469: Prophage Provides Partial Protection

This episode: A virus lurking in a bacterial genome protects its
host population from infection with other phages, by killing off
infected cells!


Download Episode (7.6 MB, 11.0 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Olive latent ringspot virus


 



Takeaways




Many bacteriophages just go in and gobble up all their
host's resources to make a bunch of new viruses right away.
Others play a longer game, splicing into and lurking in the
host's genome across multiple generations until conditions
are right to multiply more rapidly. It is beneficial to
these latter kind when their host is resistant to the
fast-killing variety, but how can bacteria be resistant to
some phages but not others?


 


In this study, one prophage (the phage genome integrated
into the bacterial genome) carries a gene that does this in
an interesting way. It prevents invading phages from
replicating and kills the host cell so the infection can't
spread, protecting the population (and all the other cells
containing the prophage). It also contains an immunity
element that allows the prophage to replicate itself
without interference.



 
Journal Paper:
Owen SV, Wenner N, Dulberger CL, Rodwell EV, Bowers-Barnard A,
Quinones-Olvera N, Rigden DJ, Rubin EJ, Garner EC, Baym M,
Hinton JCD. 2021. Prophages encode phage-defense systems with
cognate self-immunity. Cell Host Microbe 29:1620-1633.e8.



Other interesting stories:



Migration affects birds' gut microbiota

Sometimes E. coli can keep Salmonella from causing problems
in the gut




 


Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot
com. Thanks for listening!


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