Reposted by courtneyrsantos.bsky.social
Humans and bacteria share strategies to defend against viruses.
We wondered: could they use each other's genes? Yes, both can!
Bacteria can use human immune genes to defend against phages AND
Human cells can use bacterial genes for viral defense.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Bacterial and human exonucleases mediate interkingdom antiviral immunity
All kingdoms of life have developed strategies to limit viral infection. In humans, interferons induce a suite of antiviral factors that collectively provide immunity. Some human immune genes are homo...