🚨 New preprint 🚨 We’ve discovered millions of viruses from sequencing data but we don’t always know who they infect. Our new tool, VHAMSTeR generates broad virus host predictions across the tree of life (prokaryote, plant, animal, fungi and protist hosts) A thread 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Viral host assignment across the tree of life with VHAMSTeR

Viruses infect organisms across the tree of life, but many are not associated with a specific host. Here we present VHAMSTeR (Virus Host Assignment Model using Sequence Transformers and Reading-frames...

biorxiv.org

Thrilled to share the latest preprint from me & @brodskyigorlab.bsky.social led by our amazing joint postdoc Matt Sherman! We find that in addition to lipid A, there is an unexpected role for LPS polysaccharide in caspase-11 inflammasome formation & activation! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n

The polysaccharide portion of LPS is critical for caspase-11 inflammasome activation

Caspase-11 (Casp11) is a murine zymogen that becomes active upon sensing cytosolic lipopolysaccharide (LPS), enabling it to form the non-canonical inflammasome and execute an inflammatory cell death k...

biorxiv.org

New preprint from my Post-Doc in the Swarts lab How are the guide RNAs generated that direct prokaryotic Argonautes to invading DNA? This has been an open question for >10 years. Our new study reveals that the host housekeeping enzyme RNase E is responsible! A 🧵: 1/14

And yet again, the Koonin-Krupovic team awe and amaze us with a review of virus origins…! Which, I will add, is nicely timed for inclusion in an update of a certain Book. @mkrupovic.bsky.social

Evgenii Protasov@evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · last wk.

Functions and evolution of viral proteins #virology #viruses #proteins #MicroSky @asm.org journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Optimized protocol for live imaging of Bacillus subtilis phage infection at a single-cell resolution @hanarb.bsky.social et al from @annadragos.bsky.social www.cell.com/star-protoco...

Optimized protocol for live imaging of Bacillus subtilis phage infection at a single-cell resolution

Time-lapse microscopy of growing bacteria allows quantitative observation of cellular features and dynamic processes. Here, we present a protocol for live imaging of Bacillus subtilis phage infection at single-cell resolution. We describe steps for preparing agarose-based solid media for microscopy, staining phage particles with a DNA-binding dye, and making agarose pads for single-cell growth analysis. This protocol is optimized for studying growth and infection of the oxygen-dependent bacterium Bacillus subtilis using the lytic phage Nf.

cell.com

LoL-align is out in @natmethods.nature.com! It aligns protein structures without superposition. More sensitive than TM-align and DALI, producing better alignments 5–20× faster. Now available in Foldseek! 📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 💾 github.com/steineggerlab/foldseek 🌐 search.foldseek.com

the department of Biological Chemistry at Michigan is hiring! apply.interfolio.com/195636

1/5 Telomerase has long been linked to chromosome maintenance in eukaryotes. Now, we show that telomerase-like activity is also present in bacteria, shedding new light on its ancient origins. Excited to share that our work on DRT10 is now out in @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Kudos to the Sternberg lab on these exciting discoveries!

Sternberg Lab@sternberglab.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/5 Telomerase has long been linked to chromosome maintenance in eukaryotes. Now, we show that telomerase-like activity is also present in bacteria, shedding new light on its ancient origins. Excited to share that our work on DRT10 is now out in @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Heads up! The Symposium on the Immune System of Bacteria 2027 is now open for registrations! 20-22nd July 2027, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK Places are limited, so register soon. Visit the website to see our fantastic line-up of speakers: sisb2027.info #phage

SISB 2027

Visit the post for more.

sisb2027.info

Legionella effector protein installs oxo8G modification in host mRNA to promote intracellular replication. #RNASky #MicroSky www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Bacterial effector modifies host messenger RNA to promote virulence

McCaffrey et al. describe the isolation of a secreted bacterial enzyme from Legionella pneumophila that mediates 8-oxo-guanine (oxo8G) modifications of host mRNAs to inhibit their expression. This stu...

cell.com

It's happening! NYUGSM Microbiology is hiring and I'd love to see more bacteriology here! Please repost and spread the word!

Heran Darwin, PhD@heran.bsky.social · 2w ago

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

Excited to share our work on bacterial immune signaling! Our preprint reveals how RNA-guided Cas13 cleaves host tRNAs to generate small-molecule messengers that activate 2TMβ, linking RNA recognition to membrane damage and phage defense. 1/11

A new plant-bacteria immunological connection in the first preprint of our group at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social @plantevolution.bsky.social! Straight from the top of Mt. Olympus ⛰️🦅 Led by Eirik @eiriklag.bsky.social, in collaboration with @geminiteamlab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Heads-up! I’ll be starting my research group at MedUni Vienna in January 2027, with postdoc and PhD positions available soon. Looking for people interested in bacteria–phage interactions, bacterial defense systems, and phage anti-defense strategies. Please send your CV: anna.lopatina@univie.ac.at

Now that we have moved coasts, I am thrilled to share that the ChromEvo (Raman) lab is officially open at UMass Boston 🎉 We ask how CHROMatin EVOlution leads to functional innovation and we are hiring at multiple levels. Read on and share with folks who maybe interested chromevoramanlab.github.io

GalaxyMemMD: an end-to-end Galaxy toolset for reproducible membrane embedding, molecular dynamics simulation, and analysis of membrane proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755125v1

@jihoon-han.bsky.social's new detectron technology -- out now in Nature Biotechnology. Toehold RNA sensing controls a retron-derived DNA barcode generator. Check it out!

