DRT1 system

traitmech:000543 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A DRT system in which an organism possesses a genome-encoded DefenseFinder DRT_1 subtype locus represented by the mandatory DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b profiles.

Trait evidence (6)

DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372
We discovered that a family of uncharacterized reverse transcriptases (RTs) are active defense systems

Gao et al. experimentally support defense-associated reverse transcriptases as active antiphage systems.
DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372
We named these genes defense-associated RTs (DRTs)

Gao et al. coined the defense-associated RT naming that underlies the DRT system family.
DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372
In all cases, mutations in the RT active site [(Y/F)xDD to (Y/F)xAA, where x is any amino acid] abolished activity

Gao et al. connect DRT antiphage activity to conserved reverse-transcriptase active-site residues.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md
| DRT | 10\.1126/science\.aba0372 | Diverse enzymatic activities mediate antiviral immunity in prokaryotes |

The pinned DefenseFinder article registry maps the DRT source key to the Gao et al. prokaryotic antiviral-immunity paper.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md
| DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1 | Custom | 600 | | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1 | Custom | 20 |

The pinned DefenseFinder HMM inventory records DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b under the DRT_1 model namespace.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
DRT DRT_1 2 2 DRT_1__drt1a, DRT_1__drt1b

The pinned DefenseFinder rules table models DRT_1 as a DRT subsystem requiring DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b.

DRT1 loci support DRT antiphage defense

Conservative system-level sketch linking a DRT1 locus to reverse-transcriptase-dependent DRT phage defense and DRT1 system possession.

NONMECHANISTIC · The graph captures DRT1 at DefenseFinder subtype-locus level without asserting the exact products of the DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b profiles, phage trigger, native host breadth, sensitive phage breadth, partner-feature requirements, profile-to-activity criteria, or whether every DefenseFinder DRT_1 prediction is a complete experimentally active DRT1 locus.

Edge evidence

DRT1 locus contributes to DRT reverse-transcriptase active-site activity RO:0002326
DRT1 loci are represented in DefenseFinder by custom defense-associated reverse transcriptase profiles.
- DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372 We named these genes defense-associated RTs (DRTs) Gao et al. coined the defense-associated RT naming that underlies the DRT system family.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md | DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1 | Custom | 600 | | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1 | Custom | 20 | The pinned DefenseFinder HMM inventory records DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b under the DRT_1 model namespace.
DRT reverse-transcriptase active-site activity confers DRT1 system METPO:2007700
The first-pass DRT1 system trait is realized by a DefenseFinder DRT_1 subtype locus within the reverse-transcriptase-dependent DRT family.
- DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372 We discovered that a family of uncharacterized reverse transcriptases (RTs) are active defense systems Gao et al. experimentally support defense-associated reverse transcriptases as active antiphage systems.
- DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372 In all cases, mutations in the RT active site [(Y/F)xDD to (Y/F)xAA, where x is any amino acid] abolished activity Gao et al. connect DRT antiphage activity to conserved reverse-transcriptase active-site residues.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv DRT DRT_1 2 2 DRT_1__drt1a, DRT_1__drt1b The pinned DefenseFinder rules table models DRT_1 as a DRT subsystem requiring DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b.
DRT1 system is a DRT system rdfs:subClassOf
DRT1 system possession is a DRT-system trait.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md | DRT | 10\.1126/science\.aba0372 | Diverse enzymatic activities mediate antiviral immunity in prokaryotes | The pinned DefenseFinder article registry maps the DRT source key to the Gao et al. prokaryotic antiviral-immunity paper.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv DRT DRT_1 2 2 DRT_1__drt1a, DRT_1__drt1b The pinned DefenseFinder rules table models DRT_1 as a DRT subsystem requiring DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b.

Provenance

Identifier source: TraitMech local identifier
Definition source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv

Parent traits (1)

DRT system traitmech:000279

Synonyms (3)

DRT_1 RELATED_SYNONYM · https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
DRT_1__drt1a RELATED_SYNONYM · https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md
DRT_1__drt1b RELATED_SYNONYM · https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.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 the DRT1 reverse-transcriptase products, direct phage trigger, host breadth, partner-feature requirements, and DRT_1__drt1a/DRT_1__drt1b profile-to-activity criteria before minting DRT1 mechanism or component children.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN drt1-profile-activity-gap · raised by codex · 2026-10-02

Attached to causal_graphs#drt1_locus_reverse_transcriptase_defense

Gao et al. support defense-associated reverse transcriptases as a broad antiphage-system family, and the pinned DefenseFinder HMM inventory and rules table support DRT_1 as a DRT subsystem with two mandatory profiles. This first-pass record leaves the exact DRT1 RT products, phage trigger, host breadth, partner-feature requirements, and profile-to-activity requirements unresolved.

Evidence

DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372
We discovered that a family of uncharacterized reverse transcriptases (RTs) are active defense systems
DOI:10.1126/science.aba0372
In all cases, mutations in the RT active site [(Y/F)xDD to (Y/F)xAA, where x is any amino acid] abolished activity
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md
| DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1__drt1a | DRT_1 | Custom | 600 | | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1__drt1b | DRT_1 | Custom | 20 |
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
DRT DRT_1 2 2 DRT_1__drt1a, DRT_1__drt1b

Curation history

2026-10-02T11:04:00Z · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex
Minted DRT1 system as a DOI- and DefenseFinder-backed GENOMICS TraitRecord under the DRT system parent after an ignored-and-hidden duplicate review found no exact live DRT1 TraitMech, METPO, history, or prior proposal record; the replacement placeholder is reserved in proposals/metpo_traitmech_v420.
2026-10-02T11:04:01Z · REVIEW_CANONICAL_EXAMPLE_EVIDENCE_GAP · codex
Reviewed DRT1 system during initial curation and left canonical_examples empty because Gao et al. and the pinned DefenseFinder tables support the DRT family and the DRT_1 model namespace but not an accession-backed native microbial taxon exemplar tied to DRT_1__drt1a and DRT_1__drt1b and experimentally verified endogenous DRT1 activity. No paid research was used.