Some bacteria use the CRISPR/Cas systems as transcriptional repressors of other anti-phage systems, such that when CRISPR interfered with, gene expression of repressed anti-phage systems goes up www.nature.com/articles/s41...

CRISPR–Cas regulates expression of embedded anti-phage defence systems - Nature

CRISPR–Cas systems transcriptionally tune diverse innate defences using CRISPR RNA-like guides to balance antiviral protection with fitness, and hyperactivate these defences when compromised, establis...

nature.com

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

There are a few parts of this preprint that don't add up in my opinion. 1. They find 10% of papers change their primary conclusions from preprint to publication. But if the primary conclusion of a paper is rebutted in peer review, isn't it a common+appropriate outcome for it to not be published?

Richard Sever@richardsever.bsky.social · last mo.

“move from preprint to peer-reviewed publication leaves the central claims of most abstracts intact, indicating preprints are a reliable source…papers that were never posted as preprints were retracted at roughly twice the rate of those that were…” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are looking for a motivated PhD student in phage genomics! Please find the details attached. Application deadline 24/07. Don't hesitate to spread the word!

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 🧵⬇️

#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. 🧵⬇️

Widespread immune systems protect bacteria against conjugative plasmids

Conjugative plasmids are a class of mobile genetic elements capable of efficient transfer between bacterial cells. Although they can introduce beneficial traits such as antibiotic resistance to recipi...

biorxiv.org

🚨New paper alert 🚨 Here we tried to leverage an (incredible) metagenome time-series to better understand MGE diversity and activity in soil across decade(s). @scbagby.bsky.social has an amazing thread about this work with all the details - bsky.app/profile/scba...

Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils - Nature Microbiology

An 8-year soil meta-omic time series shows how mobile genetic elements shape permafrost microbial diversity and impact a range of functions, including carbon and nutrient cycling.

nature.com

Sarah Bagby@scbagby.bsky.social · last mo.

Out today in Nature Microbiology: a paper that started in 2021 with an email from @sullivan-lab.bsky.social. Subject line: "Crazy ideas". www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/23

Extension of the deadline for latecomers. Register to the Secretion Days in Marseille !

Julien GIRAUD@juliengiraud.bsky.social · 2mo ago

👉Reminder : FIVE DAYS LEFT👈 📅 Secretion Days 2026 will take place on October 8-9 in Marseille 🌊 🎤Invited speaker : Wilbert Bitter; @wilbertbitter.bsky.social 🆓 Free, spot are limited ! 📥 Registration is open until June 15 via the following link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Our lab is proud to present our latest work harnessing Bridge Recombinase for genome-scale editing in diverse bacteria, microbiome editing, and programmable horizontal gene transfer.

bioRxiv Synthetic Biology@biorxiv-synthbio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Bridge recombinase enables versatile rewriting of bacterial genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.29.721476v1

Excited to share our discovery of a new programmable RNA-guided DNA-targeting system hiding inside bacteriophages that predates CRISPR. We call it VIPR (Viral Interference Programmable Repeat), and it uses an entirely new logic to find its targets. Thread + link below.

ComEC structure is out!! 😍 Congratulations to the authors! That’s not an easy one. We have been trying for years to get that structure… We failed and gave up.

Structural basis for DNA processing and membrane translocation by ComEC in natural transformation

Natural transformation is one of the major pathways of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria, enabling the acquisition of extracellular DNA and its integration into the host genome. ComEC is a membrane...

science.org

Excited to share our new paper out today in @science.org 🎉 We show that HGT via natural competence drives diversification of chromosomal integrons in V. cholerae 🤩 Below a 🧵 on key findings incl. background on natural competence in V. cholerae 1/ #microsky #phagesky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How diverse is bacterial immunity ? We report in @science.org how language models allowed us to predict 2.4M antiphage proteins spanning >23K novel potential systems. 👏 @emordret.bsky.social, @alexhv.bsky.social & al doi.org/10.1126/scie... Explore them here defensefinder.mdmlab.fr/wiki/refseq_...

