In natural environments, bacteriophages outnumber bacteria and represent an important threat for these organisms.
The arms race between bacteria and bacteriophages drives the diversification of bacterial anti-phage defense systems.
While it was long believed that the anti-phage arsenal of bacteria was reduced to a few systems, the recent discoveries of more than a hundred previously unknown anti-phage systems has revolutionized the field.
These discoveries was essentially made possible by the analysis of large amounts of bacterial genomes which itself relies on publicly available datasets and bioinformatics analyses [1, 2, 3].
While it was long believed that the anti-phage arsenal of bacteria was reduced to a few systems, the recent discoveries of more than a hundred previously unknown anti-phage systems have revolutionized the field.
These discoveries were essentially made possible by the analysis of large amounts of bacterial genomes which itself relies on publicly available datasets and bioinformatics analyses [1, 2, 3].
This practical course aims at introducing the principles and methods used in genomics, focusing on the study of anti-phage defense systems. Through the discovery and characterization of a novel anti-phage systems, the students will be introduced to
