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...

Transposable elements mobilize within and occasionally between genomes, including from host to virus. We identified two insertions of the human BC200 noncoding RNA gene in the poxvirus molluscum conta...

Retrotransposons can infect neighboring cells using a mechanism that relies on a small fusogen-like protein rather than on the envelope protein that is typically required for infection.

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Author summary Retroviruses are important pathogens, providing constant selective pressure and sources of genetic variability throughout vertebrate evolution. Significant evolutionary leaps have been ...

Researchers are investigating whether vaccine-carrying mosquitoes and edible vaccines could help reduce the spread of rabies and Nipah virus from bats to humans.

A longstanding mystery in antibody diversification is how AID specifically targets immunoglobulin V genes. Ancient LINE-1 retrotransposons embedded within the immunoglobulin locus provide a recruitment platform for the HUSH complex and AID to drive somatic hypermutation.

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Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

SINEs are short transposable elements that make up large fractions of mammalian genomes. Known to be transcribed by RNA polymerase III, their regulation has remained largely unexplored. Schnabl-Baumga...

Tau pathology spreads cell to cell, but the mechanisms of intercellular tau transmission remain unclear. We find that the neuronal gene Arc is critica…

Gregory J. Hannon passed away in April 2026 at the age of 61. A towering figure in modern molecular biology, Greg influenced remarkably diverse areas of science. His work reshaped our understanding of...

RNA viruses co-opt host endomembranes to form replication complexes, often triggering cellular stress and immune responses. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana activates selective autophagy to res...

Of superbugs and superheroes. Timeline 'R' Us – Explore devastating infections through the ages, alongside crucial scientific discoveries to help control them.

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...

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