🎓🏆 Two Institut Pasteur PhD students honored at the 2025 Chancellerie des Universités de Paris Prizes! 👏 @nellsaunders.bsky.social – coronavirus research 👏 Antonin Verdier – optogenetic implant for hearing restoration Excellence in doctoral research 🌟 www.sorbonne.fr/la-chancelle...

Use antisense oligomers to silence phage genes and discover new biology. @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de print: www.nature.com/articles/s41... highlight: www.nature.com/articles/s41... briefing: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🦠💊 L’Institut @pasteur.fr vient de publier un communiqué de presse sur nos récents travaux, qui décrivent une nouvelle piste pour augmenter l’efficacité des antibiotiques. #Pasteurdon #Recherche #Science #AMR Merci à toutes celles et ceux qui ont contribué. 📘 English version coming soon!

Many antiphage systems use NAD+, in many ways. @hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all! Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity! www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

On Thursday, October 9th, I successfully defended my PhD in Genetics and Genomics, on the diversity, function and evolution of integron cassettes, at @pasteur.fr. Thanks to my PhD supervisor, @epcrocha.bsky.social and to my jury, headed by Ingrid Lafontaine!

Happy to announce that our comparative metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiota of five honeybee species - spearheaded by @aiswarya.bsky.social - is finally published in a peer-reviewed journal! rdcu.be/eKMCs @fbm-unil.bsky.social @dmf-unil.bsky.social 🧵👇

New preprint! Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠 Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare! An epic effort by Rosanna Wright www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols. Thread 1/n

[Podcast] Les chantiers de la recherche | "Génétique : l'ADN des bactéries comme source de savoirs" avec @eloilittner.bsky.social

Et bien c'est fait ! Première à l'antenne d'une radio nationale, dans la matinale de France Culture ce matin. Merci à Guillaume Erner de m'avoir accueilli, et à Juliette Devaux pour la préparation de l'émission. www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

J'aurai la chance de présenter mes travaux de thèse sur France Culture, dans l'émission "Les Chantiers de la Recherche" ce lundi 15 à 6h45, avec Guillaume Erner. Pour les lève-tard, l'émission sera disponible en podcast. Stay tuned ! www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

Check out @julielebris.bsky.social’s thread on our latest manuscript describing phenotypic heterogeneity in capsule production in Klebsiella & Acinetobacter @klebclub.bsky.social This work started when I was still in @pasteur.fr & got finished in @cbitoulouse.bsky.social #microsky #phagesky

A new theme issue of #PhilTransB examines the evolutionary history of bacterial immune systems, their modes of action, and the patterns how different bacterial immune systems are distributed across different ecosystems. Read: buff.ly/Z4qdxY1

At last ! A tool specifically for phage-plasmid hunters. Check tyPPing by @karinailchenko.bsky.social and @eugenpfeifer.bsky.social

We are very proud of our researchers Beatrice Baragli, Jerome Beetz, Jacqueline Degen, Mona Garvert, Jake Greenfield, and Jens Hör: They have been awarded prestigious ERC Starting Grants worth €1.5 million. Congratulations! @erc.europa.eu #ERCStG ➡️ www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-...

Congratulations to our #HIRI group leader and JMU junior professor @jenshoer.bsky.social on receiving a 1.5 million euro #ERCStG from @erc.europa.eu! In his RIBO-PHAGE project, he will study phages—viruses that infect bacteria—with RNA genomes. 🥳👏 @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de

I'm really happy to have been granted an @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant! We'll study the molecular principles of RNA phages—from infection to replication to bacterial immunity. Interested in joining? Feel free to reach out! Formal job ads to follow. More info here: tinyurl.com/RIBO-PHAGE #ERCStG

Preprint: We discovered phage proteins that sequester diverse immune signaling molecules, including cUMP, cCMP, and N7-cADPR The first viral sponges to inhibit Pycsar and type IV Thoeris Congrats to talented leading author Romi Hadary! Read her thread to learn more about our findings

Mind-blowing tour-de-force for synthetic biology and immunity 🤯 Congrats @garbjeremy.bsky.social and @soreklab.bsky.social 🤩

Im Kampf gegen multiresistente Keime können #Bakteriophagen eine weitere Waffe sein. Für sein Projekt "RIBO-PHAGE" erhält @jenshoer.bsky.social, Nachwuchsgruppenleiter @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social, nun einen #ERCStG des @erc.europa.eu!🎉 Herzlichen Glückwunsch! www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

Super excited to receive the ERC starting grant to explore what phage-bacteria interactions can teach us on host-pathogen conflicts 🤩 I'm immensely grateful to my wonderful team and to present and past mentors 🙏

👏 Huge congrats to @audeber.bsky.social, group leader and head of our Molecular Diversity of Microbes lab, on being named a 2025 Vallee Scholar! Her pioneering work on ancestral immunity opens new perspectives for biomedical innovation. 🔬🌍 @valleefoundation.bsky.social #Science #Immunity

