dGTPase system

traitmech:000276 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A phage defense system in which an organism possesses a dGTPase locus that degrades dGTP into phosphate-free deoxy-guanosine during phage infection, depletes dGTP from the nucleotide pool, and halts phage replication by starving the phage of an essential DNA building block.

Trait evidence (7)

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 second family of phage resistance genes encode dGTPase enzymes, which degrade dGTP into phosphate-free deoxy-guanosine (dG)

Tal et al. support dGTPase genes as phage-resistance genes encoding enzymes that degrade dGTP.
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 dGTPase defense to dGTP nucleotide-pool elimination during phage infection.
DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389
starving the phage of an essential DNA building block and halting its replication

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

The DefenseFinder article registry maps the named dGTPase system to the Tal et al. nucleotide-depletion preprint.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
dGTPase dGTPase 1 1 dGTPase__Sp_dGTPase

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

The DefenseFinder HMM inventory records the custom Sp_dGTPase profile.

dGTPase loci deplete dGTP during phage infection

Process sketch linking a dGTPase locus to dGTP degradation, dGTP depletion, phage DNA-building-block starvation, halted phage replication, and the dGTPase system trait.

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

Edge evidence

dGTPase locus contributes to dGTP degradation into deoxy-guanosine RO:0002326
The dGTPase locus encodes dGTPase activity that degrades dGTP into phosphate-free deoxy-guanosine.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 dGTPase enzymes, which degrade dGTP into phosphate-free deoxy-guanosine (dG) Tal et al. identify dGTPase enzymes that degrade dGTP.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md dGTPase__Sp_dGTPase | dGTPase__Sp_dGTPase | dGTPase DefenseFinder models the Sp_dGTPase protein profile used to identify the dGTPase system.
dGTP degradation into deoxy-guanosine contributes to dGTP nucleotide-pool depletion RO:0002326
Degradation of dGTP depletes the host dGTP nucleotide pool during phage infection.
- 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 dGTPase activity to loss of dGTP from the nucleotide pool.
dGTP nucleotide-pool depletion contributes to phage DNA-building-block starvation RO:0002326
dGTP 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 dGTP 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 dGTPase system METPO:2007700
dGTPase-mediated arrest of phage replication realizes the dGTPase system trait.
- DOI:10.1101/2021.04.26.441389 bacteria employ a similar strategy to defend against phage infection Tal et al. support dGTP depletion as a bacterial phage-defense strategy.
dGTPase system is a phage defense system rdfs:subClassOf
dGTPase system possession is a phage-defense-system trait.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md dGTPase | 10\.1101/2021\.04\.26\.441389 | Antiviral defense via nucleotide depletion in bacteria DefenseFinder associates dGTPase 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)

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

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

Attached to causal_graphs#dgtpase_dgtp_depletion_defense

Tal et al. support dGTPase as a phage-responsive dGTP-depletion defense and DefenseFinder models the system with a custom Sp_dGTPase 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

2026-09-19T10:46:26Z · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex
Minted dGTPase 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_v153.