ArticlePLoS genetics2023
The defense island repertoire of the Escherichia coli pan-genome.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers.
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Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed.
- Revisiting the life cycle of temperate phages.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Acquisition and erosion of toxin-antitoxin systems in bacterial chromosomes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The value of a prophage-borne defense system in phage-phage competition.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Research on Prophages in Aquaculture from the Perspective of Paradigm Borrowing: Advances in Pathogen Virulence, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Environmental Regulation.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- RNase-mediated defence and its association with SCCmec in Staphylococcus aureus.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- END nucleases are antiphage defence systems targeting multiple phages with modified genomes.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
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- Article
- A versatile toolset for Staphylococcus aureus gene inactivation enables testing of anti-phage defense systems in native genetic backgrounds.Microbial cell factories · 2026Article
- Panorama: A robust pangenome-based method for predicting and comparing biological systems across species.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Antiphage defence systems Druantia III and Zorya II synergise via shared DNA intermediates in a phage-specific manner.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Isolation and characterization of broad-rangeMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Comparative genomics reveals high prophage diversity and horizontal gene transfer of effectors and phage defence systems in theMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Diverse Temperate Coliphages of the Urinary Tract.Viruses · 2026Article
- Bacteriophages mobilize bacterial defense systems via lateral transduction.Science advances · 2026Article
- [Research on Bacteriophage Resistance: Coevolutionary Arms Race Between Bacteria and Phages Drives Novel Antibacterial Therapies].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2026Review
- Defence systems drive accessory genome interactions inISME communications · 2026Article
- Characterization and diversity of defense systems inFrontiers in immunology · 2026Article
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It has become clear in recent years that anti-phage defense systems cluster non-randomly within bacterial genomes in so-called "defense islands". Despite serving as a valuable tool for the discovery of novel defense systems, the nature and distribution of defense islands themselves remain poorly understood. In this study, we comprehensively mapped the defense system repertoire of >1,300 strains of Escherichia coli, the most widely studied organism for phage-bacteria interactions. We found that defense systems are usually carried on mobile genetic elements including prophages, integrative conjugative elements and transposons, which preferentially integrate at several dozens of dedicated hotspots in the E. coli genome. Each mobile genetic element type has a preferred integration position but can carry a diverse variety of defensive cargo. On average, an E. coli genome has 4.7 hotspots occupied by defense system-containing mobile elements, with some strains possessing up to eight defensively occupied hotspots. Defense systems frequently co-localize with other systems on the same mobile genetic element, in agreement with the observed defense island phenomenon. Our data show that the overwhelming majority of the E. coli pan-immune system is carried on mobile genetic elements, explaining why the immune repertoire varies substantially between different strains of the same species.
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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.