Cool new preprint of a new defence family! Antimicrobial-resistance plasmids encode Evangelion, a widespread DUF4062 anti-phage defence family www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Antimicrobial-resistance plasmids encode Evangelion, a widespread DUF4062 anti-phage defence family

Many bacterial anti-phage defence systems are encoded by mobile genetic elements, yet much of this antiviral repertoire remains undiscovered. Antimicrobial-resistance plasmids are well known for disse...

biorxiv.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

Our study on Bacteroides iron piracy is now out in @pnas.org. We show how surface-exposed lipoproteins bind xenosiderophores with different iron-chelating chemistries and propose a mechanism for xenosiderophore import across the outer membrane. Lots of structures (mostly X-ray this time)!

Structural basis of iron piracy by human gut Bacteroides | PNAS

Iron is an essential element that can be growth-limiting in microbial communities, particularly those present within host organisms. To acquire iro...

doi.org

Rejection is part of science. So is resilience. 🔬 Tim Blower and @stewartlab.bsky.social share how setbacks helped shape their careers. We don't talk about this enough. 🔁Please repost and share your own stories of defeat or bouceback. Break the stigma! lister-institute.org.uk/news/resilie...

Come and study for a PhD with us on antibiotic-producing Streptomyces, trying to understand the roles of primary metabolic enzymes with additional cellular roles - Details below - please repost www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

Excited to share our new findings in @science.org on how the DRT3 bacterial defense system uses a reverse transcriptase that builds DNA repeats without a nucleic acid template. Microbes never cease to amaze! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This paper started as an idea @albertomarina.bsky.social had many years ago… which of course means he was right all along 😄. Some of us just needed a few years (and a lot of experiments) to catch up. Grateful (and slightly humbled) to be part of this. Thanks Alberto! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Phages communicate across species to shape microbial ecosystems

Gallego-del-Sol et al. show that arbitrium-coding phages can sense non-cognate peptide signals from other phages to regulate lysis-lysogeny decisions. This crosstalk affects lysis-lysogeny outcomes of...

cell.com

Interested in phages, AMR, and bacterial stress responses? MSc project on Clp proteases and prophage induction in S. aureus 📍 St Andrews Apply by 28 April medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/msc-res...

We are really interested in #phages that use the type IV pilus as receptors, and the ways in which bacteria - like #Pseudomonas - try to escape those phages without crippling themselves permanently in the process. healthsci.mcmaster.ca/hiding-in-pl... @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications. Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101

Open Positions

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tiny.cc

Happy to share the final version of my postdoc work on bacterial CBASS immunity with @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social published in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Bacterial 2′,3′-cGAMP activates a SAVED effector to form membrane-disrupting filaments and restrict phage replication

Tak et al. discover that bacteria use 2′,3′-cGAMP, the same signaling molecule employed by mammalian cGAS-STING, for phage defense. In response to phage, 2′,3′-cGAMP activates filament formation of Ca...

cell.com

Out now–our work on bacterial cGAS-like enzymes making 2′,3′-cGAMP! Read Uday's thread for updates since the preprint including determining our lab's first protein structure and developing a new system to study bacterial STING homologs in phage defense👇

Uday Tak@snowkaryote.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Happy to share the final version of my postdoc work on bacterial CBASS immunity with @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social published in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

We've been we've been working on this for quite a while now (hopefully published soon). Grateful to @proftracypalmer.bsky.social for concinving me & @lislowe.bsky.social that mycobacteria produce inter-bacterial toxins. Team science, led by @sambenedict5.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New paper showing how tailed #phages recognize diverse #Pseudomonas #T4P! Outstanding work by PhD candidate Ikram Qaderi, building on work started a decade ago during my sabbatical in the McArthur lab and in collaboration with the Guarné lab, now at #McGill. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

🚨PhD studentship alert! Join @gailmcconnell.bsky.social, @liam-rooney.bsky.social and I for an exciting imaging project characterising inter-species interactions in the oral microbiome. Details here: www.centreforbiophotonics.com/oralmicrobio... Application deadline 10th April 2026!

