Episymbiotic Saccharibacteria TM7x protects its host bacteria from bacteriophage predation

We previously cultured a "non-cultivable" bacterium TM7x, which lives on the surface of Schaalia odontolytica, and a lytic phage, which replicates by killing the host. In this study, we found that TM7x protects the host from phage infection. Moreover, the phage infects the surface-grown, but not planktonic, bacteria. The transcriptome data of the host infected with TM7x were used to reveal the underlying mechanisms