I’m thrilled to share an update to our work on bacterial NACHT domain containing proteins! In our last preprint, we reported that bNACHT11 is activated by multiple phage proteins. We’ve now expanded this work with structural insight and investigation of programmed cell death following activation.

Host exonuclease SbcB and a phage-encoded SSB-like protein control activation of the DRT10 reverse transcriptase defense system | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.29.721553v1?rss=1

Phage terminase recognition by the bacterial immune sensors Avs2 and Upx https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.30.721860v1

Bacterial immune proteins have repeatedly evolved to become parts of eukaryotic immunity. But how? Our new preprint uncovers a recent horizontal transfer event & shows how eukaryotes co-opted a toxic bacterial immune protein 🦠🧪🧵 1/

Our lab is proud to present our latest work harnessing Bridge Recombinase for genome-scale editing in diverse bacteria, microbiome editing, and programmable horizontal gene transfer.

🎉 New in @plosbiology.org: Temperate phages of Klebsiella pneumoniae show capsule-driven host tropism — but how? The working assumption was depolymerases: enzymes that chew through the bacterial sugar capsule. Turns out that's not the whole story. 🧵 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Wen Zhou previously led research in our group on evolution of the DNA-binding sites that control human cGAS activation. Beautiful work from his own lab at SUSTech University now extends similar insights to evolution of TREX1 regulation: www.cell.com/immunity/abs...

Congratulations to @aragucci.bsky.social and @sadieantine.bsky.social for their nuclease-NTPase work now online in final form at @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#microsky #phagesky #phage defence academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Excited to share our discovery of a new programmable RNA-guided DNA-targeting system hiding inside bacteriophages that predates CRISPR. We call it VIPR (Viral Interference Programmable Repeat), and it uses an entirely new logic to find its targets. Thread + link below.

Out Now! Nuclease–NTPase antiphage defence systems use conserved molecular features to control bacterial immunity #MicroSky

Commensal bacteria are crucial for microbiome interactions and pathogen exclusion but are often very difficult to tackle genetically. Our new paper describes an intriguing advance: @cmfi.bsky.social @dzif.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

HMMER web server: 2026 update | Nucleic Acids Research | Oxford Academic https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkag373/8662888?rss=1&login=true

📜The final version of our paper on eCIS firing is out: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats to @xujwet.bsky.social @chipericson.bsky.social #cryoEM #CIS

Phage community: our plasmids for executing phage transposon mutagenesis are now on AddGene and I would love for you to try it out! It is powerful for ID'ing all essential genes and knocking out all non-essentials in a single experiment :) New exp here: www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

A new family of rolling-circle replication endonucleases widespread in archaeal viruses and plasmids. This family is unrelated to the HUH superfamily Reps, but distantly related to the bacterial Rep_trans enzymes. @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Out now in Nature Biotechnology! Alejandro González-Delgado and a fantastic team of collaborators worked across nine labs to get retron recombineering up-and-running in fifteen bacterial species. Molecular parts on addgene: www.addgene.org/browse/artic... Happy editing!

😱 Transposable elements are driving rapid adaptation of Enterococcus faecium: www.nature.com/articles/s41... @nature.com

Our new paper is out! Using 19F NMR, we show that Hfq rewires the conformational dynamics of a model sRNA in a site-specific manner. Uridines at the rim undergo faster exchange (~100 μs) than those in the proximal pore (~300 μs). Congrats Elise! 🎉🎉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🎉Excited to share our new preprint! TIR domains from diverse animals, including human TLR4, are catalytically active and produce cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR). This enzymatic activity is widespread in animals and conserved across the tree of life. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Structure of the Chimalliviridae bacteriophage Goslar reveals host recognition and infection machinery https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.21.720040v1

