We investigated and identified several skin-derived bacteria that antagonize common pathogenic species: www.nature.com/articles/s41... A cool highlight was that bacteria from feet, where fungi are particularly diverse, tended to be more broadly antifungal than those from other body sites! #microevo

Large-scale investigation for antimicrobial activity reveals newly-identified defensive species across the healthy skin microbiome - Nature Communications

Authors present the EPithelial Isolate Collection (EPIC), a large skin microbiome culture collection, uncovering new species, widespread antifungal activity, and hidden biosynthetic diversity, reveali...

nature.com

Virus reactivation in acute and long COVID-19 1,154 hospitalised COVID patients, followed up to 1 year. Assessing reactivation of latent viruses (EBV, CMV, HSV, Anelloviridae) using RNA sequencing plus immune, protein and metabolite profiling. www.nature.com/artic... 1/8

Virus reactivation in acute and long COVID-19

Nature - Chronic reactivation of distinct herpesviruses and anelloviruses occur during acute and long COVID-19, and track with disease severity, inflammation and outcomes, revealing immune...

nature.com

COVID awakens persistent viruses especially in the herpes and anello virus families. Cool example of RNA virus/DNA virus crosstalk. Maybe this adds to the inflammatory burden and misery. Congrats to UT Austin researcher Ester Melamed and co authors on this work. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Virus reactivation in acute and long COVID-19 - Nature

Chronic reactivation of distinct herpesviruses and anelloviruses occur during acute and long COVID-19, and track with disease severity, inflammation and outcomes, revealing immune signatures with prog...

nature.com

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) often bind numerous transcripts - but do they act through a network effect? Our new paper in @plosbiology.org shows that the highly conserved LIN28 RBP controls developmental timing in C. elegans larvae through only two targets. doi.org/10.1371/jour... 1/n

How does an adenovirus transform from an immature particle into an infectious virus? See our new preprint for a closer look at how protease activity orchestrates structural changes that enable adenovirus maturation and infectivity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 17h ago

Protease-driven remodeling of stabilization networks during adenovirus assembly https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.04.740336v1

Riboseek has now a WIP Marv Logo!

Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦@martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 4d ago

Riboseek is a fast RNA/DNA search. More sensitive than nhmmer at 250x speed. Structure-aware realignment produces MSAs approaching rMSA quality. Plus 1.7M precomputed RNA MSAs, and an API to search your own 📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 💾 github.com/steineggerla... 🌐 search.foldseek.com/riboseek

Immunoglobulin heavy chain locus duplication in bats www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Immunoglobulin heavy chain locus duplication in bats

Some bats, unlike other mammals, have two functional antibody heavy chain loci that may affect how they respond to pathogens.

science.org

Great to see this finally published! We describe channels at the poxvirus core wall involved in nucleic acid release. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In situ structure of the poxvirus portal complex - Nature

Cryo-electron tomography uncovers the structure of a conserved hexameric ‘portal complex’ that spans the core wall in vaccinia virus, and shows how it is associated with viral functions such as a...

nature.com

We are excited to share two preprints reporting a mosquito-specific receptor for chikungunya virus and other alphaviruses! 🤩 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvardvirology.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social

🚨 New today in Nature 🦟 After decades of debate, we show that climate change has probably made malaria worse in sub-Saharan Africa, causing about 1 extra case per 1,000 children. But: malaria eradication efforts have pulled the other direction 200 times harder. 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We serially passaged influenza virus 72 times and used deep sequencing to track how deletion-containing viral genomes (DelVGs) evolved over time. Hundreds of DelVGs emerged across all gene segments but as passages went on, their diversity narrowed (Fig 1).

@alnajifg.bsky.social's long-delayed masterpiece (spanning his time in my and Marco Vignuzzi's labs) on influenza virus WT/DelVG co-evolutionary dynamics is finally out!! Lots of exciting data about how DelVGs evolve and compete within complex populations. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fadi Alnaji@alnajifg.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Finally, it's up on bioRxiv! It's been a rewarding journey shaping this story. My deepest gratitude to @vignuzzilab.bsky.social and @christopherbrooke.bsky.social for their incredible support, and to the @mcbillinois.bsky.social & @astar-idlabs.bsky.social for enabling this research

Andy Nishimoto from the Rosch lab at St. Jude led this massive project to evolve Spn in mice across 10 antibiotics and 3 immune states. Shockingly, classic resistance almost never evolved because it was too costly for fitness in the face of host immunity. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

