SspABCD-SspFGH Constitutes a New Type of DNA Phosphorothioate-Based Bacterial Defense System.

Unlike nucleobase modifications in canonical restriction-modification systems, DNA phosphorothioate (PT) epigenetic modification occurs in the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone when the nonbridging oxygen is replaced by sulfur in a double-stranded (ds) or single-stranded (ss) manner governed by DndABCDE or SspABCD, respectively. SspABCD coupled with SspE constitutes a defense barrier in which SspE depends on sequence-specific PT modifications to exert its antiphage activity. Here, we identified a new type of ssDNA PT-based SspABCD-SspFGH defense system capable of providing protection against phages through a mode of action different from that of SspABCD-SspE. We provide further evidence that SspFGH damages non-PT-modified DNA and exerts antiphage activity by suppressing phage DNA replication. Despite their different defense mechanisms, SspFGH and SspE are compatible and pair simultaneously with one SspABCD module, greatly enhancing the protection against phages. Together with the observation that the cassette is widely distributed in bacterial genomes, this study highlights the diversity of PT-based defense barriers and expands our knowledge of the arsenal of phage defense mechanisms. We recently found that SspABCD, catalyzing single-stranded (ss) DNA phosphorothioate (PT) modification, coupled with SspE provides protection against phage infection. SspE performs both PT-simulated NTPase and DNA-nicking nuclease activities to damage phage DNA, rendering SspA-E a PT-sensing defense system. To our surprise, ssDNA PT modification can also pair with a newly identified 3-gene cassette to fend off phage infection with a different mode of action from that of SspE. Interestingly, both SspFGH and SspE can pair with the same SspABCD module for antiphage defense, and their combination provides JM109 with additive phage resistance up to 10-fold compared to that for either barrier alone. This agrees with our observation that SspFGH and SspE coexist in 36 bacterial genomes, highlighting the diversity of the gene contents and molecular mechanisms of PT-based defense systems.