Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
10.03.2026 13:25
👍 10
🔁 2
💬 0
📌 1
Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
Yes
In general, I imagine that many defense systems evolved to sense essential phage proteins, which limits the phages ability to escape easily by simple loss of function mutations...
Hi! The phage protease is an essential phage protein (it is responsible for cleaving multiple capsid proteins to create mature phage particles). So a phage cannot mutate this protease to evade CBASS (by losing protease activity) and still make viable phage particles..
@nitzantal.bsky.social @romihadary.bsky.social @soreklab.bsky.social use structure prediction and in silico binding site analysis to discover viral immune evasion proteins! Exciting for our lab @reneechang.bsky.social @riveralopz.bsky.social to help with this project.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
After >10 years of our lab studying bacterial cGAS-like enzymes, @hobbslabutah.bsky.social finally reconstitutes viral sensing in vitro and discovers how these ancient receptors sense phage protease enzymes to detect virion assembly and activate antiviral immunity
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Congrats Nitzan! 🥰
Out today: We discovered new viral proteins that target immune signaling molecules, solely based on their AlphaFold-predicted shapes
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats Nitzan Tal and coauthors! Thank you Kranzusch lab for the fun collaboration!
Linking below previous thread on our findings
Check out this new preprint discovering a cool mechanism for activation of the CBASS antiphage system-- proteolytic cleavage by the phage protease! Explains why I couldn't isolate any spontaneous phage mutants that escape CBASS.
Super cool. Can't wait to read in depth 🤓 Congrats Sam & Philip! 🥂
New post-doctoral research position in my phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory in @otagomicroimmuno.bsky.social at @universityofotago.bsky.social New Zealand. The project is focused on defences against jumbo phages. Please share and if interested apply using the link in the comments.
Fantastic collaboration w/ @dbikard.bsky.social @audeber.bsky.social @rayanchikhi.bsky.social labs led by @jmouradesousa.bsky.social : We assessed the rates of variation of anti-phage systems in P4-like satellites and P2 helper phages. Quick conclusion: Huge variation! We focus on 4 key questions/5
Out now! In collaboration with Leifu Chang, we uncover the molecular and structural underpinnings of CRISPR-Cas12f-like RNA-guided transcription systems!
Links to the published articles:
tinyurl.com/55kpavet
tinyurl.com/sk6djwx3
Previous thread for the preprint:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Abstract submission is now OPEN for the 2026 Symposium on the Immune System of Bacteria!
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
🗓 May 5–7, 2026
📍 Rockefeller University, New York City
⏰ Abstract deadline: March 16, 2026
Attendance will be capped, be sure to register early and secure your spot.
See you in NYC!
Congratulations to Sonomi Yamaguchi for her paper at @nature.com. Sonomi discovered Clover defense and explained how nucleotide signals control each step of viral sensing, immune regulation, and viral restriction – named for her beautiful "four-leaf" structures 🍀
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
EMBL International PhD Programme - summer recruitment 2026! 👀
Research groups across EMBL are recruiting now! www.embl.org/about/info/e...
Don’t miss this opportunity to receive dedicated mentoring while doing interdisciplinary research.
Rewiring of oncogenic signaling in #DrugResistance is a moving target. In our new study, we used biophysical phosphoproteomics to investigate #BRAF mutant cancer, linking phosphorylation changes to protein function and #MolecularMechanisms through #Multi-Omics integration.
tinyurl.com/funsignaling
The immune systems paradox
Some widespread prokaryotic immune systems are absent in eukaryotes, whereas relatively rare ones became central to eukaryotic innate immunity
@audeber.bsky.social & E. Koonin hypothesize the answer is #HGT
shareable link: rdcu.be/e2EmD
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
That's cool, and flattering 🙃 I hope they enjoy it
Two independent super-elegant studies from Maxwell & Laub labs find immune proteins that sense infection by binding to oligomeric phage protein rings (i.e phage portal), using them as a scaffold to assemble into their active immune effector form 🤯
Highly recommend read! 🤓📖l
A DNA damage-activated kinase controls bacterial immune pathway expression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.02.703251v1
A great example of the ongoing arms race between bacteria and phages. 🦠🛡️ The plot thickens on the NAD+ bacteria vs. phage battlefield.
See thread below from @ostermanilya.bsky.social ⤵️
Congrats to you and all involved 🥂 I wonder what's next? 🧐
Helaine& Kranzusch labs reveal a mechanism by which a prophage-encoded abortive infection protein defends the host from other phages using a tail tip triggered tRNA nuclease, while maintaining its own propagation abilities- by encoding a tail tip variant that does not trigger it.
👇🏽🧬✂️☠️🦠
Another cool finding of nucleotides activating antiphage defense 👇🏽
5′-phosphorylated deoxydinucleotides arising during host genome degradation activate the doughnut shaped ApeA oligomer, to cleave host
tRNAs and abort infection
✂️🧬➡️🍩✨➡️✂️☠️🦠
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Recruitment for the EMBL International PhD Programme is officially open! 🔊
At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia, industry and other sectors. Start your career in the life sciences with us!
🔎 Read more here:
tinyurl.com/4jdt2ra5
A new paper from the lab on virus-like particles called eCISs www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How bacteria evolved thousands of precision nanoinjectors?
Some bacteria don’t secrete toxins — they inject them using phage-derived machines called extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs).
Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed)
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
Out Now! A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system #MicroSky
Preprint out: We characterise PUA-Cal-HAD, a widespread bacterial antiphage defence family. An infection cue switches a preassembled complex into an immune filament that drains dNTPs via a coupled two-enzyme cascade, and phage DNA mimics can block filament assembly (anti-polymerisation).
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@sacrozhangt.bsky.social and I wrote a commentary on Jordi van Gestel and Carol Gross's latest paper, check it out!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Sadly, the Editors at PNAS rejected our initial introduction, which was a David Attenborough style voice over of the microbial Serengeti (included below)