Jihoon Han@jihoon-han.bsky.social · 3w ago

Detectrons are now published in Nature Biotechnology! Programmable RNA sensing meets DNA barcode production in living bacteria. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/2 Here we report the activity of Arc, a 50-aa DNA-binding protein encoded within IS605-family transposons. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Arc represses gene expression in IS605-family transposons

Bacterial insertion sequences (IS) are compact transposable elements that encode proteins required for their mobility and maintenance, yet many also encode accessory proteins with poorly understood fu...

biorxiv.org

JOB ALERT: University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology is recruiting a virologist (open rank). Please share and forward to anyone who may be interested! More information and link to application: apply.interfolio.com/191946

And… I am SO excited to share the first research preprint from my group! In this paper we determined several cryoEM structures to visualize the entire cell-to-cell bridging complex formed by TAM receptor and ligand, bringing into 3D a common graphical depiction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How bacterial immune systems sense phage infection #bacteriophage #phage #microSky #scienceSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How bacterial immune systems sense phage infection - Nature Reviews Microbiology

Bacteria deploy diverse immune systems to counter phage infection, yet how these systems sense invasion remains incompletely understood. This Review categorizes phage-derived triggers and outlines eme...

nature.com

Our story with @hobbslabutah.bsky.social discovering CBASS sensing of phage proteases out now in @science.org New data include CBASS recognition of diverse proteases beyond T4, and verifying CD-NTase activation loop cleavage as the trigger for defense in vivo www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Phage proteases activate CBASS antiphage immunity

Cyclic oligonucleotide–based antiphage signaling systems (CBASS) are bacterial immune pathways evolutionarily related to cGAS-STING (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase–stimulator of interferon genes) in humans. ...

science.org

Kranzusch Lab@kranzuschlab.bsky.social · 8mo ago

After >10 years of our lab studying bacterial cGAS-like enzymes, @hobbslabutah.bsky.social finally reconstitutes viral sensing in vitro and discovers how these ancient receptors sense phage protease enzymes to detect virion assembly and activate antiviral immunity www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Congratulations to Zackular Lab postdoc @rcglover.bsky.social on being selected as an Emerging Voice in Microbiology by Infection and Immunity! Rochelle is super talented scientist and a rising star in our field. Check out her mini-review in the upcoming collection! journals.asm.org/journal/iai/...

Emerging Voices in Microbiology

Annual initiative highlighting standout early-career Infection and Immunity researchers through invited, peer-reviewed minireviews in Emerging Voices.

journals.asm.org

@baym.lol @sianowen.bsky.social I hope you and your colleagues' ears were burning this morning. Lab meeting with @drhhnz.bsky.social discussed this awesomely titled paper from your group, and how the ideas might be used locally: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Very excited to share the first preprint from my PhD with the community! This is also the first paper from the Plant Immunogenomics group with @galofir.bsky.social, so stay tuned for more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n 🧵

NO VEIN is an ancestral immunity protein involved in plant-virus interaction

The conservation of immune systems from prokaryotes to eukaryotes can guide discovery of immunity genes across the tree of life. Most studies to date have focused on metazoan systems, while the extent...

biorxiv.org

🦋 Butterfly wing patterns create motion illusions that protect them from predators! Our new study (8 years in the making) is out in Nature today doi.org/10.1038/s415... @grahancock.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @lauraakelley.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

1/13 — New pre-print from the Sternberg Lab in collaboration with Leifu Chang's Lab! TnpB nucleases have repeatedly given rise to TldRs, nuclease-dead RNA-guided transcription factors. Here we define the biological role of one TldR clade in its native host. Story: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Pls share: Two tenure-track positions in Molecular Microbiology at Virginia Tech. I had a great visit there a couple of years ago! jobs.apply.vt.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant/Associate Professor - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

Job Description The Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech seeks applicants for two (2) tenure-track research and teaching positions at the Assistant/Associate ...

jobs.apply.vt.edu

Identification of a novel RNA-modifying enzyme! RlmS! #SubtiWiki www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Activity-based profiling of bacterial RNA-modifying enzymes reveals species-specific 5-methyluridine modification in Bacillus subtilis 23S rRNA | PNAS

RNA modifications play an important role in biological processes. Mapping the diversity of RNA chemistry and studying the biological function of in...

pnas.org