%0 Journal Article %A Joshua C. Cofsky %A Katarzyna M. Soczek %A Gavin J. Knott %A Eva Nogales %A Jennifer A. Doudna %T CRISPR-Cas9 bends and twists DNA to read its sequence %D 2021 %R 10.1101/2021.09.06.459219 %J bioRxiv %P 2021.09.06.459219 %X In bacterial defense and genome editing applications, the CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 searches millions of DNA base pairs to locate a 20-nucleotide, guide-RNA-complementary target sequence that abuts a protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM)1. Target capture requires Cas9 to unwind DNA at candidate sequences using an unknown ATP-independent mechanism2,3. Here we show that Cas9 sharply bends and undertwists DNA at each PAM, thereby flipping DNA nucleotides out of the duplex and toward the guide RNA for sequence interrogation. Cryo-electron-microscopy (EM) structures of Cas9:RNA:DNA complexes trapped at different states of the interrogation pathway, together with solution conformational probing, reveal that global protein rearrangement accompanies formation of an unstacked DNA hinge. Bend-induced base flipping explains how Cas9 “reads” snippets of DNA to locate target sites within a vast excess of non-target DNA, a process crucial to both bacterial antiviral immunity and genome editing. This mechanism establishes a physical solution to the problem of complementarity-guided DNA search and shows how interrogation speed and local DNA geometry may influence genome editing efficiency.Competing Interest StatementThe Regents of the University of California have patents issued and/or pending for CRISPR technologies on which G.J.K and J.A.D. are inventors. J.A.D. is a cofounder of Caribou Biosciences, Editas Medicine, Scribe Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics and Mammoth Biosciences. J.A.D. is a scientific advisor to Caribou Biosciences, Intellia Therapeutics, eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Scribe Therapeutics, Mammoth Biosciences, Synthego, Algen Biotechnologies, Felix Biosciences and Inari. J.A.D. is a Director at Johnson & Johnson and has research projects sponsored by Biogen, Apple Tree Partners and Roche. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/09/07/2021.09.06.459219.full.pdf