Megaphages Use Cas Protein to Attack Rivals (IMAGE)

University of California - Berkeley

Megaphages Use Cas Protein to Attack Rivals

Caption

A megaphage (left), a member of a bacteriophage family Biggiephage, injects its DNA -- including genes for CasΦ (red) -- into bacterial cells to turn the bacteria against the phage's competitor (top). The reddish Pac-Man-like figures are CasΦ proteins, enzymes that cut up viral DNA. The genome of the bacterium is shown in purple.

Credit

UC Berkeley image by Basem Al-Shayeb and Patrick Pausch

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