JERUSALEM, July 17 -- Israeli scientists have discovered a bacterial immune system that modifies the tails of phages, and is "somehow able to stop the virus from spreading to other cells," the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Phages, viruses that attack bacteria, consist of a head containing genetic material, and a tail that identifies bacterial cells and injects viral genetic material into them.

Once injected, the phage commandeers the bacterium's machinery to produce new copies of itself, eventually causing the cell to burst and spread the infection to other bacteria.

The new bacterial immune system, described in a study published in Nature, disrupts this process by attaching a small protein molecule to the phages' tails.

Unlike other bacterial immune systems, the newly discovered system does not prevent the virus from hijacking the cell and replicating.

Infected bacteria die and produce new viral progeny, but the progeny cannot infect additional bacteria.

However, the protein that attaches to the end of the viral tail blocks the phages from locating and infecting new bacterial cells.

The researchers believe this immune system can recognize the three-dimensional structure of the viral tail, enabling it to counteract various tailed phages.

They also suggested that while viruses attacking humans may lack tails, human defenses might similarly disrupt a key structural protein of the virus

WIS highlighted that components of this immune system are "similar in structure to a human immunity mechanism," noting that this research could offer insights into how this mechanism functions and the evolution of the human immune system.

  - Xinhua