Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

A diverse repertoire of anti-defense systems is encoded in the leading region of plasmids

Bruria Samuel, View ORCID ProfileDavid Burstein
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.15.528439
Bruria Samuel
1The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 6997801, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
David Burstein
1The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 6997801, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for David Burstein
  • For correspondence: davidbur@tauex.tau.ac.il
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Plasmids are an important source of antibiotic-resistance genes that mobilize horizontally between bacteria, including many human pathogens. Bacteria express various defense mechanisms, such as CRISPR-Cas, restriction-modification systems, and SOS-response genes, to prevent the invasion of mobile elements. Yet, plasmids efficiently and robustly overcome these defenses during conjugation. Here, we show that the leading region of plasmids, which is the first to enter recipient cells, is a hotspot for an extensive repertoire of anti-defense systems, encoding anti-CRISPR, anti-restriction, anti-SOS, and other counter-defense proteins. We further demonstrate that focusing on these specific functional regions can lead to the discovery of diverse anti-defense genes. Promoters known to allow expression from ssDNA were prevalent in the leading regions, potentially facilitating rapid protection against bacterial immunity in the early stages of plasmid invasion. These findings reveal a new facet of plasmid dissemination and provide theoretical foundations for developing conjugative delivery systems for natural microbial communities.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted February 16, 2023.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
A diverse repertoire of anti-defense systems is encoded in the leading region of plasmids
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
A diverse repertoire of anti-defense systems is encoded in the leading region of plasmids
Bruria Samuel, David Burstein
bioRxiv 2023.02.15.528439; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.15.528439
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
A diverse repertoire of anti-defense systems is encoded in the leading region of plasmids
Bruria Samuel, David Burstein
bioRxiv 2023.02.15.528439; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.15.528439

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Microbiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4846)
  • Biochemistry (10780)
  • Bioengineering (8034)
  • Bioinformatics (27263)
  • Biophysics (13965)
  • Cancer Biology (11115)
  • Cell Biology (16035)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8773)
  • Ecology (13270)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (17346)
  • Genetics (11680)
  • Genomics (15905)
  • Immunology (11014)
  • Microbiology (26054)
  • Molecular Biology (10627)
  • Neuroscience (56479)
  • Paleontology (417)
  • Pathology (1729)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (3000)
  • Physiology (4539)
  • Plant Biology (9616)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1613)
  • Synthetic Biology (2685)
  • Systems Biology (6969)
  • Zoology (1508)