Jerusalem, Jan 6 || Israeli researchers have discovered a unique mechanism in marine bacteria that protects them from virus attacks, the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) said in a statement.
A new study published in Nature Microbiology focused on the battle between bacteria and phages, viruses that infect bacteria. This constant struggle leads to the mutual evolution of these two populations in marine environments, news agency reported.
In some areas, viral infections drastically reduce large bacterial populations, and without resistance mechanisms, the bacteria would be wiped out.
The study revealed that bacteria use a passive defence mechanism against viruses, involving extremely low doses of molecules in protein creation during genetic translation.
The research examined the relationship between Synechococcus, a marine bacterium, and the phage Syn9.