SUPR
NSC Storage for: High throughput sequence analysis to generate input for structural investigations of phage defence systems in bacterial and viral genomes
Dnr:

NAISS 2024/6-223

Type:

NAISS Medium Storage

Principal Investigator:

Gemma Atkinson

Affiliation:

Lunds universitet

Start Date:

2024-07-01

End Date:

2025-01-01

Primary Classification:

30109: Microbiology in the medical area

Allocation

Abstract

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are ubiquitous, diverse and highly mobile gene pairs of microbes. They consist of a gene encoding a a toxin that dramatically inhibits bacterial growth and an adjacent gene encoding an antitoxin that protects against, and neutralises the toxic effect. In this project we are using deep learning methods to understand the structure, function and evolution of thousands of TA systems that we have predicted in microbial genomes. As a mechanism of defence against bacteriophages, TAs have significance for developing new biotechnological tools, as well as understanding and eventually overcoming natural barriers to phage therapy for treating antibiotic resistant infections.