Bacterial defence systems are diverse and form major barriers to horizontal gene transfer and bacteriophage (phage) infection. Though restriction-modification systems were the first such defences disc...

Cultured phage collections provide essential access to viral biology, but they capture only a small and biased fraction of natural phage diversity. Key barriers to diverse phage isolation are likely t...

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🫧🧬 From fragmented assemblies to high-quality bacteriophage genomes - Vini2/phables

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...

Bacterial defense systems act as barriers to phage infection and plasmid transformation. Here, Garb et al. designed synthetic proteins that disable bacterial defense systems, enabling phages to infect...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Abstract. The environmental and therapeutic application of genetically engineered microorganisms necessitates the development of robust, irreversible bioco

Browser-based prophage prediction using PhiSpy, Pyodide, and WebAssembly

Inactivation of chromosomal genes through plasmid-encoded IS elements is an extended mechanism of antimicrobial resistance evolution in bacteria.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is an understudied biofilm-associated infection. Here, analyses of preclinical and clinical data reveal that the Fsr quorum sensing (QS) system of Enterococcus faecalis is ...

Abstract. DNA polymerases are key players in DNA replication, repair, and maintenance. However, the overall abundance, diversity, and distribution of bacte

Biochemical and structural studies show that the bacterial dGTPase CloA is activated by virally produced dTTP and inhibited by 5′-triphosphothymidyl-3′5′-thymidine produced by its regulatory partner CloB, and thereby balances antiviral defence and immune-mediated toxicity.

This study shows how the bacterial retron Eco2 defends against viruses. Phage nucleases trigger activation of Eco2, which cuts RNAs, shuts down protein production and stops phage replication.

Staphylococcus aureus lineages vary widely in the frequency of gene exchange and the diversity of genome content. Gorzynski and Harling-Lee et al. show that both host ecology and the horizontal acquis...

Alongside secret Santas and seasonal parties, many laboratories develop traditions to show appreciation to colleagues — from sweets and mulled wine to quizzes and ice-skating trips.

Capsule diversity limits phage host range by affecting RBP interactions in capsulated bacteria. This study shows that generalist phages evolve host range through RBP mutations and recombination, while...

Complex prophage integration dynamics, including low-level induction, cross-family host range and transposase-mediated mobilization, challenge existing paradigms and deepen our understanding of phage–...

SMC complexes are ring-shaped motors that fold DNA by extruding loops, but how they navigate large DNA obstacles is unclear. Here, Liu et al., show that SMC complexes bypass obstacles by threading obs...

The antagonistic relationship between bacteria and bacteriophages (phages) drives genetic changes that result in phage resistance. Phage resistance mutations arise in natural microbial communities and during the treatment of diseases with phages (phage therapy), making it important to understand the …

From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

Bacterial immune systems have evolved in response to diverse molecular "parasites", yet their ecological roles remain poorly understood. This Essay explores how interactions between mobile genetic…

Evaluating the impact of bacteriophages on bacterial communities is required to assess the future utility of phage therapy. Methods able to study bacterial polycultures in the presence of phages are useful to mimic evolutionary pressures found in natural environments and recapitulate complex ecologi …

Conjugative plasmids are a key reservoir of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in commensal and pathogenic bacteria within the gut microbiome. Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are a promising therapeutic op...

A renewed interest in bacteriophages has emerged from the explosive discovery of the complex pan-immune bacterial defense system and a revival of t...

Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer, typically mediated by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages, and c...

Bacteria and archaea possess an enormous variety of antivirus immune systems that often share homologous proteins and domains, some of which contribute to diverse defense strategies. YprA family helic...

Anti-bacteriophage systems like restriction-modification and CRISPR-Cas have DNA substrate specificity mechanisms that enable identification of invaders. How Gabija, a highly prevalent nuclease-helica...