Liz Ortiz de Ora

Expression level of anti-phage defence systems controls a trade-off between protection range and autoimmunity - Nature Microbiology The authors examine several defense systems and find that increased expression enhances their protection range, albeit at a cost of autoimmunity.

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...

1/16 New pre-print from the Sternberg Lab!
We uncover how temperate phages can use RNA-guided transcription factors to remodel the flagellar composition of their bacterial host and enhance their fitness.
Find the preprint and full story here: tinyurl.com/mshwjd77

We took the day off from the lab and spent all day in Paradise Valley, Montana on the Yellowstone River

E. coli prophages encode an arsenal of defense systems to protect against temperate phages Bacteria contain an array of immune systems, with many yet to be discovered. Brenes and Laub isolate temperate phages from diverse E. coli strains, enabling identification of 17 conserved, prophage-en...

E. coli prophages encode an arsenal of defense systems to protect against temperate phages: Cell Host & Microbe www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

🤯

We’re thrilled to be featured on the May cover of Nature Microbiology... And our Research Briefing is out now—check it out, it’s 🔥! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats!!! That's so awesome 🚀

Phollow reveals in situ phage transmission dynamics in the zebrafish gut microbiome at single-virion resolution - Nature Microbiology ‘Phollow’ is a live imaging-based fluorescence tagging approach that can track phage replication and spread in situ with single-virion resolution.

🚨OUT NOW 🚨

Phollow Reveals In Situ Phage Transmission Dynamics in the Zebrafish Gut Microbiome at Single-Virion Resolution 🦠🐟

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you!

Thank you. So nice to hear from you!

Phollow provides a platform to unravel the hidden lives of phages, capturing their nanoscopic dynamics within microscopic bacterial communities and macroscopic animal hosts. Check all the details in our manuscript!

We also found that antibiotics induce phage outbreaks and viral transmission that ultimately remodels the composition of gut microbial communities.

and more strikingly, virions disseminating to extraintestinal tissues including the liver and brain. magenta = DNA, white= phage particles.

phages (in white) being internalized by gut-lining cells, including enteroendocrine cells (in green). pink = nuclei of intestinal tissues.

virions closely associating with the intestinal mucosa and tissue...

The following videos reveals the aftermath of a phage outbreak: virions dispersed throughout the lumen...

We then brought Phollow into the gut of live zebrafish, taking advantage of their transparency and small size to visualize microbial communities across the entire intestine —capturing their dynamic interactions with the host in real time! pink = DNA, purple = actin, green = E. coli

Phollow enables tracking chains of interbacterial transmission. As phages infect new bacterial hosts, they’re re-tagged with a new fluorescent color. Here, green virions from green-labeled cells infect pink- and cyan-labeled targets, generating vibrant confetti bursts of differently colored phages.

One of my favorite experiments with Phollow are time lapses that allow us to illuminate the secret lives of phages. Here, we captured P2 temperate phages undergoing lytic replication in E. coli, leading to explosive host cell lysis and rapid virion dispersal into the environment.

Phollow reveals in situ phage transmission dynamics in the zebrafish gut microbiome at single-virion resolution Nature Microbiology - ‘Phollow’ is a live imaging-based fluorescence tagging approach that can track phage replication and spread in situ with single-virion resolution.

I am thrilled to share the first manuscript from the Wiles lab! We present "Phollow", an in vivo phage-tagging approach that enables direct observation of phage outbreaks with single-virion resolution by live imaging. Here some highlights 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Legitmately thrilled to share our latest work, in which @fernpizza.bsky.social solved an experimental challenge in plasmid biology as old as the field: measuring how plasmids compete and evolve within individual cells!

Congrats!

Curious about how the gut microbiome modulates the neurological health of pregnant women and their offspring? Check out my recent review with @pipethero.bsky.social out now @jclinical-invest.bsky.social! 🦠🤰👶🧠

www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Yes!! I’d love to see

how their guts look like?

Working link: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Plant domestication does not reduce diversity in root microbiomes Domestication has profoundly shaped human civilization and the genetic makeup of numerous plant and animal species. While the effects of plant domestication at the genetic and phenotypic levels are well-documented, its impact on plant microbiome remains less understood. Root microbiomes play crucial roles in nutrient acquisition, pathogen defense, and biotic stress tolerance, yet the influence of domestication on their diversity and assembly is still debated. Two primary hypotheses have been proposed: 1) the reduction in microbial diversity resulting from the domestication process, and 2) the diminished ability of host plants to control their microbiomes. To evaluate these hypotheses, we conducted a meta-analysis of multiple crops, comparing the root microbiomes of domesticated plants and their wild relatives. Our results indicate that the effects of domestication are species-specific and context-dependent, with most domesticated plants exhibiting increased microbial diversity and more structured communities, while others show no significant change. Overall, this study provides evidence that plant domestication does not lead to a uniform reduction in microbial diversity or a consistently diminished ability of plants to influence their microbiomes. Based on these findings, we discuss new perspectives and the need for future studies incorporating native soils and host genetic variation in such experiments, analyzing not only diversity but also microbiome function, and considering how root morphology might affect microbiome recruitment. Finally, we highlight the need for research on the potential adaptive or maladaptive consequences that introgression between wild and domesticated plants could have from a microbiome perspective. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

In the literature of domestication and microbiomes there seems to be the expectation that: domestication should lead to the loss of microbiome diversity and host-control. Alejandra Hernandez-Teran and I were both skeptical of both, so we decided to see what we know so far (1/6)
shorturl.at/FHY9H

Where do I get one ?

T cells are necessary for development of PCOS reproductive symptoms in a letrozole-induced mouse model of PCOS Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex condition with clear genetic susceptibilities that impact the heterogeneous clinical presentation of symptoms and severity through unknown mechanisms. Chr...

So Excited to share the newest @biorxivpreprint preprint from the #Nicholaslab Congrats Naveena my 1st #gradstudent on this work. T cells are necessary for development of PCOS reproductive symptoms in a letrozole-induced mouse model of PCOS | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thursday! Time for a new #MattersMicrobialepisode! Episode #73 with with Dr. Travis Wiles of UC Irvine about directly visualizing the dynamics of the gut microbiome! Filled with #OMG and #WTM moments. PLEASE spread the #GoodMicrobialWord! @bunsen_B @microbe.tv

youtu.be/P9UExZIjH_M?...