Metagenomic selections reveal diverse antiphage defenses in human and environmental microbiomes

Abstract

To prevent phage infection, bacteria have developed an arsenal of antiphage defense systems. Using functional metagenomic selections, we identified new examples of these systems from human fecal, human oral, and grassland soil microbiomes. Our antiphage selections in Escherichia coli revealed over 200 putative defenses from 14 diverse bacterial phyla, highlighting the broad phylogenetic interoperability of these systems. Many defense systems were unrecognizable based on sequence or predicted structure, so could only be identified via functional assays. In mechanistic studies, we show that some defense systems encode nucleases that only degrade covalently modified phage DNA, but which accommodate diverse chemical modifications. We also identify outer membrane proteins that prevent phage adsorption and a set of previously unknown defense systems with diverse antiphage profiles and modalities. Most defenses acted against at least two phages, indicating that broadly acting systems are widely distributed among non-model bacteria.