Genetic mechanism shields bacterial communities from viral threats

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Like humans struggling to get through the COVID-19 pandemic, bacterial cells need social distancing to thwart viruses.

Feb 16 2024Marine Biological Laboratory But in some situations, such as inside elevators or within the candy-colored bacterial structures known as "pink berries," staying apart just isn't feasible.

Like all organisms, these cooperative microbes risk contracting viruses from their environment. Pink berries and other multicellular bacteria have a heightened need for protection, since -; like us -; they are composed of genetically similar cells packed tightly together, with no social distancing possible.Through her collaborator Blair Paul, assistant scientist at MBL, Wilbanks learned about an unusual genetic mechanism that they found to be abundant within Thiohalocapsa.

All living organisms need to detect threats they have never encountered before. Humans and other vertebrates solve this problem by shuffling and mutating genes for their sensor proteins to generate a diverse army of sentinels. Though recent research has shown many components of our innate immune systems evolved from bacterial ancestors, scientists have never before seen in bacteria anything like our hyper-diverse antibodies.

 

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