Bacterial immunity will help track changes in human DNA

The study found that the two systems complement each other, protecting bacteria frombacteriophages.

neutralizes viruses that do not have DNA modifications.The second eliminates bacteriophages, which are able to alter their DNA to evade the first defense.This system is called BrxU.It recognizes DNA modifications of viruses and protectsbacteria, altering their own DNA to resist bacteriophages.

The same DNA changes that BrxU recognizes appear in the human genome in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

"The ability to recognize modified DNAviruses is very important, since such modifications are found in the human genome. This additional layer of information, the "epigenome", changes as a person grows older, as well as in cases of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. If we can use BrxU to map the epigenome, it will change our understanding of the process that controls human maturation and disease progression, ”said senior study author Dr. Tim Blauer, associate professor and research fellow at the Lister Institute in the Department of Biological Sciences at Durham University.

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