ArticleNature communications2025
Molecular basis of foreign DNA recognition by BREX anti-phage immunity system.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Repurposing anti-phage defenses to differentially arrest the viral lifecycle reveals the regulatory logic of a parasitic satellite.mSystems · 2026Article
- Article
- DNA modifications of Durham Collection phages and promiscuity of GmrSD-family Type IV restriction enzyme BrxU.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Multiple forms of protein-protein and DNA binding are exhibited by BrxC from the BREX phage restriction system.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- DNA deformability in sequence-dependent capture of E. coli gyrase.Nature communications · 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
- Article
- 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
- Expanding the landscape of BREX diversity: uncovering multi-layered functional frameworks and identification of novel BREX-related defense systems.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Bacterial defense systems: Mechanisms, homology to eukaryotic immune systems, and applications.Zoological research · 2026Review
- Biology of host-dependent restriction-modification in prokaryotes.EcoSal Plus · 2025Review
- Modified DNA substrate selectivity by GmrSD-family Type IV restriction enzyme BrxU.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Construction of primary chassis cells with efficient protein expression in Thermus thermophilus.Microbial cell factories · 2025Article
- PglZ from Type I BREX phage defence systems is a metal-dependent nuclease that forms a sub-complex with BrxB.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Structure and rational engineering of the PglX methyltransferase and specificity factor for BREX phage defence.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Anti-phage systems of the BREX (BacteRiophage EXclusion) superfamily rely on site-specific epigenetic DNA methylation to discriminate between the host and invading DNA. We demonstrate that in Type I BREX systems, defense and methylation require BREX site DNA binding by the BrxX (PglX) methyltransferase employing S-adenosyl methionine as a cofactor. We determined 2.2-Å cryoEM structure of Escherichia coli BrxX bound to target dsDNA revealing molecular details of BREX DNA recognition. Structure-guided engineering of BrxX expands its DNA specificity and dramatically enhances phage defense. We show that BrxX alone does not methylate DNA, and BREX activity requires an assembly of a supramolecular BrxBCXZ immune complex. Finally, we present a cryoEM structure of BrxX bound to a phage-encoded inhibitor Ocr that sequesters BrxX in an inactive dimeric form. We propose that BrxX-mediated foreign DNA sensing is a necessary first step in activation of BREX defense.
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.