Phages are now acknowledged as the most abundant microorganisms on the planet and
are also possibly the most diversified. This diversity is mostly driven by their dynamic …

Type I restriction enzymes (REases) are large pentameric proteins with separate restriction
(R), methylation (M) and DNA sequence-recognition (S) subunits. They were the first …

Abstract In the early 1950's,'host-controlled variation in bacterial viruses' was reported as a
non-hereditary phenomenon: one cycle of viral growth on certain bacterial hosts affected the …

BREX (for BacteRiophage EXclusion) is a superfamily of common bacterial and archaeal
defence systems active against diverse bacteriophages. While the mechanism of BREX …

Like many organisms, bacteria and archaea have both innate and adaptive immune systems
to defend against infection by viruses and other parasites. Innate immunity most commonly …

Epigenetics modulates expression levels of various important genes in both prokaryotes and
eukaryotes. These epigenetic traits are heritable without any change in genetic DNA …

The ardA gene, found in many prokaryotes including important pathogenic species, allows
associated mobile genetic elements to evade the ubiquitous Type I DNA restriction systems …

Overcoming lysogenization defect (OLD) proteins are a conserved family of ATP‐powered
nucleases that function in anti‐phage defense. Recent bioinformatic, genetic, and …

Type I restriction–modification (R–M) systems are widespread in prokaryotic genomes and
provide robust protection against foreign DNA. They are multisubunit enzymes with …

Plasmids are major drivers of increasing antibiotic resistance, necessitating an urgent need
to understand their biology. Here we describe a detailed dissection of the molecular …