A decade of discovery: CRISPR functions and applications

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the identification of the biological function of CRISPR–Cas as adaptive immune systems in bacteria. In just a decade, the characterization of CRISPR–Cas systems has established a novel means of adaptive immunity in bacteria and archaea and deepened our understanding of the interplay between prokaryotes and their environment, and CRISPR-based molecular machines have been repurposed to enable a genome editing revolution. Here, we look back on the historical milestones that have paved the way for the discovery of CRISPR and its function, and discuss the related technological applications that have emerged, with a focus on microbiology. Lastly, we provide a perspective on the impacts the field has had on science and beyond. In this Review Article, Horvath and Barrangou describe the discovery of CRISPR–Cas systems as mechanisms of adaptive immunity in prokaryotes and explore the technological applications that have emerged from studying these molecular machines.