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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Assays for the Identification of Novel Antivirals against Bluetongue Virus
Published on: October 11, 2013
A new type of DNA phosphorothioation-based antiviral system in archaea
Lei Xiong1,2,3, Siyi Liu1,3, Si Chen4
1Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery Ministry of Education, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, 430071, Wuhan, China.
Abstract:
Archaea and Bacteria have evolved different defence strategies that target virtually all steps of the viral life cycle. The diversified virion morphotypes and genome contents of archaeal viruses result in a highly complex array of archaea-virus interactions. However, our understanding of archaeal antiviral activities lags far behind our knowledges of those in bacteria. Here we report a new archaeal defence system that involves DndCDEA-specific DNA phosphorothioate (PT) modification and the PbeABCD-mediated halt of virus propagation via inhibition of DNA replication. In contrast to the breakage of invasive DNA by DndFGH in bacteria, DndCDEA-PbeABCD does not degrade or cleave viral DNA. The PbeABCD-mediated PT defence system is widespread and exhibits extensive interdomain and intradomain gene transfer events. Our results suggest that DndCDEA-PbeABCD is a new type of PT-based virus resistance system, expanding the known arsenal of defence systems as well as our understanding of host-virus interactions.
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