We are PUBLISHED!!! Our mechanistic work on how CRISPR-Cas ancestors unwind DNA and how this can be used to engineer hypercompact plant editors can now be found on Mol Cell- if you are interested in what defines a good genome editor, this read is for you 😎 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Out Now! Phage hijacks host phosphorothioate DNA modification machinery to circumvent bacterial Ssp defences #MicroSky

Phage hijacks host phosphorothioate DNA modification machinery to circumvent bacterial Ssp defences

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 29 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02387-3The phage-encoded protein PptA enables its DNA to masquerade as the host and evade cleavage, providing a potential foundation for engineering therapeutic phages that could bypass this widespread defence system.

go.nature.com

“Resistance did not arise from mutation accumulation or strain displacement. Instead, it occurred because plasmid-borne resistance genes were transferred to the previously sensitive pathogens inside patients’ lungs”. Cool (sobering) study #AMR #MicroSky #IDSKy #CysticFibrosis

Nature Microbiology@natmicrobiol.nature.com · 2w ago

Out Now! Within-patient gene transfer between transiently and chronically infecting bacteria causes extreme antibiotic resistance during lung infections #MicroSky

Come work on exciting AI for biology projects in Paris!! 🇫🇷 Details and application below, deadline sept 1st!

Antigen Evolution & Design Lab@antigenevo.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨 JOB ALERT🚨 We are very excited to be hiring the lab's ✨very first postdoc✨! Work on new AI technologies for decoding antigen protein evolution in a fresh research environment, at the heart of Paris 🇫🇷 Details & link to apply: research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd... Deadline: Sep 1st

Systematic structural analyses reveal the function of viral genes + unveil conserved immune evasion strategies shared across distant viruses. Amazing work 🤯

Jason Nomburg@jnoms.bsky.social · 2w ago

Happy to share the first preprint out of the Nomburg lab! Many aspects of cellular immunity are shared across the tree of life. Here, we show that some of these conserved aspects of cellular immunity are mirrored by conserved effectors of immune antagonism. Thread below! 1/15

Out @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social, natural products meet bacterial immunity! We used genomics to identify lanthivirins: a family of >2,000 lanthipeptide BGCs that protect Actinobacteria against phages. Led by @hshomar.bsky.social & @mariegllm.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A family of lanthipeptides with anti-phage function

Bacteria produce natural products to adapt to their environments, with phage interactions as major ecological and evolutionary drivers. While some nat…

sciencedirect.com

Stunning pre-print from @artemisaev.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social and the Wang lab answering long-standing questions about OLD phage defense and extending the concept of "protein complex disassembly" controlling activation of bacterial immunity: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨 We're hiring! My new lab at EMBL Hamburg is looking for a Research Technician. I'm looking for someone excited by phages, metabolism, enzymes, structural biology and bacterial immunity—if you know the right person, please share this post!🧵⬇️ Apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Research Technician (Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity)

EMBL Hamburg / CSSB The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organization, with more than 110 independent research groups across Heidelberg, Hamburg, Grenobl...

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com

Thrilled to share! We present the structure of a prototypical P2 OLD and reveal that its tRNAse activity is triggered by ssDNA hairpins in phage origins or unresolved termini in RecBCD-deficient cells. Great team effort with Wang, Bikard & Nudler labs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

OLD sentinel: an abortive tRNase surveys phage replication and DNA defects in RecBCD-compromised cells

OLD, an abortive immunity protein from prophage P2, consists of an ABC ATPase sensor and a TO-PRIM nuclease effector - a core architecture shared by a large protein family, including components of ant...

biorxiv.org

Our paper out in Science today: The Metis defense system senses molecular byproducts released when a phage degrades the bacterial genome, and then prevents replication of the phage in the infected cell Congratulations @ostermanilya.bsky.social and co-authors!

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

science.org

Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · 4w ago

Excited to share that our Metis story is now published in Science! 🎉 Bacteria can sense phage-induced degradation of their genome and activate immunity. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... More details in my earlier thread 🧵⬇️

Si les nouvelles règles de l'éligibilité de l'ANR sont bien réelles, alors je ne comprends pas quelle est la logique sous jacente. Au vu de la pyramide des ages, forcer une collaboration avec chercheurs(ses) <10 ans post thèse va de facto exclure 80% des candidats.

Les nouvelles règles d'éligibilité de l'AAPG 2027 de @agencerecherche.bsky.social sont une catastrophe. Comment se fait-il qu'il n'y ait pas plus de réactions dans la communauté ? Sommes-nous à ce point résignés, ou individualistes ? #ESR

Functional divergence and conservation in the QueC protein family (PF06508): from tRNA modification to anti-phage defense 🦠 portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

Very cool findings!

