SMART-led team finds phage DNA modified with up to three arabinose sugars to evade bacterial defenses

A team led by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) AMR group, with MIT, the University of Otago and other partners, reports in Cell Host & Microbe a new type of phage DNA modification: arabinose added to cytosine and extendable to up to three sugars, with more sugars giving greater protection against bacterial defense systems. Many of the modified phages target major pathogens including Acinetobacter baumannii, and the study finds that phage DNA modifications occur at a much higher rate than previously predicted.