Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 02 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01376-xBacteria deploy diverse immune systems to counter phage infection, yet how these systems sense invasion remains incompletely understood. This Review categorizes phage-derived triggers and outlines emerging principles that govern immune recognition of phage infection.

Cyclic oligonucleotide–based antiphage signaling systems (CBASS) are bacterial immune pathways evolutionarily related to cGAS-STING (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase–stimulator of interferon genes) in humans. ...

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...

Identifying antiphage defense systems is challenging for bacterial species where such systems are understudied. This study describes a bioinformatic pipeline that uses a small serine recombinase as a ...

Using affinity purification-mass spectrometry, these authors identified the Healer system, a phage two-protein effector that repairs CRISPR-mediated DNA breaks via homologous recombination.

Viruses are ubiquitous mobile genetic elements that are obligate symbionts of cellular life forms and replicate exclusively within host cells. The ...

Bacterial antiviral immunity systems can be toxic to their hosts and must be tightly regulated. Immunity genes are often encoded by AT-rich mobile genetic elements subjected to silencing by nucleoid b...

Recent discoveries on bacterial immunity have revealed that several protein domains involved in anti-phage defense are conserved in eukaryotes, such as SIRim, TIR, PNP and gasdermin. Bacterial immune ...

Bacterial ribosomes can synthesize proteins encoded within their own RNA.

While the dynamic changes in genome organization in cellular organisms have been well described, the three-dimensional (3D) folding of phage genomes during the infection of their host is extremely lim...

Biochemistry; Genetics; Molecular structure

The T7 bacteriophage deactivates bacterial defence systems through T7K phosphorylation of nearly all host and phage proteins during infection.

The T7 bacteriophage deactivates bacterial defence systems through T7K phosphorylation of nearly all host and phage proteins during infection.

Bacteriophage genomes exhibit exceptional diversity in nucleotide modifications, which primarily function to counteract host defense systems. However, the diversity of phage DNA hypermodifications remains largely unexplored in post genome era. Here, we discovered a novel thymine hypermodification, α …

Many bacterial immune defenses transmit recognition of phage infection via the generation of diverse cyclic nucleotide second messengers. Phage have evolved to subvert this kind of immunity by sequest...

Bacterial diadenylate cyclase (DAC) enzymes synthesize the nucleotide signal 3′3′ cyclic di-AMP (3′3′-c-di-AMP) to control osmoregulation, cell-wall homeostasis, and DNA-damage responses. Here we disc...

The Review describes shared ancient, conserved mechanisms between human antiviral immunity and bacterial anti-phage systems, outlining universal principles of pathogen sensing, signalling and effector...

Quantitative microscopy of microorganisms increasingly produces large, multidimensional datasets, yet their analysis often depends on fragmented workflows spanning file conversion, segmentation, quali...

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.

Free automated phage genome annotation -- pharokka, phold and phynteny in one pipeline.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02428-xThis Review summarizes the current knowledge about the cell-intrinsic factors that act against pathogenic bacteria and viruses and the immune evasion strategies that pathogens have to counteract cell-autonomous immunity.

Staphylococcus haemolyticus is an emerging multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogen noted for robust biofilm formation and complex restriction-modification (RM) systems that hinder genetic manipulation...

Systematic analysis of prokaryotic STAND NTPases — relatives of animal and plant immune receptors — uncovers diverse antiviral sensors that detect most of the core structural and replicative proteins of bacteriophages.

Deoxyguanosine triphosphatases (dGTPases) are nucleotide-depleting enzymes that contribute to antiviral defense. Here, the authors reveal widespread and structurally diverse dGTPases and characterize oligomeric dGTPases in distinct assembly states, providing insights into their architecture, activation, and regulation.

All organisms defend against viral infections through active immunity mechanisms that clear the virus or population-level mechanisms that cause regulated cell death. Recent research increasingly shows...

Bacteria produce natural products to adapt to their environments, with phage interactions as major ecological and evolutionary drivers. While some nat…

Gabija acts early during phage infection, preventing phage genome circularization and replication. Phage DNA end-binding proteins prevent RecBCD loading onto linear DNA, and the absence of RecBCD lice...