In the Anti-CRISPR Jungle, Only the Weak Thrive?

Felix R Croteau; Alexander P Hynes

doi:10.1016/j.chom.2020.01.019

In the Anti-CRISPR Jungle, Only the Weak Thrive?

Cell Host Microbe. 2020 Feb 12;27(2):157-159. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.01.019.

Authors

Felix R Croteau¹, Alexander P Hynes²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
² Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada; Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada. Electronic address: hynes@mcmaster.ca.

PMID: 32053781
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.01.019

Abstract

If, as we all know, only the strong survive, why do bacterial viruses (phages) encode weak suppressors of a bacterial immune system? In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Chevallereau et al. (2019) expertly demonstrate how, in the context of competition with other phages, weakness can be a strength.

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MeSH terms

Bacteria
Bacteriophages / genetics*
CRISPR-Cas Systems
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Cooperative Behavior