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Zorya system

traitmech:000217 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A genomics trait describing possession of a Zorya antiphage defense locus in which conserved ZorA/ZorB membrane-motor core proteins and subtype-specific effector proteins inhibit bacteriophage propagation.

Trait evidence (6)

  • DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8
    Zorya is a recently identified and widely distributed bacterial immune system that protects bacteria from viral (phage) infections

    Hu et al. support Zorya as a bacterial antiviral immune system.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2
    The Zorya phage defense system was first discovered in 2018

    Mariano et al. support the standard US-English family name for the Zorya system.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2
    all Zorya systems share two components, ZorA and ZorB, containing domains distantly related, respectively, to the MotA and MotB subunits of the bacterial flagellar motor

    Mariano et al. support the conserved ZorA/ZorB motor-core architecture shared by Zorya systems.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8
    ZorAB transfers the phage invasion signal through the ZorA cytoplasmic tail to recruit and activate the soluble ZorC and ZorD effectors

    Hu et al. support the Type I ZorAB-dependent effector recruitment and activation step.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2
    For Zorya II, anti-phage activity requires the presence of the ZorE effector, which we show is recruited by ZorAB

    Mariano et al. support Type II ZorE as a ZorAB-recruited effector.

  • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2
    We observed that homologs of Zorya I from Serratia marcescens ATCC 274 and Zorya II from E. coli ATCC 8739 provide protection against several phages from the Durham collection

    Mariano et al. support experimentally validated Zorya phage protection from native Serratia marcescens and E. coli loci.

Zorya ZorAB motors recruit antiphage effectors

Evidence-backed process sketch linking a Zorya locus to phage-triggered ZorAB ion-motor activation, effector recruitment, and inhibition of bacteriophage replication.

NONMECHANISTIC · The graph captures characterized Type I ZorC/ZorD and Type II ZorE outputs without asserting one universal ZorAB-coupled effector, ion substrate, DNA target, cell-death pathway, Type III mechanism, or anti-Zorya-evasion mechanism across all Zorya loci.

Zorya ZorAB motors recruit antiphage effectors Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for Zorya system.

Edge evidence

  • Zorya locus contributes to ZorAB ion-motor activation RO:0002326

    Zorya loci encode the conserved ZorA and ZorB membrane core proteins that form the ZorAB motor.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2 all Zorya systems share two components, ZorA and ZorB, containing domains distantly related, respectively, to the MotA and MotB subunits of the bacterial flagellar motor Mariano et al. support ZorA/ZorB as the conserved Zorya core proteins.
  • phage invasion activates ZorAB ion-motor activation RO:0002213

    Phage invasion activates the ZorAB ion motor after Zorya senses bacteriophage challenge.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8 ZorAB operates as a proton-driven motor that becomes activated after sensing of phage invasion Hu et al. support phage-invasion-dependent ZorAB activation.
  • ZorAB ion-motor activation activates Zorya effector activity RO:0002213

    ZorAB motor activation recruits and activates subtype-specific Zorya effector proteins.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8 ZorAB transfers the phage invasion signal through the ZorA cytoplasmic tail to recruit and activate the soluble ZorC and ZorD effectors Hu et al. support ZorAB-mediated Type I ZorC/ZorD activation.
    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2 For Zorya II, anti-phage activity requires the presence of the ZorE effector, which we show is recruited by ZorAB Mariano et al. support ZorAB-mediated recruitment of the Type II ZorE effector.
  • Zorya effector activity mitigates phage replication METPO:2007407

    Zorya effector activity helps inhibit invading bacteriophages.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8 soluble ZorC and ZorD effectors, which facilitate the degradation of the phage DNA Hu et al. support Type I ZorC/ZorD effectors as phage-DNA-degradation outputs.
  • Zorya effector activity confers Zorya system METPO:2007700

    Zorya effector activity is the antiviral output that realizes the Zorya system defense phenotype.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2 Our work reveals the molecular basis of the activity of Zorya systems and highlights the ZorE nickase as crucial for population-wide immunity in the type II system Mariano et al. support ZorE nickase activity as a Type II Zorya effector output.
  • Zorya system is a phage defense system rdfs:subClassOf

    Zorya system possession is a phage-defense-system trait.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2 The Zorya phage defense system was first discovered in 2018 Mariano et al. place Zorya in the phage-defense-system family.

Provenance

Identifier source
TraitMech local identifier
Definition source
DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8

Parent traits (1)

Children (3)

Synonyms (2)

  • Zorya anti-phage defence system EXACT_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-08493-8
  • Zorya phage defense system EXACT_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2

kg-microbe context

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

Canonical examples (1)

Organisms cited as exemplars of this trait. Taxon ids are NCBITaxon and link out to the NCBI record.

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 Zorya subtype effectors, ion usage, and phage triggers before minting narrower Zorya mechanism children.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN zorya-subtype-effector-and-trigger-gap · raised by codex · 2026-09-15

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

Hu et al. support Type I ZorAB activation and ZorC/ZorD-mediated phage-DNA degradation, Mariano et al. support Type I/II ZorAB architecture plus a recruited Type II ZorE nickase, and the pinned DefenseFinder rules table supports distinct Zorya_TypeI and Zorya_TypeII subtype rows. Zorya type I and type II TraitRecords now capture those DefenseFinder subtypes, but Zorya variants still need separate review before TraitMech asserts one universal ion substrate, effector composition, nuclease target, cell-death pathway, Type III mechanism, or anti-defense breadth. The type-III architecture is now represented by traitmech:000576 Zorya type III system for ZorA/ZorB/ZorF/ZorG loci. Payne Figure 2C and Discussion plus Mariano's Introduction support that composition despite the conflicting zorBC wording in Payne's Results. DefenseFinder's three-match threshold is not a complete four-component biological definition. Type-III component roles and native-host mechanisms remain open; the family definition, graph and type-I/II records are unchanged.

Curation history

  1. · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex

    Minted Zorya system as a DOI-backed GENOMICS TraitRecord under the phage defense 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_v94.

  2. · TRACK_NARROWER_RECORD · codex

    Documented Zorya type II as split out in the open Zorya subtype-effector discussion after minting traitmech:000552 for the DefenseFinder-backed Zorya_TypeII child; Type I, Type III, and finer Zorya subtype mechanisms remain open.

  3. · TRACK_NARROWER_RECORD · codex

    Documented Zorya type I as split out in the open Zorya subtype-effector discussion after minting traitmech:000554 for the DefenseFinder-backed Zorya_TypeI child; Type III and finer Zorya subtype mechanisms remain open.

  4. · TRACK_ZORYA_TYPE_III_CLASS · codex

    Linked traitmech:000576 using DOI:10.1093/nar/gkab883 and DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-57397-2. Kept the family definition, hierarchy, graph, evidence and example unchanged; type-III component functions remain open rather than inheriting type-I/II chemistry.