The novel anti-phage system Shield co-opts an RmuC domain to mediate phage defense across Pseudomonas species.

ABSTRACT: Competitive bacteria-bacteriophage interactions have resulted in the evolution of a plethora of bacterial defense systems preventing phage propagation. In recent years, computational and bioinformatic approaches have underpinned the discovery of numerous novel bacterial defense systems. Anti-phage systems are frequently encoded together in genomic loci termed defense islands. Here we report the identification and characterisation of a novel anti-phage system, that we have termed Shield, which forms part of the Pseudomonas defensive arsenal. The Shield system comprises the core component ShdA, a membrane-bound protein harboring an RmuC domain. Heterologous production of ShdA alone is sufficient to mediate bacterial immunity against several phages. We demonstrate that Shield and ShdA confer

SUBMITTER: Macdonald E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10270631 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature