The number of immune defense and counter-defense systems sustained in the arms race between procaryotes and viruses

TL;DR

This paper investigates the maximum sustainable number of immune defense and counter-defense systems in prokaryote-virus interactions, revealing an evolutionary balance around ten systems driven by cost-benefit trade-offs.

Contribution

It provides numerical and theoretical evidence for an upper limit of about ten defense and counter-defense systems in the arms race, based on ecological and evolutionary constraints.

Findings

Maximum of about 10 systems maintained in arms race

Balance between costs and benefits determines system number

Optimal number results from trade-offs in defense strategies

Abstract

Prokaryotes have evolved various mechanisms to counter viruses, which in their turn developed numerous strategies to avoid defenses of the hosts. Dozens of such defense and counter-defense mechanisms have recently been discovered, yet the number of such systems held by a given virus or its host is limited. Here, we present numerical and theoretical arguments for the existence of the maximal number of ecologically and evolutionary sustainable defense and counter-defense systems maintained by both sides at any time of the never-ending evolutionary arms race. We find that the number of such systems is of the order of 10 for a broad range of assumptions about the costs and benefits of defense and counter-defense mechanisms and their specificity. This optimum in the number of defense and counter-defense systems appears as a result of a compromise between the metabolic and autoimmune costs of adding a new layer of defense and the benefits it conveys.