Genus-wide Homologous Recombination of Tail Fibers Maintains Tailocin Diversity in Pectobacterium
Lakhansing A Pardeshi, Anne Kupczok, Dick de Ridder, Sandra Smit, Theo A J van der Lee, Ruth Hershberg · 2026
Read Genus-wide Homologous Recombination of Tail Fibers Maintains Tailocin Diversity in Pectobacterium by Lakhansing A Pardeshi, Anne Kupczok, Dick de Ridder, Sandra Smit, Theo A J van der Lee, Ruth Hershberg (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13195805.txt.
Description
Lakhansing Pardeshi and co-authors trace a bacterial weapon's evolution in a 2026 paper. Pectobacterium species rot plants, and many carry tailocins, tail like weapons that kill close relatives. The weapon here is called carotovoricin. Its tail fibers decide which strains it can hit.
A genus wide pangenome study mapped the weapon's gene cluster across species. The cluster sits in the same neighborhood everywhere and stays conserved. The tail fiber genes, though, vary wildly and clash with the species tree. Swaps of fiber genes across the whole genus explain the pattern. That exchange complements a known DNA flipping trick for variety. Shifting targets could reshape competition inside infected plant tissue. Diversity of the weapon is actively maintained, not left to drift.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Lakhansing A Pardeshi, Anne Kupczok, Dick de Ridder, Sandra Smit, Theo A J van der Lee, Ruth Hershberg |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 44 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |