Sedentary chromosomal integrons as biobanks of bacterial antiphage defense systems

Integrons are genetic systems that drive bacterial adaptation by acquiring, expressing, and shuffling gene cassettes. While mobile integrons are well known for spreading antibiotic resistance genes, the functions of the hundreds of cassettes carried by sedentary integrons remain largely unexplored. We show that many of these cassettes encode small variants of known antiphage systems that favor their inclusion in the integron. We also demonstrate that nearly 10% of the integron cassettes in the pandemic <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> strain encode novel antiphage functions. Most of these novel systems have little or no similarity to previously known ones, with several providing defense through cell lysis or growth arrest. Our work highlights the stabilization and prevalence of small antiphage systems within integrons, making them an untapped biobank of defense mechanisms.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2025-05-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ads0768
Citations
22
Primary Topic
Vibrio bacteria research studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
39.56
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article

Sedentary chromosomal integrons as biobanks of bacterial antiphage defense systems

Marie Touchon, Céline Loot, Florence Depardieu, Eduardo P. C. Rocha et al.
22 citations
Science
Vibrio bacteria research studies
39.56
article

Sedentary chromosomal integrons as biobanks of bacterial antiphage defense systems

Marie Touchon, Céline Loot, Florence Depardieu, Eduardo P. C. Rocha, Aude Bernheim, Eloi Littner, Julia Bos, David Bikard, Frédérique Le Roux, P.A. Kaminski, Didier Mazel, Baptiste Darracq, Kevin Debatisse, Manon Brunie, Weronika A Slesak
article en
22 citations

Abstract

Integrons are genetic systems that drive bacterial adaptation by acquiring, expressing, and shuffling gene cassettes. While mobile integrons are well known for spreading antibiotic resistance genes, the functions of the hundreds of cassettes carried by sedentary integrons remain largely unexplored. We show that many of these cassettes encode small variants of known antiphage systems that favor their inclusion in the integron. We also demonstrate that nearly 10% of the integron cassettes in the pandemic <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> strain encode novel antiphage functions. Most of these novel systems have little or no similarity to previously known ones, with several providing defense through cell lysis or growth arrest. Our work highlights the stabilization and prevalence of small antiphage systems within integrons, making them an untapped biobank of defense mechanisms.

ScienceVol. 388(6747)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Institut Pasteur (FR), Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Sorbonne Université (FR), Evolutionary Genomics (United States) (US), Université de Montréal (CA)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Vibrio bacteria research studies
39.56
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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