Here, structures of the Cas12i1 R-loop complexes before and after target DNA cleavage and biochemical assays offer detailed insights into the mechanisms of target DNA duplex unwinding, R-loop formation and DNA cleavage, and suggest that Cas12i1 forms a 19-bp long DNA-RNA heteroduplex with the crRNA guide region.
- Bo Zhang
- Diyin Luo
- Songying Ouyang