We found that TIR domains in animal immune proteins, including the human TLR4, are enzymes that cleave NAD+ to produce the signaling molecule cADPR Read our new preprint by talented Bohdana Hurieva: “Conserved catalytic activity of immune TIR domains in animals” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bacterial rRNAs are highly modified, but their functions are often mysterious. Zac Park says that methylation of 16S rRNA by MraW(RsmH) enhances translation of structured mRNAs. Thus, mRNA structure and rRNA modifications likely co-evolved to fine-tune protein dosage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Structures of the QatBC complex from Angela Gao and Doug Wassarman in our group reveal an evolutionary link between QatABCD and Type IV CBASS and a role for protein deazguanylation in diverse anti-phage defense systems www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New preprint from the lab! We developed a new tool to identify prokaryotic species (down to the strain level) directly from mass spectrometry-based bottom up proteomics data. #teammassspec #microsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Those amazing #phages 🦠 figured out 5mC chemistry before we did: 📄 Out today in @MolecularCell we describe a 5mC-selective #deaminase family in environmental phage genomes with broad applications for #5base #sequencing #epigenetics #DNAmethylation #genomics #NGS 🧬🧪 www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Bacteriophages are in a constant arms race with bacteria 🦠 The Phage ORFeome pooled library from the Aaron Whiteley lab contains phage proteins that activate antiphage defense systems — a tool to dissect the mechanisms of bacterial immunity. Aaron Whiteley

Happy to share our new work on how phages escape bacterial immunity. We show that a phage homing endonuclease drives segmental amplification of anti-defense genes, pointing to a versatile and rapid mode of adaptation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #PhageSky #MicroSky

Antiviral reverse transcriptase-primase synthesizes protein-templated DNA https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.18.719102v1

Structural basis of QueC-family protein function in qatABCD anti-phage defense | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72155-8

ASO-mediated mRNA silencing enables functional analysis and selective depletion of the human microbiota Prevotellaceae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.17.719208v1

🚨New pre-print!🚨 Because influenza virions are highly variable in form no single method can show their molecular architecture in detail. Here, we integrate multiple structural and compositional approaches to identify new features of these beautiful virus particles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name OAI: say no more

We’re hiring a Junior Group Leader - AI in immunotherapy - to join our team at the earliest possible date. The position is embedded within my Chair and the Chair of Cellular Immunotherapy (Michael Hudecek), and connected to CAIDAS center for AI. med.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/03...

Excited to share our new findings in @science.org on how the DRT3 bacterial defense system uses a reverse transcriptase that builds DNA repeats without a nucleic acid template. Microbes never cease to amaze! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Finally published. Many thanks to a wonderful collaborative team and scientific platforms!!! And thanks to editors and reviewers for enthusiasm and a great review. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/8 🔥 New preprint dropped: Dynamic co-existence of bacteriophages and their hosts 🦠 in the Arabidopsis thaliana 🌱 phyllosphere Work led by the indomitable @sheilaroitman.bsky.social‬ #plantscience #microbiome #holobiont www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are looking for a postdoctoral scientist to work on challenging and exciting neuroproteomics problems. Close collaboration with @coscialab.bsky.social Apply: jobs.helmholtz-hzi.de/job/Braunsch...

#joboffer #Germany plz spread it I'm hiring a Junior leader (E13; 100% for 3-5 y) to start own independence w/ focus on #CryoEM SPA or ET Ideally 1-2y postdoc experience Plz get in touch, if you are interested in #Structural biology & #MicroBiochem @sfb1381.bsky.social @vaam-microbes.bsky.social

Dynamic co-existence of bacteriophages and their hosts in the Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.14.718382v1

Single-cell RNA-seq of the rare virosphere reveals the native hosts of giant viruses in the marine environment www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A phage-encoded sponge protein suppresses bacterial TIR-Caspase immune signaling | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71527-4

Structural atlas of the intact jumbo phage phiKZ | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71561-2

Excited to share our new paper out today in @science.org 🎉 We show that HGT via natural competence drives diversification of chromosomal integrons in V. cholerae 🤩 Below a 🧵 on key findings incl. background on natural competence in V. cholerae 1/ #microsky #phagesky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The phage nucleus synergizes with an anti-defense protein to resist bacterial immunity: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...

PostDoc position available! (links in post below) Feel free to share!

A new paper reports a cytosine hypermodification pathway in phage HY126 that confers nuclease resistance www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Repurposing anti-phage defenses to differentially arrest the viral lifecycle reveals the regulatory logic of a parasitic satellite https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.03.716414v1

cDNA-guided functional selection uncovers selective defense systems against RNA phages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.06.716636v1

Our work on 'hidden diversity' in unbinned contigs is now published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com : www.nature.com/articles/s41... See the linked threads for more details!