis mechanisms required for the stabilization of multicellularity.

A key cellular process is controlled by altering a balance, rather than through an off/on mechanism.

xCas9's ability to recognise diverse DNA sequences stems from structural flexibility in the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM)-interacting cleft and adaptability to PAM-induced conformational changes, paving the way for advanced genome editing tools.