dCTPdeaminase system

traitmech:000274 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A phage defense system in which an organism possesses a dCTPdeaminase locus that converts dCTP into deoxy-uracil nucleotides during phage infection, depletes dCTP from the nucleotide pool, and halts phage replication by starving the phage of an essential DNA building block.

Trait evidence (6)

DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389
bacteria employ a similar strategy to defend against phage infection

Tal et al. support nucleotide depletion as a bacterial anti-phage strategy.
DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389
a family of defensive dCTP deaminase proteins that, in response to phage infection, convert dCTP into deoxy-uracil nucleotides

Tal et al. support the dCTPdeaminase family as a phage-responsive dCTP-conversion defense.
DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389
starving the phage of an essential DNA building block and halting its replication

Tal et al. connect dCTP depletion to phage DNA-building-block starvation and replication arrest.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md
dCTPdeaminase | 10\.1101/2021\.04\.26\.441389 | Antiviral defense via nucleotide depletion in bacteria

The DefenseFinder article registry maps the named dCTPdeaminase system to the Tal et al. nucleotide-depletion preprint.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
dCTPdeaminase__dCTPdeaminase

The DefenseFinder rules table models dCTPdeaminase as a single-profile system.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md
dCTPdeaminase__dCTPdeaminase

The DefenseFinder HMM inventory records the custom dCTPdeaminase profile.

dCTPdeaminase loci deplete dCTP during phage infection

Process sketch linking a dCTPdeaminase locus to phage-responsive dCTP conversion, dCTP depletion, phage DNA-building-block starvation, halted phage replication, and the dCTPdeaminase system trait.

NONMECHANISTIC · The graph captures the DOI abstract's phage-responsive dCTP conversion and nucleotide-depletion output without asserting a universal phage sensor, activation route, strain-resolved enzyme accession, or complete substrate scope for every natural dCTPdeaminase system.

Edge evidence

dCTPdeaminase locus contributes to dCTP conversion into deoxy-uracil nucleotides RO:0002326
The dCTPdeaminase locus encodes the dCTP deaminase activity that converts dCTP into deoxy-uracil nucleotides.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 defensive dCTP deaminase proteins that, in response to phage infection, convert dCTP Tal et al. identify defensive dCTP deaminase proteins that convert dCTP during phage infection.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md dCTPdeaminase__dCTPdeaminase DefenseFinder models the dCTPdeaminase protein profile used to identify the system.
sensitive phage infection triggers dCTP conversion into deoxy-uracil nucleotides
Phage infection induces dCTP conversion by defensive dCTP deaminase proteins.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 in response to phage infection, convert dCTP Tal et al. place dCTP conversion in the phage-infection response.
dCTP conversion into deoxy-uracil nucleotides contributes to dCTP nucleotide-pool depletion RO:0002326
Conversion of dCTP into deoxy-uracil nucleotides depletes the host dCTP nucleotide pool.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 completely eliminate the specific deoxynucleotide (either dCTP or dGTP) from the nucleotide pool during phage infection Tal et al. connect defensive dCTP conversion to loss of dCTP from the nucleotide pool.
dCTP nucleotide-pool depletion contributes to phage DNA-building-block starvation RO:0002326
dCTP depletion starves the infecting phage of an essential DNA building block.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 starving the phage of an essential DNA building block Tal et al. support phage DNA-building-block starvation as the output of defensive deoxynucleotide depletion.
phage DNA-building-block starvation contributes to halted phage replication RO:0002326
Starvation for dCTP halts phage DNA replication.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 starving the phage of an essential DNA building block and halting its replication Tal et al. place phage-replication arrest downstream of defensive deoxynucleotide depletion.
halted phage replication confers dCTPdeaminase system METPO:2007700
dCTPdeaminase-mediated arrest of phage replication realizes the dCTPdeaminase system trait.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 bacteria employ a similar strategy to defend against phage infection Tal et al. support dCTP depletion as a bacterial phage-defense strategy.
dCTPdeaminase system is a phage defense system rdfs:subClassOf
dCTPdeaminase system possession is a phage-defense-system trait.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md dCTPdeaminase | 10\.1101/2021\.04\.26\.441389 | Antiviral defense via nucleotide depletion in bacteria DefenseFinder associates dCTPdeaminase with the Tal et al. bacterial antiviral nucleotide-depletion preprint.

Provenance

Identifier source: TraitMech local identifier
Definition source: DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389

Parent traits (1)

phage defense system traitmech:000209

Synonyms (1)

dCTPdeaminase EXACT_SYNONYM · https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md

kg-microbe context

No kg-microbe node embedding matched this record in the 2026-04-25 deepwalk.

Discussions and Knowledge Gaps (1)

Open questions attached to this trait. Seeded by just knowledge-gap-scan and curated; see the corpus-wide index.

Resolve dCTPdeaminase activation, locus boundaries, and representative enzyme accessions before asserting narrower component or subtype traits.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN dctpdeaminase-activation-profile-gap · raised by codex · 2026-09-19

Attached to causal_graphs#dctpdeaminase_dctp_depletion_defense

Tal et al. support dCTPdeaminase as a phage-responsive dCTP-depletion defense and DefenseFinder models the system with a custom dCTPdeaminase HMM profile, but this first system-level record does not resolve the universal phage sensor, activation route, strain-level accessions, or whether additional unmodeled components define some natural loci.

Curation history

2026-09-19T09:25:18Z · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex
Minted dCTPdeaminase system as a DOI-backed GENOMICS TraitRecord under phage defense system after an ignored-and-hidden duplicate review found no exact live TraitMech, METPO, or prior proposal record; the replacement placeholder is reserved in proposals/metpo_traitmech_v151.