Clusters of short DNA repeats with nonhomologous spacers, which are found at regular intervals in the genomes of phylogenetically distinct prokaryotic species, comprise a family with recognisable features. This family is known as CRISPR (short for Clustered, Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). A number of protein families appear only in association with these repeats and are designated Cas (CRISPR-Associated) proteins.