Abstract. Interactions between bacteria, bacteriophages, and their satellites are shaped by a myriad of defence and counter-defence mechanisms. Here, we id

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 16 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02484-3An engineered non-pathogenic bacterium produces lytic phages and is protective in mouse models of Salmonella infection.

Plasmids drive bacterial adaptation, but how their diversity arises has remained unclear. Here, they show that in Staphylococcus aureus, mobile genetic elements repeatedly fuse and delete plasmids, re...

DNA glycosylases, typically used for DNA repair, can also protect bacteria against phages that would otherwise evade host immunity by incorporating modified bases into their genomes.

Author summary Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and play central roles in shaping microbial communities across ecosystems. Despite their ecological importance, the bacterial...

Theory-guided experiments reveal single-cell heterogeneity of lysis-associated bacteriophage traits from population scale data.

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...

Laboratory Manager/Senior Scientist position in the Molecular Mucosal Immunology group at Oxford

A single bacteriophage can dominate microbial communities yet only evolves when migration changes its ecological context.

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01306-xComprehensive assessment of the host range of phages is a prerequisite for their safe and effective use in multiple applications but is rarely undertaken. This Review outlines the molecular and ecological determinants of phage host range and discusses the importance of these determinants for developing phage-based applications.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02323-5Escherichia coli ABC transporter-dependent capsule gene analysis alongside the development and application of the kTYPr in silico capsule typing tool uncovers E. coli capsule diversity across environments.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02338-yA giant mimivirus encodes its own cap-binding translation initiation complex, revealing an unexpected level of viral autonomy in rewiring host translation towards viral protein production.

It remains unclear how viral genomes remain relatively stable over time, given the rapid co-evolution seen within hosts. Here, authors explore complex marine phage-bacteria dynamics using over 1000 ph...

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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 ele...

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

Sabnis et al. explain why non-conjugative plasmids move at a low rate in nature. While increased mobility can easily evolve by incorporating phage DNA into plasmids, this is disadvantageous because it...

Human host-associated cellular products may act as induction agents for bacteriophages.

Understanding host-range determinants in temperate bacteriophages is critical for elucidating phage-host co-evolution and advancing phage therapies.We analysed 3,900 Klebsiella genomes from diverse ec...

Phages are typically viewed as very rapidly evolving biological entities. Little is known, however, about whether and how phages can establish long-term genetic stability. We addressed this eco-evolut...

Capsid-forming PICIs (cf-PICIs) produce their own capsids and exploit phage tails from unrelated species to transfer their DNA across bacterial hosts. This tail piracy enables broad dissemination and ...

By solving a previously unsolved biological question, the AI co-scientist predicted a complex mechanism of gene transfer and generated hypotheses that opened new research directions, illustrating AI's...

The polysaccharidic capsule is present in ~50% of species across the bacterial phylogeny, including all ESKAPE microorganisms, the six most significant multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens. It is also an important virulence factor and a major ...

RBPseg enables accurate modeling of tail fiber structure, providing the first comprehensive tail fiber structure atlas.

New to UdeM and flush with an $8M, federally funded research chair, microbiologist Frédérique Le Roux looks to solve the problem of infectious diseases of bacterial origin in farmed marine species.

In this work, we describe a targeted phage discovery method that allows immediate isolation of phages with specific traits. Currently, to find a phage with specific properties, huge libraries of phage...

The West African–South American lineage of Vibrio cholerae contains multiple distinct anti-phage defence systems that provide resistance to various phage families, including vibriophage ICP1, a key pr...