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Here, we demonstrate that the\n                  <jats:italic>Rhodobacter capsulatus<\/jats:italic>\n                  GTA (RcGTA) tailspike protein, TspA, is a potent biofilm-degrading enzyme. Purified TspA is effective at both preventing initial biofilm formation and clearing established, mature biofilms. Crucially, TspA enhances RcGTA-mediated gene transfer, suggesting that this enzyme facilitates GTA navigation through the extracellular matrix. Unlike the permanently anchored tailspikes of canonical phages, TspA possesses a unique \u03b2-sandwich N-terminal domain that enables its dissociation from mature particles and engages in biofilm polysaccharide recognition. Our findings indicate that TspA is an evolutionary adaptation used by GTAs to optimize HGT within complex, densely packed microbial biofilm communities.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.07.19.739414","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T15:20:20Z","timestamp":1784560820000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The mechanism of biofilm degradation by a detachable tailspike of gene transfer agents"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1223-2584","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pavol","family":"Bardy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom"},{"name":"York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phuong M.","family":"Nguyen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Cryo-EM and Bioimaging, SSRL, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Menlo Park, California, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew W.","family":"Craske","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicholas","family":"Read","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom"},{"name":"Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebecca M.","family":"Davies","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johan P.","family":"Turkenburg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samuel J.","family":"Hart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4533-3816","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alfred A.","family":"Antson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom"},{"name":"York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5324-4293","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul C. 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