Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine , Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
mBio. 2023 Oct 31;14(5):e0087523. doi: 10.1128/mbio.00875-23. Epub 2023 Aug 25.
To counteract infection with phage, bacteria have evolved a myriad of molecular defense systems. Some of these systems initiate a process called abortive infection, in which the infected cell kills itself to prevent phage propagation. However, such systems must be inhibited in the absence of phage infection to prevent spurious death of the host. Here, we show that the cyclic oligonucleotide based anti-phage signaling system (CBASS) accomplishes this by sensing intracellular folate molecules and only expressing this system in a group. These results enhance our understanding of the evolution of the seventh pandemic and more broadly how bacteria defend themselves against phage infection.
为了抵抗噬菌体感染，细菌进化出了无数种分子防御系统。其中一些系统会启动一个称为“流产感染”的过程，即受感染的细胞会自我杀死以防止噬菌体繁殖。然而，在没有噬菌体感染的情况下，这些系统必须被抑制，以防止宿主的异常死亡。在这里，我们表明，基于环状寡核苷酸的抗噬菌体信号系统 (CBASS) 通过感知细胞内的叶酸分子来实现这一点，并且仅在一个群体中表达该系统。这些结果增强了我们对第七次大流行进化的理解，更广泛地说，增强了我们对细菌如何抵御噬菌体感染的理解。
