ArticleThe EMBO journal2015
BREX is a novel phage resistance system widespread in microbial genomes.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 311 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
311 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 518 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolutionary dynamics and research hotspots of phage applications againstFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Structural basis of assembly-dependent activation of the MAD3-MAD4 nuclease in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa MADS defense system.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- A rationally constructed phage cocktail effectively enhances antibacterial activity against Salmonella Enteritidis in chickens.Veterinary research communications · 2026Article
- Repurposing anti-phage defenses to differentially arrest the viral lifecycle reveals the regulatory logic of a parasitic satellite.mSystems · 2026Article
- Bacteriophage-bacteria coevolution: from molecular arms races to ecological and applied perspectives.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms of Resistance, Insights From Case Reports, and Future Prospects in Mycobacteriophage Therapy.Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand · 2026Review
- Type III Druantia two-component antiphage defense depends on the DruH-DruE interaction for inhibiting viral DNA circularization and replication.Cell insight · 2026Article
- Phage hijacks host phosphorothioate DNA modification machinery to circumvent bacterial Ssp defences.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- DNA modifications of Durham Collection phages and promiscuity of GmrSD-family Type IV restriction enzyme BrxU.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Prokaryotic Schlafen proteins cleave tRNAs during type III CRISPR immunity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Panorama: A robust pangenome-based method for predicting and comparing biological systems across species.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Multiple forms of protein-protein and DNA binding are exhibited by BrxC from the BREX phage restriction system.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Chemical inhibition of a CBASS anti-bacteriophage defense.iScience · 2026Article
- Visualizing the interplay of Cas1-Cas2 with DNA replication-repair that creates CRISPR-Cas immunity.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Competing forms of protein-protein association and DNA binding exhibited by BrxC from the BREX phage restriction system.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Repurposing anti-phage defenses to differentially arrest the viral lifecycle reveals the regulatory logic of a parasitic satellite.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Resolution of a T1-Like Bacteriophage Outbreak by Receptor Engineering.Molecular biotechnology · 2026Article
- Bacterial defense mechanisms against bacteriophages: an evolutionary arms race.Archives of microbiology · 2026Review
- Diverse Bacterial Anti-Phage Strategies: From the Laboratory to the Clinic.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- It's not me, it's you: Anti-phage nuclease specificity inside a bacterium.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
251 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The perpetual arms race between bacteria and phage has resulted in the evolution of efficient resistance systems that protect bacteria from phage infection. Such systems, which include the CRISPR-Cas and restriction-modification systems, have proven to be invaluable in the biotechnology and dairy industries. Here, we report on a six-gene cassette in Bacillus cereus which, when integrated into the Bacillus subtilis genome, confers resistance to a broad range of phages, including both virulent and temperate ones. This cassette includes a putative Lon-like protease, an alkaline phosphatase domain protein, a putative RNA-binding protein, a DNA methylase, an ATPase-domain protein, and a protein of unknown function. We denote this novel defense system BREX (Bacteriophage Exclusion) and show that it allows phage adsorption but blocks phage DNA replication. Furthermore, our results suggest that methylation on non-palindromic TAGGAG motifs in the bacterial genome guides self/non-self discrimination and is essential for the defensive function of the BREX system. However, unlike restriction-modification systems, phage DNA does not appear to be cleaved or degraded by BREX, suggesting a novel mechanism of defense. Pan genomic analysis revealed that BREX and BREX-like systems, including the distantly related Pgl system described in Streptomyces coelicolor, are widely distributed in ~10% of all sequenced microbial genomes and can be divided into six coherent subtypes in which the gene composition and order is conserved. Finally, we detected a phage family that evades the BREX defense, implying that anti-BREX mechanisms may have evolved in some phages as part of their arms race with bacteria.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.