<P> Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats from Prevotella and Francisella 1 or CRISPR / Cpf1 is a DNA - editing technology analogous to the CRISPR / Cas9 system . Cpf1 is an RNA - guided endonuclease of a class II CRISPR / Cas system . This acquired immune mechanism is found in Prevotella and Francisella bacteria . It prevents genetic damage from viruses . Cpf1 genes are associated with the CRISPR locus, coding for an endonuclease that use a guide RNA to find and cleave viral DNA . Cpf1 is a smaller and simpler endonuclease than Cas9, overcoming some of the CRISPR / Cas9 system limitations . CRISPR / Cpf1 could have multiple applications, including treatment of genetic illnesses and degenerative conditions . </P> <P> CRISPR / Cpf1 was found by searching a published database of bacterial genetic sequences for promising bits of DNA . Its identification through bioinformatics as a CRISPR system protein, its naming, and a hidden Markov model (HMM) for its detection were provided in 2012 in a release of the TIGRFAMs database of protein families . Cpf1 appears in many bacterial species . The ultimate Cpf1 endonuclease that was developed into a tool for genome editing was taken from one of the first 16 species known to harbor it . Two candidate enzymes from Acidaminococcus and Lachnospiraceae display efficient genome - editing activity in human cells . </P>

The crispr-associated dna-cleaving enzyme cpf1 also processes precursor crispr rna