Xavier Charpentier@labxc.bsky.social · 4w ago

#microsky New preprint from the lab! Widespread immune systems protect bacteria against conjugative plasmids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Kudos to the extremely talented lead author Ludovic Poiré! Key contributions by @francoisrousset.bsky.social and also help from C. Lesterlin/TacC lab. 🧵⬇️

Congratulations to Aude Bernheim (@audeber.bsky.social), elected EMBO Member 2026 🎉 Her work on bacterial immunity is reshaping how we understand immune systems across all life forms — from bacteria to humans. @embo.org

Organisers @lisamaierlab.bsky.social @kiranrpatil.bsky.social @robdfinn.bsky.social @embl.org @events.embl.org Speakers Ami Bhatt @dbikard.bsky.social Xiang Gao kc-huang.bsky.social @jhcepas.bsky.social @microbegrrl.bsky.social @keyfm.bsky.social @microbiome.bsky.social Elisabeth Lowe ...

1/4 Excited to share our new preprint on phage genome editing: Targeted DNA nicking enables efficient, single-step and counterselection-free editing of bacteriophage genomes Preprint: lnkd.in/dv4g5kW6

Finally published. Many thanks to a wonderful collaborative team and scientific platforms!!! And thanks to editors and reviewers for enthusiasm and a great review. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A bacterial CARD–NLR-like immune system controls the release of gene transfer agents - Nature Microbiology

An immunity-like system functions as a lysis control hub to promote gene transfer agent particle release from host bacterial cells, suggesting that bacterial immune systems may be co-opted to promote ...

nature.com

Tung Le@tunglejic.bsky.social · last yr.

1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below. shorturl.at/o6S1w

Back to the age of emperors and gladiator shows to please the crowd!

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2mo ago

IMO, hosting this MMA event at the WH is part of a larger project to rebrand the GOP as a populist party, shedding the Alex P Keaton stereotype it once carried. And in doing so, make them seem like the right party for working class people, even as they cut taxes for the rich & slash social services

Very happy that this piece of research finally sees the daylight! Super nice collaboration between Nanjing, York and Helsinki. Fun fact: we started this work over 10 years ago when I was working as a fellow at Imperial College. Sometimes good things come to those who wait.

Nature Microbiology@natmicrobiol.nature.com · 2mo ago

Out Now! Bacteria–phage coevolution drives variation in bacterial wilt disease incidence via resistance–virulence trade-offs #MicroSky

AI + publish-or-perish -> huge increase in publications Publication volume becomes meaningless as a metric. Might academia adapt to produce fewer, better papers? substack.com/@journalolog... Or will output continue to increase and we just accept that the only readers are AI agents...? 1/2

How do human cells defend against viruses? @sgfern.bsky.social discovers that human immune proteins named ISGs target ancient features of replication shared between animal and bacterial viruses – opening analysis of human immunity to the power of bacterial genetics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Phage receptor-binding proteins are known for their LEGO-like modularity, but we still do not fully understand their evolutionary potential and how it shapes phage host range. Our new preprint examines this systematically in Klebsiella phages. 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Thread 🧵

Our paper is out in Nature Microbiology: functional analysis of 80 phage sponges, revealing new sponges that inhibit bac immunity by binding the immune signals cCMP, cUMP and N7-cADPR Thanks to all coauthors and our collaborators at the Kranzusch Lab. Congrats Romi! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Functional diversity of phage sponge proteins that sequester host immune signals - Nature Microbiology

A functional screen reveals phage sponge proteins that bind Pycsar, Thoeris and CBASS signalling molecules to inhibit bacterial immunity.

nature.com

Romi Hadary@romihadary.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Excited to see our work out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We uncovered broad functional diversity within phage sponge families🧽. Huge thanks to all coauthors and brilliant collaborators @kranzuschlab.bsky.social @reneechang.bsky.social ! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Now at the mic: David BIKARD from @pasteur.fr / Eligo Bioscience. He's showing how engineered phage vectors and CRISPR can be used to selectively perturb gut bacteria. The future of AMR treatment? #CRISPR #Phage @dbikard.bsky.social @ibeidlabex.bsky.social

Phage-encoded single-guide RNAs subvert CRISPR-Cas9 immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.01.729453v1

A nice piece at @science.org covers the exploding field of bacterial immunity, and how it led to the understanding that components of the human immune system evolved from bacterial defenses against phage www.science.org/content/arti...

Ancient wars between microbes gave us key immune defenses

A better understanding of battles between bacteria and viruses could inspire new medicines

science.org

Like a prophage being awakened from its slumber, the phage field has seen a lot of renewed activity during the last decade. Check out our new @natrevmicro.nature.com review on the temperate phage life cycle here to stay up-to-date 🧫🦠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Revisiting the life cycle of temperate phages - Nature Reviews Microbiology

The life cycle of temperate bacteriophages involves lytic or lysogenic cycles and has historically served as a model for studying genetic regulation. This Review provides an updated overview of these ...

nature.com

Happy to share our latest pre-print on the Druantia defense system. We find that Type III Druantia uses a cooperative helicase-nuclease mechanism to sense and degrade replication-associated forked DNA structures. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A🧵

With Eugene Koonin, we wrote a rather comprehensive review on the origin, evolution and organization of the #virosphere. We describe all 10 viral realms and the logic behind them, and so much more. Check it out! comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/ar...