**Please repost** If you're enjoying Paper Skygest -- our personalized feed of academic content on Bluesky -- we'd appreciate you reposting this! We’ve found that the most effective way for us to reach new users and communities is through users sharing it with their network

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 3w ago

“What will the Lovell Telescope discover/enable 20 yrs from now? I can’t tell you, and that’s the point. It will either be something extraordinary that none of us can yet predict, or we will defund it and leave Cheshire with a rusting monument to unfulfilled potential and discoveries never made.” 🔭🧪

Ad forthcoming, but I am hiring for a postdoc or staff scientist to advance related investigations of the virus-host conflict. This position is ~80-100% computational, but with opportunities for experimental work if desired. If interested, shoot me an email with your CV! Reposts appreciated! 15/15

A fundamental question in disease ecology remains unresolved: How can an acute, immunizing virus persist in nature? Theory says viruses like measles need huge pools of susceptible hosts. Our new preprint offers an answer. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Persistent, Multi-Species Outbreaks and Long-Range Transmissions of a Measles-Like Virus

Canine distemper\---|a measles-like disease with high mortality and presently without a cure\---|poses a major threat to wild and domestic carnivores globally. Domestic dogs are generally considered t...

biorxiv.org

🚨New Pre-Print!🚨 Want to search for variation in influenza A virus sequences, but find the amount of data overwhelming? Wondering if new avian flu strains have signs of mammalian adaptation? The #Flu-MutationExplorer, a new online tool, can help (1/n) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Led by Anna Jaeger and Elena Cruz-Adames, we have a new preprint out on within-sample diversity and local spread of H5N1 in Pennsylvania! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We developed a sequencing protocol and bioinformatic pipeline to sequence residual RNA from H5+ wild and domestic birds in PA.

Within- and between-host dynamics of highly pathogenic avian influenza in domestic birds from Pennsylvania farms and live bird markets

Since late 2021, highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAI) of the H5 subtype clade 2.3.4.4b have spread across the Americas, devastating wildlife, agricultural animals, and resulting in dozens ...

biorxiv.org

In new study led by @bdadonaite.bsky.social, we show many influenza HAs (H5, H7, H9, H1, H2, H3) can use avian or human MHC-II to enter cells. We then use novel combo of deep mutational scanning & cryoEM to define how H5 HA binds to avian MHC-II. Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...

1/ The world's songbirds sing in just 8 basic sounds. And where a bird lives decides which ones it uses. My first PhD paper is out now in @science.org (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee6239) Here is what we found:

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

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2w ago

Conserved folds enable immune antagonism across the tree of life https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.739742v1

Does the (live) shingles vaccine protect against dementia? Fergus Hamilton and colleagues provide important evidence in a new preprint using hospital data from the whole of England in a regression discontinuity design from which we *don't* show evidence of a meaningful protective effect /cont

Out Now! Mapping in-cell protein contact sites reveals hijacking of paraspeckles during influenza A virus infection #MicroSky

Mapping in-cell protein contact sites reveals hijacking of paraspeckles during influenza A virus infection

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 20 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02416-1In-cell cross-linking mass spectrometry maps protein contacts in influenza-infected human cells, revealing how the virus hijacks host membrane-trafficking factors and dismantles nuclear paraspeckles to enhance replication.

go.nature.com

Macrophages are known as the immune system’s “scavenger cells”. Yet some pathogens use them as hiding places. Researchers from HIRI & @unimarburg.bsky.social have discovered an lncRNA called SAILR that helps macrophages balance their response to infection: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/newsroom/... (1/3)

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

Here's the journal link www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signalling - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Experiments in Nematostella vectensis identify CARDIB as an anthozoan-specific antiviral mediator with sequence and structural homology to the mammalian immune-activating MAVS protein but with opposin...

nature.com

Viral syncytia evolve to resist interferon www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com @jonyewdell.bsky.social @niaidnews.bsky.social

New viruses capable of infecting humans continue to be discovered every year, according to a global study involving Roslin researchers. The most comprehensive catalogue of human-infective viruses to date supports disease surveillance, as well as outbreak prediction and preparedness.

New human-infecting viruses discovered every year | The Roslin Institute | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

The potential of another pandemic is highlighted by research that shows new viruses are being continually discovered.

edin.ac

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ALOX15 orchestrates mitochondrial antiviral immunity and serves as a host target for anti-influenza therapy - Nature Immunology

ALOX15 translocates to mitochondria under RNA virus stress, and orchestrates MAVS innate immunity in a nonenzymatic manner, identifying ALOX15 as a host-directed target for anti-influenza therapy.

nature.com