Crispr-phage systems are a type of immune defense mechanism found in bacteria that utilizes CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) to protect against phage (bacterial virus) infections. These systems work by storing snippets of viral DNA within the bacterial genome, which can then be transcribed and used to recognize and cut foreign viral DNA during subsequent infections, effectively granting bacteria the ability to 'remember' past viral encounters. This adaptive immunity has significant implications for both understanding bacterial evolution and developing new biotechnological applications.
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