ERC Consolidator Grant · 2025
Systematic Investigation of Anti-Defense Function and Regulation in Bacterial Conjugation
The microbial world's genomic arms race spurred a remarkable diversity of defense and anti-defense mechanisms, with CRISPR-Cas and anti-CRISPR systems as prime examples that revolutionized genome editing. Recent years have seen a surge in the discovery of bacterial anti-phage systems and their viral countermeasures, yet little is known about how plasmids—key vectors of antibiotic resistance—overcome host defenses. Our lab recently found that plasmids' leading regions, the first to enter recipient cells, harbor diverse anti-defense systems vital for efficient conjugation. This sets the stage for in-depth studies of plasmid-encoded anti-defenses (PEADs), significantly advancing our…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.