This is such a key concept for an integrated, multilayered prokaryotic immune response 👇🏻

Rafael Pinilla-Redondo (Rafa)@rafomics.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/4 Every good defence needs a backup! 🛡️⚔ Out now in @natrevmicro.nature.com our Comment on "𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴"! 🎉 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/4 Every good defence needs a backup! 🛡️⚔ Out now in @natrevmicro.nature.com our Comment on "𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴"! 🎉 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Immune safeguarding as a conserved principle of antiviral defence - Nature Reviews Microbiology

All organisms defend against viral infections through active immunity mechanisms that clear the virus or population-level mechanisms that cause regulated cell death. Recent research increasingly shows...

nature.com

Postdocs and early career folks - this is a truly wonderful opportunity to spend time in Berlin, gain time to think, and expand your network! call.wiko-berlin.de/procedure/65...

A pleasure to be in York for the 4th UK MGE workshop - very excited for two days of fun talks 😊

I didn't really care about turning 30, but turns out nothing is as humbling as buying my last-ever Railcard the day before my 31st birthday.

New paper out! 🔈 Genomic Characterization of the RyC collection: 50 Multidrug Resistant Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. 50 MDR gut isolates, 2 sequencing platforms, 4 “omes,” and 1 mission: provide a resource to decode AMR and MGE dynamics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I also often think "hang on, is this defence system actually there for phage defence?" Great work both!

Ellinor Alseth@ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 3mo ago

When is an antiphage mechanism an evolved defence adaptation? This question has been on my mind for so long, because despite the field’s rapid progress there is currently no widely agreed framework in place to answer it. So @brownlab.bsky.social and I wrote this, and I'm happy to share the preprint!

I’ve started my SNSF Ambizione Group Leader position at the University of Zurich 🧬 We will study plasmid evolution, plasmid interactions, and CRISPR-Cas systems to better understand antibiotic resistance spread. Very grateful to everyone who supported me along the way.

Today Is the deadline for abstract submissions ‼️

Plasmid Society@plasmidsociety.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Please remember that the International Symposium on Plasmid Biology (ISPB 2026) will take place 7–11 September 2026 in Berlin, Germany! A great opportunity to meet, reconnect, and engage with the global plasmid biology community. 🤝 plasmid-biology-2026.de

A fun manuscript which came out as a preprint around the same time as I published my own preprint on CRISPR-Cas - TA plasmid interactions, using the same model plasmid RP4! I loved seeing these single-cell expts which matched up with my observations. Congrats to all involved on getting this out!

Tominaga K. (tomiken)@pacyc184.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Molecular kinetics dictate population dynamics in CRISPR-based plasmid defense | PNAS https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2525424123

Molecular kinetics dictate population dynamics in CRISPR-based plasmid defense | PNAS https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2525424123

Molecular kinetics dictate population dynamics in CRISPR-based plasmid defense | PNAS

Understanding and manipulating the spread of mobile genetic elements represents a great challenge with potential benefits across synthetic biology,...

pnas.org

And the preprint is out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We compared plasmid conjugation in liquid and on solid across 13 AMR plasmids with different types of conjugative pili.

Tatiana Dimitriu@tatianadimitriu.bsky.social · 4mo ago

First paper submitted fully from the lab!

🔊 Looking for a Research Assistant in Bacterial Evolution to join my lab 🦠 🥼Main duties: Research (AMR + microbiome) + lab assistance. ⏲️ Post duration: 30 months 🗓️ Closing date for applications: 20th April 2026 💰 Salary: ~£35k Details and how to apply: tinyurl.com/2a3v66y7 Please share!

This, and the scene where he touches his face *while wearing gloves* really ruins the rewatchability for me.

Simon Fisher@profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Project Hail Mary is a beautiful brilliant film. But molecular biologists be warned there's a deeply disturbing scene midway through when Ryan Gosling's scientist places two eppendorfs directly next to each other in an otherwise empty unbalanced microcentrifuge & sets it spinning with wild abandon.

