Promiscuous restriction is a cellular defense strategy that confers fitness advantage to bacteria

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 109; no. 20; pp. E1287 - E1293
• Main Authors: Vasu, Kommireddy, Nagamalleswari, Easa, Nagaraja, Valakunja
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 15.05.2012; National Acad Sciences
• Series: PNAS Plus
• Subjects: Bacteria; bacteriophages; Bacteriophages - genetics; Bacteriophages - metabolism; Biological Evolution; Biological Sciences; Cells; Chromosomes; Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific - genetics; Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific - metabolism; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes; DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes - metabolism; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; enzymology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - metabolism; Fitness; Genetic Fitness; Genetic Fitness - genetics; genetics; genome; Genomes; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Klebsiella pneumoniae - enzymology; Klebsiella pneumoniae - virology; metabolism; Oligonucleotides; Oligonucleotides - genetics; Parasites; Phages; PNAS Plus; Races; Restriction-modification; Self; virology

Most bacterial genomes harbor restriction–modification systems, encoding a REase and its cognate MTase. On attack by a foreign DNA, the REase recognizes it as nonself and subjects it to restriction. Should REases be highly specific for targeting the invading foreign DNA? It is often considered to be...