A bacterial antiviral system detects and directly fights against infection

Bacteria have developed many strategies to defend themselves from phages — the viruses that infect them. The Zorya defence system uses a previously undescribed antiviral strategy. An inner-membrane-anchored complex detects phage infection, resulting in recruitment of enzymes inside the cell that digest incoming phage DNA, thereby rapidly preventing infection. Protein complex in bacterial cell membrane acts like a rotary motor to recruit DNA-degrading enzymes to defend against phage infection.