Project Hail Mary is a beautiful brilliant film. But molecular biologists be warned there's a deeply disturbing scene midway through when Ryan Gosling's scientist places two eppendorfs directly next to each other in an otherwise empty unbalanced microcentrifuge & sets it spinning with wild abandon.

So happy to see this finally published in @plosbiology.org! This is the first chapter of @julielebris.bsky.social PhD thesis demonstrating how capsules are exchanged by plug-and-play dynamics w/ @epcrocha.bsky.social #microsky @klebclub.bsky.social Link below- Check out her 🧵 for more details!

Plug-and-play evolution of the Klebsiella pneumoniae capsule locus enables serotype exchange across genetic backgrounds

How complex multi-gene systems evolve across genetic backgrounds without disruptive epistasis remains unclear, particularly in highly exchangeable loci such as the capsule of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Th...

doi.org

Julie Le Bris@julielebris.bsky.social · 11mo ago

How complex functions, with important physiological and evolutionary impacts get repeatedly and efficiently transferred across genomes? That’s what we explored using one of the fastest-evolving loci in Bacteria: the capsule locus. The paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Thread👇

Coconuts

It is a pleasure to announce the 4th UK MGE workshop will be in York on 23rd-24th June 2026! Registration is free and we are actively looking for contributors. Interested? If so, please register via the website and select the talk option www.ukmgeworkshop.org We look forward to seeing you in York!

MGE-UK-4

We are thrilled to invite you to the fourth edition of the MGE UK Workshop, hosted this year in the historic City of York. Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) are the ultimate architects of biology. MGEs i...

ukmgeworkshop.org

inspired by this morning's inbox

Glad to see our latest work out in Nature Microbiology!! Extremely grateful to everyone involved in the project. Check it out!! 👇🏻👇🏻

Alvaro San Millan@sanmillan.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Final version of our last paper is out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Final version of our last paper is out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through insertion sequence-mediated gene inactivation - Nature Microbiology

Inactivation of chromosomal genes through plasmid-encoded IS elements is an extended mechanism of antimicrobial resistance evolution in bacteria.

nature.com

Dear Shabana, Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

➡️ preprint from the lab! Bacteria have loads of antiviral defences in their mobile genetic elements (MGEs). So when MGEs move between bacteria, the defences move with them, generating a fast turnover of defences in bacteria. But what about the antiviral defence turnover in the MGEs themselves? 🤔 🧵👇

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 The Green Party has over 200,000 members. More members, more councillors, more MPs. The Green Party just keep growing. Join us ⤵️

📢 Opportunity to apply for a PhD fellowship to join our group and work on MGE-MGE interactions and phage defence systems! @mmsb-lyon.bsky.social See informations about eligibility and research project on this web page: graduate-plus.fr/immunology-v... Contact me if you are interested !

This election was a choice between hope and hate, and the people of Gorton and Denton chose hope 💚 🎉 Huge congratulations to the Honourable Member for Gorton and Denton! And to everyone who helped make this happen 👏 I can't wait to see you on Monday, Hannah, and give you the biggest, proudest hug

The Green Party of England & Wales@greenparty.org.uk · 5mo ago

Introducing Hannah Spencer MP 💚

New preprint out on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Can conjugative plasmids be used to control plasmid and pathogen spread? Follow me down the rabbit hole that led to this story 🧵

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨 Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!) Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1093/fems...

I also decided to give it a go to write this up in a way that's accessible without a strict scientific background: davvi36.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...

Plasmid Competition!

This blog post describes my recently published PLOS Biology paper – hopefully in an accessible format. It’s finally out and published in PLOS Biology: CRISPR-Cas is beneficial in plasmi…

davvi36.wordpress.com

David Sünderhauf@davvi36.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Out now in @plosbiology.org : our big joint effort on the role of #CRISPR in plasmid competition. Read on for a really fun (I’m biased ok) analysis of how a defence system has new selective pressures when it’s mobile journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... 1/6