Molecular CellArticleCas9 Allosteric Inhibitionby the Anti-CRISPR Protein AcrIIA6Olivier Fuchsbauer,1,2,9Paolo Swuec,3,4,9Claire Zimberger,1,2Be ́atrice Amigues,1,2Se ́bastien Levesque,5Daniel Agudelo,5Alexis Duringer,5Antonio Chaves-Sanjuan,4Silvia Spinelli,1,2Genevie`ve M. Rousseau,6,7Minja Velimirovic,5Martino Bolognesi,3,4Alain Roussel,1,2Christian Cambillau,1,2Sylvain Moineau,6,7,8Yannick Doyon,5and Adeline Goulet1,2,10,*1Architecture et Fonction des Macromole ́cules Biologiques, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Campus de Luminy, Case932, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France2Architecture et Fonction des Macromole ́cules Biologiques, Aix-Marseille Universite ́, Campus de Luminy, Case 932, 13288 Marseille Cedex09, France3Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Universita`degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy4Centro di Ricerca Pediatrica Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi, Universita`degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy5Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Que ́bec–Universite ́Laval Research Center, Que ́bec City, QC G1V 4G2, Canada6De ́partement de biochimie, de microbiologie, et de bio-informatique, Faculte ́des sciences et de ge ́nie, Universite ́Laval, Que ́bec City, QC,G1V 0A6, Canada7Groupe de recherche en e ́cologie buccale, Faculte ́de me ́decine dentaire, Universite ́Laval, Que ́bec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada8Fe ́lix d’He ́relle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses, Faculte ́de me ́decine dentaire, Universite ́Laval, Que ́bec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada9These authors contributed equally10Lead Contact*Correspondence:adeline.goulet@afmb.univ-mrs.frhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2019.09.012SUMMARYIn the arms race against bacteria, bacteriophageshave evolved diverse anti-CRISPR proteins (Acrs)that block CRISPR-Cas immunity. Acrs play key rolesin the molecular coevolution of bacteria with theirpredators, use a variety of mechanisms of action,and provide tools to regulate Cas-based genomemanipulation. Here, we present structural and func-tional analyses of AcrIIA6, an Acr from virulentphages, exploring its unique anti-CRISPR action.Our cryo-EM structures and functional data ofAcrIIA6 binding toStreptococcus thermophilusCas9 (St1Cas9) show that AcrIIA6 acts as an allo-steric inhibitor and induces St1Cas9 dimerization.AcrIIA6 reduces St1Cas9 binding affinity for DNAand prevents DNA binding within cells. The PAMand AcrIIA6 recognition sites are structurally closeand allosterically linked. Mechanistically, AcrIIA6 af-fects the St1Cas9 conformational dynamics associ-ated with PAM binding. Finally, we identify a naturalSt1Cas9 variant resistant to AcrIIA6 illustratingAcr-driven mutational escape and molecular diversi-fication of Cas9 proteins