Great to see exciting work from @megllewellyn.bsky.social on how expression context shapes the protection provided by bacterial defence systems. Comparing chromosomal and plasmid-encoded systems highlights how regulatory architecture influences defence effectiveness.

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed. In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

That was fun!

✨New preprint! 🧵1/4 Excited to share our work on AI-guided design of minimal RNA-guided nucleases. Amazing work by @petrskopintsev.bsky.social @isabelesain.bsky.social @evandeturk.bsky.social et al! Multi-lab collaboration @banfieldlab.bsky.social @jhdcate.bsky.social @jacobsenucla.bsky.social🧬 🔗👇

🧬🛡️How are new immune mechanisms created? We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org. 👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

@alekseiagapov.bsky.social presenting our data at #MicroEvo25! Always good to see a few new phage defences discovered😉

My poster is up and the conference may begin! #MicroEvo25

@jpjhall.bsky.social starts the #MicroEvo25 strong! Looks like it's gonna be fun🧬🧫🧪

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...

We're looking for a technician at Institut Pasteur for experimental work on satellite-phage-bacteria interactions, working directly with @jmouradesousa.bsky.social and myself in the lab of @epcrocha.bsky.social ! ANR funded. Link to the job emploi.pasteur.fr/offre-de-emp... Thx for sharing!

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

Can CRISPR-Cas systems target any phage? Yes, no, it depends? What does it depend on? The second paper from my PhD came out today in a special issue of Phil Trans B on the ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

How do bacteria choose what type of defences to use against phages? We explored that question in the last paper I worked on as a postdoc at the Uni of Exeter @uniofexeteresi.bsky.social with Stineke van Houte, Stefano Pagliara and Edze Westra (not on Bluesky) doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

Ever wondered why some bacteria have multiple CRISPR-Cas systems? Our new study led by Leah Smith shows how type I CRISPR systems can promote the acquisition and retention of new spacers into a co-occuring type III system. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Expression level of anti-phage defence systems controls a trade-off between protection range and autoimmunity By Nitzan Aframian and Avigdor Eldar. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Here we show how the type III signalling molecule SAM-AMP is bound and degraded by a specialised lyase enzyme encoded in cellular and phage genomes. More great work by @haotianchi.bsky.social and the team. @uniofstandrews.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

We made structural predictions of representatives of each #PHROG from #phage genomes, and put the whole lot online. You can browse through montages or go to your favourite phrog directly and download its PDB. 💻🧬 #phagesky linsalrob.github.io/PHROG_struct...

How phages trigger antiphage defence systems is a big unknown in the field. Looks great! #mevosky

Finally published! Many thanks to the reviewers and editor whose comments & suggestions improved this work significantly more than the first preprint version!!! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Phage DNA modifications evade defense Phage DNA modification adds arabinose to cytosines via hydroxy linkage (5ara-hC) w/ potential double & triple arabinosylation. Arabinosylated phages are protected from DNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas & restriction modification www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

. @emgoodall.bsky.social presenting her cool new transposon-based method on discovery of novel small proteins #EESMicrobiology

Presenting a poster about Pseudomonas defence systems at #EESMicrobiology in Heidelberg. If you happen to like it, don't forget to check out our consortium @multidefence.bsky.social

Happily representing @multidefence.bsky.social at the #EESMicrobiology in Heidelberg! Come to my poster if interested in prophage-mediated phage defence! Also don't miss @emgoodall.bsky.social's talk today, and @alekseiagapov.bsky.social and @davvi36.bsky.social posters!

Made it to Heidelberg for #EESMicrobiology @events.embl.org! Find me at poster 240 and make to check out @annaolina.bsky.social & @alekseiagapov.bsky.social 's posters and @emgoodall.bsky.social 's talk to see everyone from the lab 😁

That was fun!

🚨 Reminder! You have just over two weeks to submit an abstract, if you want to present at the @microbiologysociety.org meeting "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" in Liverpool in November! #microsky 🦠🧫🔬

News from the world of pAgos: We explored a distinct clade of short pAgos associated with HNH nuclease partners, which we named SPARHA, and discovered that they protect bacteria from phages and plasmids via abortive infection. Upon activation, SPARHA oligomerizes, forming filaments. A long 🧵

Had a great time today at #ESCMIDGlobal presenting on using CRISPR-Cas9 to kill E. coli ST131 and the emergence of different escape populations. Big thanks to @escmid.bsky.social and everyone who came by!

Is the genome just a bag of genes? A new paper in Science now reports that for two thirds of an organisms' genes the position along the chromosome is actually very tightly constrained! Amazing work from my favorite night scientist Martin Lercher and his team! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🔬 Three fronts in bacterial defense! At EMBO symposium this week in Paris, our PIs showcased: • @mfwhite2.bsky.social: cyclic nucleotide defence signaling • Prof. Stineke Van Houte: prophage warfare in P. aeruginosa • Prof. Tim Blower: autoregulating toxins & phage defence

Finishing the Microbial Warfare session strong!

Phage vs Phage from @annaolina.bsky.social at #Microbio25. Fantastic talk!

We also have a couple of poster presentations today 255 from @drramabht.bsky.social, 282 from @anna-k-richmond.bsky.social, 062 from Meg Llewellyn and 068 from Jasmine Thomas-Campbell. All cool stuff about defence systems!

Super proud of @megllewellyn.bsky.social presenting her first ever poster at #Microbio25 today. Don't miss it!

Presenting a poster at #Microbio25 today/tomorrow. Come for a chat about defence hotspots in Pseudomonas phage!