Immunity across the tree of life

In recent years, studying prokaryotic immune systems turned out to be a treasure trove for novel defense mechanisms in response to viral infection by phages, revealing more than 100 different immune systems comprising numerous examples of novel defense mechanisms. Some of the recent studies reveal evidence that several innate immune pathways defend organisms against pathogens across deep evolutionary time scales (summarized in Wein & Sorek, 2022, Nat. Rev. Immuno.). Despite strong signals of conservation, however, a large portion of functional and mechanistic immune diversity across the tree of life remains so far an uncharted territory. In our research we study this aspect by utilizing an evolutionary perspective on innate immunity. 

Evolutionary scenario to describe the conservation of immune mechanisms between prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Figure: Wein & Sorek et al., 2022, Nat. Rev. Immuno.)