Investigated
Can phages evade CBASS defenses?
Short answer
Image: nature.com
Yes. Phages can evade CBASS by dismantling or sequestering the cyclic nucleotide signals that trigger bacterial suicide, and some also alter infection proteins so CBASS is not efficiently activated. The evidence points to an evolutionary arms race rather than a universal phage escape strategy: resistance depends strongly on the particular CBASS operon and phage pair.
The views on this question
Two lenses on the same evidence. Source weight and the primary source ratio show what each rests on.
Alternative
Source weight 56%A broader evolutionary reading treats CBASS evasion as more than a single class of anti-signal enzyme. Phages may evade by changing how infection is sensed, by modifying late-stage assembly or protease-linked events, or by deploying newly discovered signal-binding proteins. This view emphasizes that apparent resistance may reflect altered immune activation rather than simple destruction of the signal.
- Some phage mutations in virion-assembly proteins allow infection despite type I CBASS, suggesting that immune evasion can occur upstream of signal production or downstream of sensing.
- The phage prohead protease is identified as a key determinant of CBASS immune activation and evasion in type I systems.
- A newly reported viral sponge-protein family indicates that specific inhibition of nucleotide signals may be widespread rather than limited to the founding anti-CBASS examples.
- Reviews of phage biology describe evasion as a diverse set of tactics shaped by coevolution, not a single universal mechanism.