Bacterial reverse transcriptases defend against viruses, yet how their DNA products stop infection remains unknown. Bacteriophage inhibition of a host recombination enzyme activates the DRT3 defense s...

Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ DNA synthesis to protect bacteria against phage infection[1][1],[2][2]. We previously showed that DRT10, a tripartite system comprising an RT, a...

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 ...

Transposable elements (TEs), such as retrotransposons and endogenous retroviruses, are increasingly recognized for their important roles in genome function and impact on disease development. Residing ...

This study highlights that Schlafens are ancient, mechanistically conserved immune effectors that mediate antiviral immunity in organisms ranging from humans to bacteria.

To maintain genome stability, the specialised reverse transcriptase telomerase processively adds telomeric DNA repeats to chromosome ends. Here the authors reported structures of human telomerase at t...

A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.

In this study, the authors determine the structure of a Type I-A retron from E. coli FORC82 and reveal the functional interplay between Reverse Transcriptases (RTs) and Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) ATPases.’

CRISPR-Cas systems are diverse, with microbes harboring multiple classes and subtypes. Type I DNA-targeting and type III RNA-targeting systems often c…

Nature - Escherichia coli uses curli fibres, oligomers of the functional amyloid CsgA, as a barrier to protect against the predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Myxococcus xanthus in a...

Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome. This Review discusses transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that repress TE activity, how TEs escape this suppressio...

Nature Microbiology - ‘Phollow’ is a live imaging-based fluorescence tagging approach that can track phage replication and spread in situ with single-virion resolution.

Reverse transcriptases (RTs) have well-established roles in the replication and spread of retroviruses and retrotransposons. However, recent evidence suggests that RTs have been conscripted by cells f...