Going viral: The role of mobile genetic elements in bacterial immunity

B Beamud, F Benz, D Bikard - Cell Host & Microbe, 2024 - cell.com
Bacteriophages and other mobile genetic elements (MGEs) pose a significant threat to
bacteria, subjecting them to constant attacks. In response, bacteria have evolved a …

Retron-Eco1 assembles NAD+-hydrolyzing filaments that provide immunity against bacteriophages

A Carabias, S Camara-Wilpert, MR Mestre… - Molecular Cell, 2024 - cell.com
Retrons are toxin-antitoxin systems protecting bacteria against bacteriophages via abortive
infection. The Retron-Eco1 antitoxin is formed by a reverse transcriptase (RT) and a non …

Interpretable machine learning reveals a diverse arsenal of anti-defenses in bacterial viruses

A Lopatina, M Ferenc, N Bartlau, M Wolfram… - bioRxiv, 2024 - biorxiv.org
Antagonistic interactions with viruses are an important driver of the ecology and evolution of
bacteria, and associating genetic signatures to these interactions is of fundamental …

Phages reconstitute NAD+ to counter bacterial immunity

I Osterman, H Samra, F Rousset, E Loseva, M Itkin… - bioRxiv, 2024 - biorxiv.org
Bacteria defend against phage infection via a variety of antiphage defense systems. Many
defense systems were recently shown to deplete cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide …

Pipolins are bimodular platforms that maintain a reservoir of defense systems exchangeable with various bacterial genetic mobile elements

V Mateo Caceres, M Redrejo Rodriguez - bioRxiv, 2024 - biorxiv.org
Defense genes gather in diverse types of genomic islands in bacteria and provide immunity
against viruses and other genetic mobile elements. Here, we disclose pipolins, previously …