Stk2 system

traitmech:000303 · CLASS · PROPOSED

An abortive infection system in which an organism possesses a phage-defense locus encoding the Stk2 serine/threonine kinase, which can be activated by a phage protein to phosphorylate host proteins and induce host-cell death that prevents bacteriophage propagation.

Trait evidence (7)

DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010
Here we identify Stk2, a staphylococcal serine/threonine kinase that provides efficient immunity against bacteriophages by inducing abortive infection

Depardieu et al. identify Stk2 as a staphylococcal serine/threonine kinase that provides bacteriophage immunity through abortive infection.
DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010
A phage protein of unknown function activates the Stk2 kinase

Depardieu et al. connect an unidentified phage protein to Stk2 kinase activation.
DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010
This leads to the Stk2-dependent phosphorylation of several proteins involved in translation, global transcription control, cell-cycle control, stress response, DNA topology, DNA repair, and central metabolism

Depardieu et al. describe Stk2-dependent phosphorylation of multiple host-protein targets after Stk2 activation.
DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010
Bacterial host cells die as a consequence of Stk2 activation, thereby preventing propagation of the phage to the rest of the bacterial population

Depardieu et al. connect Stk2 activation to host-cell death and the resulting block of phage propagation.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md
Stk2 | 10\.1016/j\.chom\.2016\.08\.010 | A eukaryotic-like Serine/threonine kinase protects staphylococci against phages

The DefenseFinder article registry maps the named Stk2 system to the Depardieu et al. final article.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv
Stk2 Stk2 1 1 Stk2__Stk2

The DefenseFinder rules table models Stk2 as a one-component system requiring the Stk2__Stk2 profile.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md
| Stk2__Stk2 | Stk2__Stk2 | Stk2 | Custom | 150 |

The DefenseFinder HMM inventory records the Stk2__Stk2 profile under the Stk2 model namespace.

Stk2 kinase activation aborts phage infection

Conservative system-level sketch linking possession of a Stk2 phage-defense locus to phage-protein-triggered kinase activation, host protein phosphorylation, host-cell death, and the Stk2 abortive-infection trait without asserting the unresolved direct phage activator or lethal phosphorylation target.

NONMECHANISTIC · The graph captures Stk2 as a named DefenseFinder single-profile abortive-infection system with a phage-activated serine/threonine kinase output while leaving the activating phage protein, the direct lethal phosphorylation event, target conservation, and phage-specific escape routes unresolved.

Edge evidence

Stk2 locus contributes to Stk2 kinase activation RO:0002326
Depardieu et al. identify the Stk2 serine/threonine kinase as a phage-immunity factor, and DefenseFinder models Stk2 as a single-profile system.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 Here we identify Stk2, a staphylococcal serine/threonine kinase that provides efficient immunity against bacteriophages Depardieu et al. identify Stk2 as a bacteriophage-immunity factor.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/DefenseFinder_rules.tsv Stk2 Stk2 1 1 Stk2__Stk2 The DefenseFinder rules table models Stk2 as a one-component system requiring the Stk2__Stk2 profile.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/Liste_hmm_system.md | Stk2__Stk2 | Stk2__Stk2 | Stk2 | Custom | 150 | The DefenseFinder HMM inventory records the Stk2__Stk2 profile under the Stk2 model namespace.
Stk2 kinase activation enables host protein phosphorylation RO:0002327
Phage-protein activation of Stk2 leads to Stk2-dependent phosphorylation of several host proteins.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 A phage protein of unknown function activates the Stk2 kinase Depardieu et al. show phage-protein activation of Stk2.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 This leads to the Stk2-dependent phosphorylation of several proteins Depardieu et al. connect Stk2 activation to host-protein phosphorylation.
Stk2 kinase activation contributes to host cell death RO:0002326
Stk2 activation is followed by death of infected bacterial host cells.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 Bacterial host cells die as a consequence of Stk2 activation Depardieu et al. connect Stk2 activation to host-cell death.
host cell death mitigates phage propagation METPO:2007407
Stk2-triggered host-cell death prevents propagation of the phage through the rest of the bacterial population.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 Bacterial host cells die as a consequence of Stk2 activation, thereby preventing propagation of the phage to the rest of the bacterial population Depardieu et al. connect Stk2-dependent host-cell death to phage-propagation prevention.
host cell death confers Stk2 system METPO:2007700
Stk2-triggered host-cell death realizes the Stk2 abortive-infection trait.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 provides efficient immunity against bacteriophages by inducing abortive infection Depardieu et al. classify the Stk2-dependent immunity mechanism as abortive infection.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdmparis/defense-finder-models/afb0e5a8b466be53586b13266f5d38d98c3ac268/List_system_article.md Stk2 | 10\.1016/j\.chom\.2016\.08\.010 | A eukaryotic-like Serine/threonine kinase protects staphylococci against phages The DefenseFinder article registry maps the named Stk2 system to the Depardieu et al. final article.
Stk2 system is a abortive infection system rdfs:subClassOf
Stk2 system possession is an abortive-infection system trait.
- DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010 provides efficient immunity against bacteriophages by inducing abortive infection Depardieu et al. support Stk2 as an abortive-infection system.

Provenance

Identifier source: TraitMech local identifier
Definition source: DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2016.08.010

Parent traits (1)

abortive infection system traitmech:000214

Synonyms (1)

Stk2 RELATED_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 the Stk2-activating phage protein and lethal host-phosphorylation target before minting narrower Stk2 mechanism children.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN stk2-activator-and-death-target-gap · raised by codex · 2026-09-20

Attached to causal_graphs#stk2_activation_aborts_phage_infection

Depardieu et al. support Stk2 as a named phage-activated serine/threonine kinase system whose activation causes host-protein phosphorylation, bacterial host-cell death, and abortive infection, and DefenseFinder represents Stk2 with a one-profile model. This system-level record leaves the direct phage activator, the lethal Stk2 phosphorylation target, target conservation across Stk2 loci, and phage escape routes unresolved.

Curation history

2026-09-20T07:41:00Z · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex
Minted Stk2 system as a DOI-backed GENOMICS TraitRecord under the abortive infection system parent 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_v180.