Global CRISPR SpacerDB links metagenomic spacers with viruses and plasmids

JGI’s Global CRISPR Spacer Database provides downloadable spacer sequences, virus/plasmid matches and example notebooks for exploring microbial interactions. Its accompanying Nature Microbiology study collected 794 million spacers from 367,609 metagenomes. The study cautions that CRISPR targeting does not always establish a productive virus–host relationship. The database predates the October 2026 paper.