A subclass of recently discovered CRISPR repeat RNA in bacteria contains
minimally recognizable structural features that facilitate an unknown mechanism
of recognition and processing by the Cas6 family of endoribonucleases. Cocrystal
structures of Cas6 from Methanococcus maripaludis (MmCas6b) bound with its
repeat RNA revealed a dual site binding structure and a cleavage site
conformation poised for phosphodiester bond breakage. Two non-interacting
MmCas6b bind to two separate AAYAA motifs within the same repeat, one distal and
one adjacent to the cleavage site. This bound structure potentially competes
with a stable but non-productive RNA structure. At the cleavage site, MmCas6b
supplies a base pair mimic to stabilize a short 2 base pair stem immediately
upstream of the scissile phosphate. Complementary biochemical analyses support
the dual-AAYAA binding model and a critical role of the protein-RNA base pair
mimic. Our results reveal a previously unknown method of processing
non-stem-loop CRISPR RNA by Cas6.