Systematic discovery of antiphage defense systems in the microbial pangenome

We report nine previously unknown antiphage systems and one antiplasmid system that are widespread in microbes and strongly protect against foreign invaders. These include systems that adopted components of the bacterial flagella and condensin complexes. Our data also suggest a common, ancient ancestry of innate immunity components shared between animals, plants, and bacteria.

Source: ScienceNOW - March 1, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Doron, S., Melamed, S., Ofir, G., Leavitt, A., Lopatina, A., Keren, M., Amitai, G., Sorek, R. Tags: Microbiology, Online Only r-articles Source Type: news