
First high-res look at microbial ballistics: Harpoons, spears, Gatling guns - cel1ne
http://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/watch-militarized-microbes-use-some-sophisticated-weapons-to-snare-prey/
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jfarlow
They actually get smaller yet - cellular warfare even. Entire protein
collections (R-Bodies) that are like explosive coiled springs [1] that can be
made to be pH-sensitive so that when they're 'eaten' by a cell, they explode,
bursting the cell from the inside.

Bacteriophages have terrifying-looking injection ports [2]. And there are
other viral 'latch-like' proteins that do significant damage to host membranes
when deployed in order to permit their own payloads to be deposited.

The entire CRISPR system is a defensive homing weapon used to literally dice
up a virus's DNA were any of the above weapons successfully used to enter a
cell.

[1]
[http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssynbio.5b00237](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssynbio.5b00237)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage)

