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

Background Ruminant gut microbial communities influence host health, productivity, and methane emissions, yet viral communities across life stages remain uncharacterized. Whilst bacteriophages shape m...

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.

Asgard archaea are the closest known relatives of eukaryotes and are central to models of eukaryogenesis involving archaeal bacterial symbiosis, yet the contribution of viruses remains unexplored. Her...

Immune systems in animals, plants, and bacteria often rely on intracellular nucleotide signaling, which viruses can block by sequestering or degrading these signals. We identified structural and bioph...

In 1977, Woese and colleagues revealed Archaea as a distinct domain of life. Building on this insight, the discovery of Asgard archaea has strengthened the view that many hallmarks of eukaryotic cell…

The rapid growth of metagenomic sequencing has generated an unprecedented wealth of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), transforming opportunities for microbial discovery and functional characterization. Yet, full utilization of these resources has been constrained by heterogeneous data generation …

The phylogeny of the Archaea continues to be revisited and revised as new groups are discovered and phylogenetic methods improve, but key questions about their early evolution remain. It has been sugg...

Phylogenetic and biochemical analyses show a diversity of components of the DNA replication machinery in different Asgard archaea that contributed to the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery.

An exploration of the viromes of haloarchaea and their ultra-small DPANN symbionts reveals plasmid-derived satellites of viruses from both archaeal groups, highlighting the complexity of nested symbio...

Ethiopian salt lakes feature unique microbial communities with nesting layers of symbioses, where haloarchaea and their ultra-small archaeal symbionts are prey to viruses, which are in turn hijacked b...

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...

An exploration of the viromes of haloarchaea and their ultra-small DPANN symbionts reveals plasmid-derived satellites of viruses from both archaeal groups, highlighting the complexity of nested symbio...

VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.

It is increasingly recognized that hyperparasitism, whereby a parasite exploits a host which itself is a parasite, is a common phenomenon across ecosystems and domains of life. Here, to explore hyperp...