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Review
. 2024 Dec 12;25(24):13316.
doi: 10.3390/ijms252413316.

Overview of Phage Defense Systems in Bacteria and Their Applications

Xiaomei Xu  1 , Pengfei Gu  1
Affiliations
Review

Overview of Phage Defense Systems in Bacteria and Their Applications

Xiaomei Xu et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

As natural parasites of bacteria, phages have greatly contributed to bacterial evolution owing to their persistent threat. Diverse phage resistance systems have been developed in bacteria during the coevolutionary process with phages. Conversely, phage contamination has a devastating effect on microbial fermentation, resulting in fermentation failure and substantial economic loss. Accordingly, natural defense systems derived from bacteria can be employed to obtain robust phage-resistant host cells that can overcome the threats posed by bacteriophages during industrial bacterial processes. In this review, diverse phage resistance mechanisms, including the remarkable research progress and potential applications, are systematically summarized. In addition, the development prospects and challenges of phage-resistant bacteria are discussed. This review provides a useful reference for developing phage-resistant bacteria.

Keywords: anti-phage mechanism; bacteria; phage.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adsorption inhibition mechanism of bacteria against phages.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Superinfection Exclusion (SIE) system, which can interfere with the injection of phage DNA.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The mechanism of the restriction–modification (RM) system in bacteria.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The mechanism of the CRISPR-Cas system in bacteria.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Abortive infection (Abi) system and toxin–anti-toxin (TA) system in bacteria.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Bacteriophage assembly interference system in bacteria.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The mechanism of DRT2 system in bacteria.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Anti-phage behavior at the multicellular level in bacteria.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Wide application of phage-resistant bacteria strains.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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