Covalent Modifications of the Bacteriophage Genome Confer a Degree of Resistance to Bacterial CRISPR Systems.

ABSTRACT: The interplay between defense and counterdefense systems of bacteria and bacteriophages has been driving the evolution of both organisms, leading to their great genetic diversity. Restriction-modification systems are well-studied defense mechanisms of bacteria, while phages have evolved covalent modifications as a counterdefense mechanism to protect their genomes against restriction. Here, we present evidence that these genome modifications might also have been selected to counter, broadly, the CRISPR-Cas systems, an adaptive bacterial defense mechanism. We found that the phage T4 genome modified by cytosine hydroxymethylation and glucosylation (ghmC) exhibits various degrees of resistance to the type V CRISPR-Cas12a system, producing orders of magnitude more progeny than the T4(C) mutant,

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7654273 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature