{"id":3607,"date":"2025-11-03T15:03:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/03\/scientists-discover-ancient-bacteria-that-could-help-stop-modern-viruses\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T15:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:03:59","slug":"scientists-discover-ancient-bacteria-that-could-help-stop-modern-viruses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/03\/scientists-discover-ancient-bacteria-that-could-help-stop-modern-viruses\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover ancient bacteria that could help stop modern viruses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2025-11-03 15:03:57<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>An ancient bacterial defence system dating back billions of years could hold the key to fighting modern viral threats.<BR><br \/>\nScientists from Penn State University led by Professor Thomas Wood uncovered how bacteria use long-dormant viruses embedded in their DNA &#8211; known as cryptic prophages &#8211; to fend off new viral invaders. <BR><br \/>\nTheir study, published in Nucleic Acids Research, reveals how this ancient mechanism could inspire new antiviral therapies and help tackle antibiotic resistance.<BR><br \/>\nWood explained: \u201cThese bacteria carry fossil viruses in their genomes, and we\u2019ve found that those fossils are actually helping protect them from infection.<BR><br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fine-tuned defense system that\u2019s evolved over millions of years.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nThe team discovered that a bacterial enzyme called recombinase, triggered by embedded prophage DNA, flips a section of the genome to produce two new \u201cchimeric\u201d proteins. <BR><br \/>\nThese proteins block incoming viruses &#8211; or phages &#8211; from attaching to the bacterial surface and injecting their genetic material.<BR><br \/>\nWhen researchers boosted production of these proteins in E. coli, they found the bacteria temporarily became immune to viral attack. <BR><br \/>\nHowever, after several generations, the viruses evolved new methods to attach, demonstrating the dynamic arms race between microbes and their viral foes.<BR><br \/>\nWith antibiotic resistance on the rise, Wood believes the discovery could inform safer alternatives to traditional drugs.<BR><br \/>\nHe said: \u201cBefore we start using viruses to treat bacterial infections, we need to understand how bacteria naturally defend themselves &#8211; and this system is a big part of that picture.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nThe findings could also benefit the food industry by improving bacterial health in fermentation processes, such as cheese and yogurt production. <BR><br \/>\nWood added: \u201cThis is a story about how ancient viral fossils still protect their hosts &#8211; and we\u2019re only just beginning to uncover their potential.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2025-11-03 15:03:57 An ancient bacterial defence system dating back billions of years could hold the key to fighting modern viral threats. Scientists from Penn State University led by Professor Thomas&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3609,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607\/revisions\/3609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}