Bacterial restriction-modification systems are responsible for protecting cells from foreign genetic material, for example, bacteriophages and plasmids. Immune systems require strict regulation, as ...

A new review maps how bacterial anti-phage defenses, from restriction enzymes to Thoeris and CBASS immune signaling, shape ...

For billions of years, viruses and bacteria have been embroiled in an arms race. In response to constant attacks by viruses known as bacteriophages—more commonly called "phages"—bacteria evolve new ...

A single protein bolted to the inner membrane of a bacterial cell can shred a virus’s DNA before that genetic material ever reaches the interior. That is the central finding behind SNIPE, a newly ...

Sukrit Silas and his colleagues at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco discovered that a well-known defense system in some bacteria can kill the cell as a last resort if viruses try to thwart it ...