The definitive guide to gene editing.
★
Menu
Home Learn News Ask the Atlas
Explore Technologies Diseases Treatments Clinical Trials Companies Scientists Genes Research Institutions
Beyond medicine Agriculture Ethics Investing World map
Learn & Tools Start here Glossary A–Z Compare technologies Timeline Lists & Rankings AI Agents ★ Saved API
About About us Methodology Data Sources Editorial Policy Contact Disclaimers

🧭 Guided View
New to genetics? We explain every term as you browse, in plain English. Same pages, with the help built in.

⚡ Expert View
You already know the biology. Just the content — clean and compact, no extra explanations. This is the default view.

Interface language
Light mode

Research paper · Foundational

Intervening sequences of regularly spaced prokaryotic repeats derive from foreign genetic elements

The insight that CRISPR spacers come from viruses — the origin of the whole field.

Simple explanation

Francisco Mojica noticed that the unique sequences sitting between CRISPR's repeating blocks matched viral DNA. That meant microbes were keeping a genetic record of infections they had survived. Everything else follows from that observation.

Go deeper

Mojica, Díez-Villaseñor, García-Martínez and Soria reported that spacer sequences within CRISPR arrays match bacteriophage and plasmid sequences, proposing an adaptive immune function. The paper was rejected by several journals before publication — a frequently cited example of how difficult genuinely novel results can be to publish.

Sources

Written by The CRISPR Atlas editorial team Last updated Aug 25, 2026

Connected in the Atlas

Every entry on this site is linked to the others it relates to. These connections are part of the record, not a search result.

Technologies

CRISPR-Cas9

Scientists

Francisco Mojica
Educational information only This page is a reference, not medical advice. Research and regulatory status change; check the last-updated date above and confirm anything important against the primary sources listed.