ArticlePLoS biology2024
The immune modules conserved across the tree of life: Towards a definition of ancestral immunity.
Article in PLoS biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- The shared evolutionary capacities of plasmids and extrachromosomal DNA.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Phage terminase recognition by the bacterial immune sensors Avs2 and Upx.Nature communications · 2026Article
- An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signalling.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- END nucleases are antiphage defence systems targeting multiple phages with modified genomes.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection.Nature communications · 2026Article
- FADD is recruited to activated STING oligomers to initiate caspase-mediated NF-κB activation in Drosophila melanogaster.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- The paradox of immune systems conservation between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Article
- Evolution as a guide for the discovery of innate immune actors.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Review
- Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Protein structure-informed bacteriophage genome annotation with Phold.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Host-Driven Genetic Diversity ofTransboundary and emerging diseases · 2026Article
- Manipulation of the nucleotide pool in human, bacterial and plant immunity.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Filament formation and NAD processing by noncanonical human FAM118 sirtuins.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2025Article
- Evolutionary characterization of antiviral SAMD9/9L across kingdoms supports ancient convergence and lineage-specific adaptations.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Mapping the transcriptional landscape of algal resistance to viral infection reveals a core expression program.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Why do bacteria accumulate antiphage defence systems?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- A choanoflagellate cGLR-STING pathway reveals evolutionary links between bacterial and animal immunity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Immune defence mechanisms exist across the tree of life in such diversity that prokaryotic antiviral responses have historically been considered unrelated to eukaryotic immunity. Mechanisms of defence in divergent eukaryotes were similarly believed to be largely clade specific. However, recent data indicate that a subset of modules (domains and proteins) from prokaryote defence systems are conserved in eukaryotes and populate many stages of innate immune pathways. In this Essay, we propose the notion of ancestral immunity, which corresponds to the set of immune modules conserved between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. After offering a typology of ancestral immunity, we speculate on the selective pressures that could have led to the differential conservation of specific immune modules across domains of life. The exploration of ancestral immunity is in its infancy and appears full of promises to illuminate immune evolution, and also to identify and decipher immune mechanisms of economic, ecological, and therapeutic importance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.