Very happy to see this one out: doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf192 Here, we assessed the contribution of natural transformation to the acquisition of novel genes. See preprint thread. @molbioevol.bsky.social #microsky #evobio

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Excited 🥳 to share our latest work on gut phages! Big thanks to @epcrocha.bsky.social, Erick D, Camille d'H, @fplazaonate.bsky.social, Quentin LB, and all others involved for support and contributions! 🙌 Out in Cell Reports @cp-cellreports.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... Here's what we found 🤓

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity. We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity. Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Read preprints. Cite preprints. Email people and tell them you loved their preprint. Email people you hated their preprint. Embrace preprints, preprints are good.

The study involves our‪ microbiologist @fredoleroux.bsky.social, whom we profiled in late 2023 as a new hire and Canada Excellence in Research Chair: nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2...

🧬 Bacteria fight both antibiotics and viruses with the same genetic tool: integrons! New study (Institut Pasteur, CNRS, Université Paris Cité & Montréal): ~10% of gene cassettes may defend against phages. 🛠️ One step closer to smarter therapies. 🔗 www.pasteur.fr/en/research-...

🧫🦠🔬🧬 @science.org Sedentary chromosomal integrons as biobanks of bacterial antiphage defense systems | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @baptistedarracq.bsky.social @eloilittner.bsky.social @celineloot.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social et al. #microbiology #phage #immunity #phagesky #MicroSky

At least 10% of the V. cholerae integron cassettes have novel antiphage activities (see below). Considering that there are 25,000 distinct cassettes of unknown function, integrons constitute an extraordinary and almost inexhaustible reservoir of antiphage functions!

WARNING: We have a postdoc position to work on the follow-up of this work. If you're interested, the deadline is tomorrow !!! (but I'll wait a few more days for interested candidates). research.pasteur.fr/fr/job/postd...

Second, integron cassettes have to be small and their anti-phage systems are among the smallest known (even for the already known types). Interesting source of biotech tools? Surely interesting to understand the fundamentals of molecular evolution under selection for streamlining.

Given the huge number of different families of Integron cassettes in just the fully sequenced genomes: if all integrons are like ours (10% of anti-phage cassettes) then expect thousands of novel ones in the future.

First, chromosomal integrons have lots of novel anti-phage systems. Similar results found simultaneously in mobile integrons by @jaescudero.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... and other vibrio by @themaxwelllab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415....

Our paper on how integrons are biobanks of novel minimal defense systems is now out www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Two main conclusions on this excellent work led by @eloilittner.bsky.social @baptistedarracq.bsky.social 1/n

Habemus paper! Our story on integron-encoded anti-phage defenses is now out in @science.org! 16 new systems, small versions of known ones, and a lot more in this highly-collaborative study. Many thanks to everyone involved, especially my supervisor @epcrocha.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/bapt...

Have also a look at our back-to-back study for mobile integrons by Nicolas Kieffer from @jaescudero.bsky.social group ! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... + a similar story in V. parahaemolyticus by @landongetz.bsky.social from @themaxwelllab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An enormous thanks for the great co-first author @eloilittner.bsky.social and for our supervisors @celineloot.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @fredoleroux.bsky.social. Many thanks to all co-authors !!

On the bioinformatic side, eloilittner.bsky.social found a diverse arsenal of anti-phage defenses in SCIs. Strikingly, systems in integrons are always compact (< 3 genes), and smaller than their homologs outside integrons (likely due to cassette size constraints)

The integron of our favorite model Vibrio cholerae was mostly “dark matter” as most cassettes had no known role. We found this intriguing and cloned 88 cassettes, testing them for phage resistance. We found 16 defensive cassettes and named the systems after gallic mythology

White smoke, we have a new pope and also 16 new anti-phages systems in sedentary integrons (SCIs) ! In collaboration with the Rocha lab, we show in our new paper that cassettes of these large platforms encode many known anti-phage defenses, and uncovered 16 new ones. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our paper is published back2back with one from @amazeld.bsky.social and @epcrocha.bsky.social labs where @baptistedarracq.bsky.social, @eloilittner.bsky.social and co. show that Sedentary Chromosomal Integrons are biobanks of phage defense systems. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🧪 Finally out after peer review, our work showing that "Mobile #Integrons carry Phage Defense Systems" is now published in Science 🎉 Short 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New postdoc position in our lab (2 y+): evolutionary genomics of integrons and MGEs with focus on vibrio-phage interactions. Great environment @pasteur.fr for science, career building. Super collaborators @celineloot.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @fredoleroux.bsky.social 3 weeks to apply!

It was an honor for my lab and myself to host the meeting on the Immune Systems of Bacteria. Such a high from all the incredible science and sharing with scientists from the whole world the greatness of Paris in the spring. Vive la science, et vive Paris!