Phages gain the upper hand in the metabolic arms race for NAD

Abstract

Bacteria often defend against phage infection by deploying NADase effectors to degrade cellular NAD⁺, thereby halting both bacterial growth and phage replication. In a recent article in Nature, Osterman et al.¹ identify phage-encoded counterdefense pathways that reconstitute NAD⁺ during infection, enabling phages to combat multiple unrelated antiphage systems.