A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #DNA cleavage
- #bacteriophage
- #immune system
- A membrane-bound nuclease called SNIPE directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection in bacteria.
- SNIPE is an anti-bacteriophage defense system in Escherichia coli that blocks phage λ infection.
- SNIPE associates with host proteins essential for phage genome entry and the λ tape measure protein.
- The system defends against diverse siphoviruses by interacting with their tape measure proteins.
- SNIPE represents a new strategy for distinguishing self from non-self in prokaryotic immune systems.