ArticleGenetics2025
Debunking the dogma that RecBCD nuclease destroys phage.
Article in Genetics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gabija restricts phage circularization and DNA replication.Cell host & microbe · 2026Article
- Mycobacterial non-homologous end joining is required for antiphage defense.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- The Nuclease Domain of E. coli RecBCD Helicase Regulates DNA Binding and Base Pair Melting.Journal of molecular biology · 2026Article
- Nearly a century of discoveries in bacterial genetics and their continuing impact on the field.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Nearly a century of discoveries in bacterial genetics and their continuing impact on the field.Genetics · 2025Article
- Lambdoid phages with abundant Chi recombination hotspots reflect diverse viral strategies for recombination-dependent growth.Genome research · 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
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
For decades, it has been repeatedly claimed that the potent bacterial helicase-nuclease RecBCD (exonuclease V) destroys foreign (nonself) DNA, such as that of phages, but repairs and recombines cellular (self) DNA. While this would constitute a strong host-survival mechanism, no phage destroyed by RecBCD is ever specified in those claims. To determine which phages are destroyed by RecBCD, we searched for phage isolates that grow on Escherichia coli ΔrecBCD but not on recBCD+. In contrast to the prevailing claim, we found none among >80 new isolates from nature and >80 from previous collections. Based on these and previous observations, we conclude that RecBCD repairs broken DNA that can recombine but destroys DNA that cannot recombine and recycles the nucleotides.
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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.