To probe whether DGR might protect multicellular germs from contagious threats, the team chose pink berries, which are millimeter sized aggregates of germs living on the floor of salt marshes in Woods Hole, Massachusetts that tend to evolve gradually. “Whats really nice about the pink berries is theyre in this sweet area in that theyre wild, however theyre not so ephemeral and changing that we cant ask mechanistic concerns,” Wilbanks said.Found in only 2 percent of prokaryotic genomes, DGR are considerably rare, and among types carrying them, just two percent harbor more than one version of the system.7 The team sequenced the genome of the purple sulfur germs Thiohalocapsa PB-PSB1, the dominant types in pink berries, and inspected it for DGR. When human cells become contaminated, they frequently compromise themselves by means of apoptosis, which entombs the pathogen in small apoptotic bodies and restricts its spread to other cells.8 Similar to this system, the immune sensing units encoded by the target genes in DGR are involved in configured cell death paths, so infected germs might similarly compromise themselves for the good of the nest.
To probe whether DGR may protect multicellular bacteria from infectious hazards, the team picked pink berries, which are millimeter sized aggregates of bacteria living on the floor of salt marshes in Woods Hole, Massachusetts that tend to progress slowly. “Whats actually good about the pink berries is theyre in this sweet area in that theyre wild, but theyre not so ephemeral and altering that we cant ask mechanistic concerns,” Wilbanks said.Found in only 2 percent of prokaryotic genomes, DGR are considerably rare, and among types bring them, only two percent harbor more than one variation of the system.7 The group sequenced the genome of the purple sulfur bacterium Thiohalocapsa PB-PSB1, the dominant types in pink berries, and examined it for DGR. They discovered that only multicellular germs brought numerous DGR, disallowing one single-celled exception, suggesting that these systems are vital for sustaining multicellular life. Researchers scope the flooring of marsh swimming pools to collect aggregates of multicellular germs called pink berries, which have a striking hereditary similarity.Elizabeth WilbanksTo verify that DGR were hypermutating their targets, the group searched for variation in the target genes. When human cells become infected, they typically sacrifice themselves via apoptosis, which entombs the pathogen in small apoptotic bodies and limits its spread to other cells.8 Similar to this system, the immune sensors encoded by the target genes in DGR are involved in configured cell death pathways, so contaminated bacteria may likewise compromise themselves for the good of the nest.