A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria have evolved sophisticated antiphage systems that halt phage replication upon detecting specific phage triggers. Identifying phage triggers is crucial to our understanding of immune signalling; however, they are challenging to predict. Here we used a plasmid library that expressed over 400 phage protein-coding genes from 6 phages to identify triggers of known and undiscovered antiphage systems. We transformed our library into 39 diverse strains of E. coli. Each strain natively harbours a different suite of antiphage systems whose activation typically inhibits growth. By tracking plasmids that were selectively depleted, we identified over 100 candidate phage trigger-E. coli pairs. Two phage proteins were further investigated, revealing that T7 gp17 and additional tail fibre protein

SUBMITTER: Nagy TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12875140 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature