October 2024: Burstein: New study published in Nature: Plasmid cleverly evade bacterial immunity

A new study, led by Dr. David (Dudu) Burstein, Edmond J. Safra member (Life Sciences), reveals that bacterial plasmids have evolved sophisticated strategies to overcome bacterial immune systems during horizontal gene transfer.

October 2024: Burstein: New study published in Nature: Plasmid cleverly evade bacterial immunity

A new study, led by Dr. David (Dudu) Burstein, Edmond J. Safra member (Life Sciences), reveals that bacterial plasmids have evolved sophisticated strategies to overcome bacterial immune systems during horizontal gene transfer.

 

In the research, published in Nature, Burstein and his team have discovered that plasmids, which are major carriers of antibiotic resistance genes, contain specialized "anti-defense islands" in their leading regions that protect them during transfer between bacterial cells. These islands harbor a diverse array of genes that counteract bacterial defense mechanisms, such as CRISPR-Cas systems, that protect bacteria by degrading foreign DNA. These findings could be crucial for better understanding the "silent pandemic" of antibiotic resistance and for developing new plasmid-based delivery systems for medical and biotechnology applications.

 

 

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