New preprint alert!!! 🚀🤓 We are very happy to finally share this with the world — the result of seven years of work and a new tool to study integrons and discover new functions encoded in these bacterial platforms. If you want to know more, here is a thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Reversible DNA condensation drives natural transformation @natcomms.nature.com from Keith Mickolajczyk, Matthew Neiditch, and David Dubnau www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Horizontal gene transfer is often depicted as a process distributing pre-existing functions to novel genetic backgrounds. Yet HGT can also increase the rate of functional innovation after transfer. Here's a brief review on the topic: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... #evosky #microsky

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

🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Fantastic collaboration w/ @dbikard.bsky.social @audeber.bsky.social @rayanchikhi.bsky.social labs led by @jmouradesousa.bsky.social : We assessed the rates of variation of anti-phage systems in P4-like satellites and P2 helper phages. Quick conclusion: Huge variation! We focus on 4 key questions/5

Jorge Moura de Sousa@jmouradesousa.bsky.social · 5mo ago

➡️ 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? 🤔 🧵👇

➡️ 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? 🤔 🧵👇

Le CIRI recrute un Maître ou une Maîtresse de conférences en Microbiologie médicale Plus d'informations : ciri.ens-lyon.fr/MCU-microbio...

📢 Recrutement d’un(e) Maître(sses) de conférence en Biochimie générale, spécialité bactériologie moléculaire à MMSB 🔬Recherche *Immunité anti-phages *Réponse au stress, modulation de la croissance bactérienne ✉️ christophe.grangeasse@cnrs.fr 📚Enseignement : Université Lyon I ✉️ patrice.gouet@ibcp.fr

#microsky Massive update of preprint with @polardlab.bsky.social! Bacteria have evolved two systems to recombine extracellular DNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Kudos to lead authors Léo Hardy, Violette Morales and Clothilde Rousseau, and to outstanding Dalia's lab and @epcrocha.bsky.social 🧵⬇️

My team at @cbitoulouse.bsky.social is recruiting a postdoc #bioinformatics with solid experience in metagenomic analyses. Interest in evolution, ecology & MGEs is important. The offer stands until the perfect candidate is found, and it could be you 🫵 🔁 🙏 #microSky #phagesky #UTIsky @cnrs.fr

Une opportunité unique de former des étudiants talentueux à la biologie des bactéries à l'ENS Lyon et mener des recherches sur les phages, l'immunité bactérienne, le transfert génétique horizontal (HGT) et/ou les éléments génétiques mobiles au sein du département de bactériologie du CIRI.

Thomas Henry@cinflammasome.bsky.social · 7mo ago

📢 Recruitment of an Associate Professor (Maître de conférences) in Bacteriology at CIRI and ENS de Lyon. Research at @ciri-lyon.bsky.social @francoisrousset.bsky.social @labxc.bsky.social Anti-phage Immunity, Horizontal gene/ MGE transfer 📚 Teaching at ENS de Lyon within the Department of Biology.

Pleased to share our recent article in PNAS - a collaboration with @jessicaandreani.bsky.social & Pablo Radicella, with important roles played by many members of each team. A tripartite protein complex promotes DNA transport during natural transformation in Firmicutes www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

A tripartite protein complex promotes DNA transport during natural transformation in Firmicutes | PNAS

Natural genetic transformation is a conserved mechanism of bacterial horizontal gene transfer, which is directed entirely by the recipient cell and...

pnas.org

🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟‍♂️ Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Liverpool on Fin...

PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Li...

findaphd.com

Our new paper is out in @narjournal.bsky.social We show that natural transformation enables bacteria to shuffle integron cassettes, boosting their phenotypic diversity. academic.oup.com/nar/article/... 1/5

Bacterial natural transformation drives cassette shuffling and simplifies recombination in chromosomal integrons

Abstract. Integrons act as biobanks of gene cassettes conferring functions crucial for bacterial defense, including protection against phages and antibioti

academic.oup.com

#ResultatScientifique 🔎 Certains gènes antiviraux humains partagent des défenses communes avec les bactéries, révélant une convergence évolutive surprenante 🧬 ✍️ Alexandre Legrand et @lucievirevolte.bsky.social 📕 Nature Ecology and Evolution buff.ly/Su0EdiU

Défenses immunitaires : une invention répétée au cours de l’évolution

Dans une étude publiée dans Nature Ecology and Evolution, des scientifiques montrent que les gènes SAMD9 et SAMD9L, a

insb.cnrs.fr

#phahe #phagesky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection

From mammals to bacteria, the direct recognition and cleavage of viral nucleic acids is a potent defense strategy against viral infection, but it requires mechanisms for distinguishing self from non-s...

biorxiv.org