Genetic and molecular analyses identify and characterize an evolutionary battle over lysis timing wherein a bacteriophage delays lysis through lysis inhibition while a defensive phage satellite accelerates lysis.
A new peptidoglycan hydrolase mined from Acinetobacter baumannii proteome by lysin-derived antimicrobial peptide-primed screening strategy undergoes a unique switch between dimer and monomer after heat treatment and protects mice from A. baumannii infection.
Unlike other similar enzymes, the antimicrobial enzyme PlyC can interact with and translocate eukaryotic membranes, and then lyse and kill intracellular bacteria.
Mathematical modelling suggests that the evolution of communication between bacterial viruses requires repeated outbreak events, and the model then predicts typical communication strategies.
Chronic bacteriophages are induced by the supplement of polysaccharide in the deep-sea Lentisphaerae strains, and these bacteriophages potentially reprogram host polysaccharide metabolism through the auxiliary metabolic genes.
Temperature and ionic conditions control the mechanical properties of virally encapsidated DNA and act as a switch between synchronized and desynchronized genome ejection dynamics in a phage population.
Matthew C Bond, Lucia Vidakovic ... Carey D Nadell
Microfluidic culture and high-resolution 3-D microscopy establish that bacteriophages trapped in the outer matrix layers of a bacterial biofilm remain active and can prevent colonization of the biofilm by newly arriving bacteria.
Jason A Metcalf, Lisa J Funkhouser-Jones ... Seth R Bordenstein
Parallel horizontal gene transfer has spread a bacteriolytic gene family to all domains of life, and has bestowed a niche-transcending adaptation in recipients that must deploy antibacterial molecules to survive in a bacterial world.
A temperate bacteriophage reprograms the oxygen response of a bacterial signaling system by replacing a host-encoded promoter with a phage-encoded promoter.