New paper alert! Outstanding work by PhD candidate Nathan Roberge, great collab with the Ellison and Maxwell labs. #Pseudomonas #phage DMS3 encodes Aqs1, an inhibitor of #T4P assembly ATPase PilB, but how it binds and leads to loss of function was unknown. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

Out Now! Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence #MicroSky

Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 09 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02277-8This study highlights that Schlafens are ancient, mechanistically conserved immune effectors that mediate antiviral immunity in organisms ranging from humans to bacteria.

go.nature.com

Now online! The unique architecture of umbrella toxins permits a two-tiered molecular bet-hedging strategy for interbacterial antagonism

The unique architecture of umbrella toxins permits a two-tiered molecular bet-hedging strategy for interbacterial antagonism

Umbrella toxin particles produced by Actinobacteria contain five spokes tipped with variable lectin domains. Here, Zhao et al. show that these lectins mediate species-specific binding to a previously unrecognized cell surface carbohydrate polymer and propose that the modular nature of umbrella particles enables bet hedging against unpredictable competitor encounters.

dlvr.it

➡️ 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? 🤔 🧵👇

Another brilliant opportunity to work the fantastic Andreas in St Andrews!

Andreas Haag@andreashaag.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🚨 We’re hiring – MRC-funded Postdoc (3 yrs) Research Fellow to investigate how mobile genetic elements interact in Staphylococcus aureus and shape gene transfer and pathogenicity. University of St Andrews Closes 31 March 2026 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQR250/r... Enquiries: afh22@st-andrews.ac.uk

🚨 We’re hiring – MRC-funded Postdoc (3 yrs) Research Fellow to investigate how mobile genetic elements interact in Staphylococcus aureus and shape gene transfer and pathogenicity. University of St Andrews Closes 31 March 2026 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQR250/r... Enquiries: afh22@st-andrews.ac.uk

Research Fellow at University of St Andrews

Searching for an academic job? Explore this Research Fellow opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

jobs.ac.uk

📢 Funded PhD in molecular microbiology & phage biology How do bacterial stress responses control prophage activation and horizontal gene transfer? Join us at St Andrews to dissect Clp protease–mediated regulation in Staphylococcus aureus. Apply: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Protease-Controlled Prophage Activation in Staphylococcus aureus: New Mechanisms Driving Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Protease-Controlled Prophage Activation in Staphylococcus aureus: New Mechanisms Driving Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

New paper from us. If you're interested in genetic manipulation of Clostridia, we have a few new tools for you! 36 new plasmids - all available from @addgene.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #microsky

A set of genetic tools for use in Clostridioides difficile and related species

The Clostridia are a phylogenetically diverse group of anaerobic, spore-forming bacteria that include species of medical, veterinary and industrial importance. The last two decades have seen major adv...

microbiologyresearch.org

🚨 Hiring Alert! 🚨My lab at Institut Pasteur is recruiting several Postdocs! We have exciting open projects in: 🦠 Synthetic Biology and🛡️ Bacterial Immunity. Come do great science with us in the middle of Paris! 🇫🇷🥐 research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd...

Postdoctoral position - Synthetic Biology / Bacterial Immunity - Research

The Bikard lab at Institut Pasteur in Paris is seeking to hire postdoctoral researchers. We are investigating bacteria / bacteriophages interactions, and the genetic innovation that happens at this in...

research.pasteur.fr

It was great to play a part in this study, using all of the work on alphaproteobacterial GTAs to help inform and identify key tell-tale patterns of GTAs in the human gut microbiome. I'm sure there will be many great followup studies on these fascinating particles. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

E. coli is the leading bacterium causing death from AMR infections worldwide. If you'd like to explore approaches to exploit the DNA damage response as alternative antimicrobial, please apply to the following PhD studentship available in my lab starting October 2026: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Exploiting the bacterial DNA damage response as an alternative antimicrobial at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Exploiting the bacterial DNA damage response as an alternative antimicrobial at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

PhD position available in our team to study how UPEC exploits metals to successfully colonise the host gut. Cool collaboration with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @banzhaflab.bsky.social Please share and get in touch for more details

Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

#microsky #phagesky #phage defence www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacteriophages mobilize bacterial defense systems via lateral transduction

Bacteriophages and PICIs spread bacterial defenses via lateral transduction, shaping microbial immunity and pathogen evolution.

science.org

If you or someone you know is looking for a post-doctoral position working on mycobacterial envelope biology, please get in touch. I am recruiting here at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.

Very happy to have been part of this work from the Mariano lab, identifying 11 hotspots enriched in phage defence systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It was great to get the chance to collaborate with @giusym1990.bsky.social again! academic.oup.com/nargab/artic...