TY - JOUR T1 - An expanding arsenal of immune systems that protect bacteria from phages JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.05.11.491447 SP - 2022.05.11.491447 AU - Adi Millman AU - Sarah Melamed AU - Azita Leavitt AU - Shany Doron AU - Aude Bernheim AU - Jens Hör AU - Anna Lopatina AU - Gal Ofir AU - Dina Hochhauser AU - Avigail Stokar-Avihail AU - Nitzan Tal AU - Saar Sharir AU - Maya Voichek AU - Zohar Erez AU - Jose Lorenzo M. Ferrer AU - Daniel Dar AU - Assaf Kacen AU - Gil Amitai AU - Rotem Sorek Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/05/11/2022.05.11.491447.abstract N2 - Bacterial anti-phage defense systems are frequently clustered in microbial genomes, forming defense islands. This genomic property enabled the recent discovery of multiple defense systems based on their genomic co-localization with known systems, but the full arsenal of anti-phage mechanisms in bacteria is still unknown. In this study we report the discovery of 21 new defense systems that protect bacteria from phages, based on computational genomic analyses and phage infection experiments. We find multiple systems with protein domains known to be involved in eukaryotic anti-viral immunity, including ISG15-like proteins, dynamin-like proteins, and SEFIR domains, and show that these domains participate in bacterial defense against phages. Additional systems include protein domains predicted to manipulate DNA and RNA molecules, as well as multiple toxin-antitoxin systems shown here to function in anti-phage defense. The systems we discovered are widely distributed in bacterial and archaeal genomes, and in some bacteria form a considerable fraction of the immune arsenal. Our data substantially expand the known inventory of defense systems utilized by bacteria to counteract phage infection.Competing Interest StatementR.S. is a scientific cofounder and advisor of BiomX and Ecophage. ER -