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 !
🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thank you Nicole!
CBASS is a cyclic nucleotide-based antiviral system in bacteria that is related to cGAS-STING signaling in animals. One of the big questions is how CBASS is activated during phage infection? We made some progress on this during my final year in the Kranzusch lab.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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...
@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/...
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
Now online! The unique architecture of umbrella toxins permits a two-tiered molecular bet-hedging strategy for interbacterial antagonism
Cell death is a fundamental mechanism of antiviral immunity across diverse organisms, including bacteria. As my final PhD project with @jbdsf.bsky.social, I was curious whether cell death is required for successful immunity with the ancient cGAS pathway known as ‘CBASS.’
Spoiler – the answer is no!
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:...
Filament formation is a conserved mechanism of Thoeris SIR2 effector activation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.01.708072v1
A new paper from @dorruss12.bsky.social and Jeff Dangl on two flagellins in plant-associated Sphingomonas used for motility or host colonization.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Rapid modular evolution of antiviral repertoires in P2 phages and their P4 satellites: shuttling, swapping and mixing https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.27.708500v1
A 5-hydroxymethylcytosine DNA glycosylase provides defense against T-even bacteriophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.25.707755v1
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...
Viral SSB-bound ssDNA activates the bacterial anti-phage defense system DARNA https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.22.705581v1
“It’s a major advance, on the scale of an AlphaFold4. The problem, of course, is that we know nothing of the details.”
Isomorphic Lab’s proprietary drug-discovery model is a major advance
go.nature.com/4kHrHeR
The 2026 symposium on the immune system of bacteria, New York, May 5-7
A fantastic lineup of speakers, looking forward to seeing top unpublished discoveries on bacterial immunity
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...
Max Fels @mfels.bsky.social from our lab discovers giant DNA viruses that infect amoeba encode eIF4E and the entire suite of 4F complex proteins to control mRNA translation, including beautiful crystal structures of viral 4E bound to modified mRNA 5' caps:
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
#microsky
Exciting chemsky work out First Release in @science.org from @gracegdhan.bsky.social and collaborators, scrunching up pyrimidones so tight with UV light that the strain release can boil water!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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!
Molecular basis for anti-jumbo phage #immunity by AVAST type 5.
Avs5 detects an early jumbo‑phage activator and halts infection by rapidly hydrolyzing NAD+.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #phage #bacteriophage #MicroSky
Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin discuss one of most interesting questions in the field connecting bacterial and animal immunity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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...
Amazing findings in geometry-based immune activation! Two bacterial defence systems detect phage-encoded ring oligomers, assemble high-order molecular complexes, and trigger abortive infection.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A DNA damage-activated kinase controls bacterial immune pathway expression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.02.703251v1
Bacteriophages mobilize bacterial defense systems via lateral transduction
#phage #virus #microecoevo
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
