★ Why we care
If you find modulators of bacterial Cap4, you probably have a starting point for modulating human STING — an anti-cancer holy grail. The fold symmetry is too striking to ignore.
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Canonical sources
Bactaegion does not duplicate any scientific data. Everything comes from public databases.
★ Curated sources
🔍 Search public databases
📚 Reference bibliography
Cohen D. et al., Cyclic GMP-AMP signalling protects bacteria, Nature 574 (2019).
Whiteley A.T. et al., Bacterial cGAS-like enzymes synthesize diverse nucleotide signals, Nature 567 (2019).
★ Princeps publication
Cohen et al. (2020). Cyclic GMP-AMP signalling protects bacteria against viral infection. Science.
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CBASS
Cyclic oligonucleotide-Based Anti-phage Signaling System
The system that sows death rather than accept defeat.
Cyclic signaling system homologous to human cGAS-STING. CdnE/CapV/Cap2 produce a cyclic second messenger. This messenger activates a suicide nuclease. Profile to screen: cGAS-like target for type I interferon modulation.
- Proteins
- 8
- Host
- bacteria
- Discovery
- Cohen D., 2019
- Mechanism
- cyclic signal → suicide
- Lead DOI
- 10.5281/zenodo.···
Also documented in the V1 library see the full entry →
✦ The story
When Rotem Sorek's team published their 2019 Nature paper, they were initially fishing for anti-phage genes through comparative bioinformatics. They stumbled onto an operon coding for a strangely familiar enzyme: a cyclase producing a cyclic dinucleotide. It was bacterial cGAS. Until that moment, cGAS-STING was thought to be a purely eukaryotic invention to fight DNA viruses. The discovery flipped the chronology: we inherited this system from bacteria, not the other way around. Seven years later, CBASS has 20 characterized subtypes, several crystal structures of effectors, and has become a model system for understanding our own cGAS-STING. The bacterium taught us how it works.
Discovered 2019
By Cohen, Davidov, Sorek et al. (Weizmann Institute) then Lowey, Whiteley et al. (Boston Children's)
◇ The detail that lands
Cap4, the most-studied effector, doesn't just kill the bacterium: it punches holes in the membrane from the inside. The bacterium sacrifices itself by bursting like a bomb, spilling its guts into the medium — which inhibits nearby phages as collateral damage. It's molecular-scale altruistic suicide.
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Sources
- Cohen D. et al., Cyclic GMP-AMP signalling protects bacteria, Nature 574 (2019).
- Whiteley A.T. et al., Bacterial cGAS-like enzymes synthesize diverse nucleotide signals, Nature 567 (2019).
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