www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Amazing work by Kris and gang! For the first time we have been able to image division ring components live in Sulfolobus. And guess what - CdvA is asymmetrically inherited.
Hot off the press!
I'm thrilled to share that our paper "Unravelling the Maturation Pathway of a Eukaryotic Virus through Cryo-EM" has been published!
Link to the paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Nature is full of remarkable protein nanomachines, and now we can watch one more in action.
Our work on bacterial Schlafens in phage defense is out today @natmicrobiol.nature.com!
Check out the final version here:
rdcu.be/e7Bmz
We are looking for postdocs and students to expand our team! Official postings are coming soon.
Please reach out if you're interested!
#phage #phagesky #microsky
Ribosome Molecular Aging Shapes Translation Dynamics
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Big update for #gbdraw!
- Multi-record circular plots: Genomes with multiple replicons can now be displayed in a single view!
- Advanced linear plots: Focus on regions of interest with granular control over feature selection and color-coding!
Try now: gbdraw.app #microbiology #bioinformatics
Very very cool! Congrats, Karim!
We found a viral Trojan Horse: a virus can hide inside another virus.This one surprised us: deltaviruses don’t just borrow a helper virus. They can travel inside it.
A literal Trojan Horse “virus-in-a-virus” route into cells. 🤯 Kudos to 1st author @viroscope.bsky.social and co-authors !
Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n
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
Hopefully, you informed them and now they know. :-)
New paper from @adjiep.bsky.social on viral impacts in groundwater at Nature Comms. Congratulations Adjie and team!
Read: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#viruses #viromics #groundwater
RNA from scratch.. 💫 Interstep compatibility of a model for the prebiotic synthesis of RNA consistent with Hadean natural history | PNAS
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
In our latest work, we characterise the Tmn defence system. We reveal plasmolysis as a new way to block phage infection, dramatically reducing secondary infections.
Thanks!
Ribosome centric perspective on the evolution of life. @mkrupovic.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).
A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)
SNIPE is a widespread bacterial defence system that exploits the spatial organization of phage genome injection to specifically target viral DNA, distinguishing self from non-self in prokaryotic immune systems @nature.com @mitpress.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/5
Happy by a recent biorxiv pre-print about DARNA (PD-T7-3) anti-phage defense system. This system is activated by binding to ssDNA, presented by phage SSB, to cleave tRNA in the anti-codon loop.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Check out largest scale analysis of bacterial DNA polymerases! Diversity and distribution of bacterial DNA polymerases url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Very cool work led by @diorgeps.bsky.social from the labs of @archaeon-alex.bsky.social & Joey Davis (MIT)!
They solved the Haloferax volcanii ribosome and characterize AHA, a conserved archaeal hibernation factor.
With several recent related preprints, it’s an exciting moment for the field!
Phage–host interactions are a key driver of microbial ecology, but observing them in nature is hard!
With metaHi-C, we detect freshwater phage–host pairs and link their infection dynamics to evolution.
Together with @nadal-molero.bsky.social & Ana Martin-Cuadrado
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
RNA splicing generates a functionally specialized Rep protein isoform in geminiviruses — enabling timely control of the viral cycle. Strikingly, similar strategies might have evolved in DNA viruses infecting different kingdoms: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Spearheaded by @delphinem-p.bsky.social!
Virus classification and nomenclature: getting it right journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
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...
Koonin's lab in NIH is looking for postdocs. If you know someone who is interested, please spread the word. The details about the position are below: www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdf-ecb...
Congrats, well deserved!
Image of a herpesvirus structure
I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Everyone knows that space and spatial structure is super important in shaping the Microverse 🌎🌍🌏 Check out this amazing review where @marcelbaecker.bsky.social and @bramvandijk.bsky.social et al bring together a huge body of knowledge @microverse.bsky.social @binfutrecht.bsky.social
The visualization of two bacterial genomes, of 50 and 52kb, representing independent instances of extreme genomic reduction in ancient heritable endosymbionts of planthoppers.
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early!
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
