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Wearn Xin (Edeline) @wearnxin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

My second postdoc paper with @jbdsf.bsky.social is now out in Cell! We developed a phage TnSeq method, applied it to ΦKZ, and created a CRISPR-independent phage TnSeq method. Many thanks to Joe, my co-first Alex, and to Claire, Yuping and Deepto for contributing to this project! (Links in comments)

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Reposted by Wearn Xin (Edeline)

Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Out @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social, natural products meet bacterial immunity! We used genomics to identify lanthivirins: a family of >2,000 lanthipeptide BGCs that protect Actinobacteria against phages. Led by @hshomar.bsky.social & @mariegllm.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

A family of lanthipeptides with anti-phage function

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

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Wearn Xin (Edeline) @wearnxin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

My first postdoc paper with @jbdsf.bsky.social is now out! We found a nuclease that inhibits phages with wildly different base modifications, and attributed this ability to a sensor domain conserved across multiple domains of life. Huge thanks to the Weigele and Koonin labs for their help!

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Reposted by Wearn Xin (Edeline)

Erin Huiting @erinhuiting.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

From my time with @jbdsf.bsky.social: Our latest CBASS story is now published! ‘CBASS’ is the ancestral origin of anti-viral cGAS immunity and encoded in diverse bacteria. For the first time, we show that CBASS enables cell survival (vs cell death) to protect bacteria from phage infection. More ⬇️

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Wearn Xin (Edeline) @wearnxin.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Our plasmids for phage Tn mutagenesis are now on AddGene! Featuring Tn data we've generated that shows that in a singular experiment, phage non-essential genes important for replicating in clinical/environmental isolates will be revealed :)

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Wearn Xin (Edeline) @wearnxin.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Big thank you to @jbdsf.bsky.social and all our collaborators for this work! It's amazing how one nuclease can detect so many modifications!

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Wearn Xin (Edeline) @wearnxin.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

We've identified a group of nucleases that can target multiple phages with hypermodified DNA, using a sensor domain present across many domains of life. We’ve even used this as a tool to find phages with hypermodified DNA! Really thankful to all the co-authors who have been such great help!

biorxiv.org

END nucleases: Antiphage defense systems targeting multiple hypermodified phage genomes

Prokaryotes carry clusters of phage defense systems in defense islands that have been extensively exploited bioinformatically and experimentally for discovery of immune functions. However, little effo...

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