Lucie Etienne

Super excited to receive the ERC starting grant to explore what phage-bacteria interactions can teach us on host-pathogen conflicts 🤩 I'm immensely grateful to my wonderful team and to present and past mentors 🙏

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity.

We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bat-specific adaptations in interferon signaling and GBP1 contribute to enhanced antiviral capacity - Nature Communications Bats harbor diverse viruses but it’s less clear how they tolerate infection. Here, by characterizing innate immune responses in bat cells the authors show that IFN-beta signaling resists antagonistic ...

🚨Our new study out today in Nature Communications. Bats can asymptomatically host multiple viruses while remaining apparently healthy. Here we identify how interferon-mediated responses protect bats and identify molecular adaptations in GBP1. #LZCI
Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you, Julie

#standupforscience in Lyon!
For science in France and in the world.
In solidarity to our American colleagues.

Stand up for science Lyon / Grand Est :

*Lyon*
16h00 – Rassemblement place des Terreaux.

*Nancy*
10h00 – Débats. Amphithéâtre de la présidence Léopold, 34 cours Léopold, Nancy.
12-30-13h30 – ronde des obstiné·e·s.
Place Stanislas, Nancy.

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We're hiring a Group Leader in Infection Biology! 🧬
Apply now to join us at the IRIM in Montpellier, and lead cutting-edge research in pathogen virulence, host-pathogen interactions or drug resistance, and shape the future of infection biology! 🦠🧫
Please RT (and follow us!)
🗓️ Deadline: Feb. 28, 2025

YouTube video by CNRS Lucie Etienne : décryptage des épidémies virales et des défenses immunitaires l TalentsCNRS

#TalentsCNRS 🥉 | Découvrez la vidéo de Lucie Etienne, chercheuse au Centre international de recherche en infectiologie et lauréate de la médaille de bronze du @cnrs.fr en 2024 !

@cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @lucievirevolte.bsky.social @ensdelyon.bsky.social @inserm.fr

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE8b...

Thorough and nice study from @lucievirevolte.bsky.social and colleagues. Bat GBP5.

Thank you, Jia ! 🌻

New paper with @lucievirevolte.bsky.social and @psudmant.bsky.social, led by Lucie Etienne and Amandine Le Corf.
The sub-cellular localization of important innate antiviral factor GBP5 has evolved multiple times during bat evolution, with consequences for activity.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Through this work, we hope to enlighten adaptations in bat innate immunity and provide insights in the functions of GBP5

Thank you to all coauthors for their contribution.

Also a big shout out to Sarah Maesen for her contribution, co-mentored with Carine Rey at #BIBS during her Master internship @ciri-lyon.bsky.social

Such a blast to collaborate w. Enard & Sudmant Labs: #IRP #IRC @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @cnrswashington.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @uarizona.bsky.social
partnership!
Special thanks to Elise Lauterbur @lauterbur.bsky.social & Manny Vazquez⭐
@denard.bsky.social @psudmant.bsky.social

Terrific interdisciplinary and international work by Amandine Le Corf @ciri-lyon.bsky.social @cnrs-rhoneauvergne.bsky.social @ensdelyon.bsky.social , from phylogenomics to molecular and cellular virology! 👏

👀Our latest work, led by Amandine Le Corf fantastic PhD student alumni @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social . Great collab @denard.bsky.social @psudmant.bsky.social

Genomic and functional #adaptations in #GBP5 highlight specificities of #bat antiviral innate #immunity 🦇🦠

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New @erc.europa.eu funded #ConvergeAnt paper on phylogenetics and transcriptomics of chitinase gene repertoires in convergent ant-eating mammals finally published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Congratulations @memerman.bsky.social !! So well deserved!

Your mentorship is incredible - Thank you

We are looking for a #postdoc to discover cell-autonomous innate immune antiviral factors in mammals, based on newly-identified defense of prokaryotes!
#EvoCure #comparativeImmunology #virology
Please share
@inserm.fr @ciri-lyon.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social
ciri.ens-lyon.fr/teams/lp2l/j...

Congratulations Claire!

Structure-guided discovery of viral proteins that inhibit host immunity Large-scale, structure-guided computational pipeline sifts through millions of phage proteins to identify those that bind and antagonize host immune proteins. Detected proteins are shown to inhibit no...

Our paper out @CellCellPress: Structure guided discovery of viral proteins that inhibit host immunity

Congrats Erez Yirmiya, Azita Leavitt, Gil Amitai, our collaborators at the Kranzusch lab, and coauthors

A 🧵 1/10

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Exciting to see our paper now published 🙌
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In this project co-led with @ostermanilya.bsky.social at @soreklab.bsky.social , we show that a bacterial immune system employs a TIR protein and a caspase-like protease, two typical immune components seen in eukaryotes. 🧵👇

Congratulations Francesca, Veronica, and all coauthors!! 👏

The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein interferes with the full enzymatic activation of UPF1 and its interaction with UPF2 Abstract. The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway triggers the degradation of defective mRNAs and governs the expression of mRNAs with specific char

Delighted to share our latest work on SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid and Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay. 👇
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

A comical summary of the paper! A short cartoon with 4 panels showing: (1) TRMT1 wanting to transfer methyl groups to tRNA; the tRNA loves this because those methyl groups (on G26) will help its stability and overall translation properties. (2) But, uh oh, here comes the SARS-CoV-2 main protease! (3) The protease takes a big bite out of TRMT1, severing its leg (ie Zinc finger domain); *CHOMP*. (4) TRMT1 and tRNA cry out to one another in grief, as the wounded TRMT1 is no longer able transfer methyl groups to tRNA - disrupting its structure and translation properties!

Final thoughts:
💡TRMT1 cleavage & inactivation may be another mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 manipulates host tRNA modifications and translation!
🦠We think this could impact viral pathogenesis or phenotypes!
💊Our structure might help understand Mpro substrate recognition or different pockets to drug!

(Top) Sequence logo showing that the TRMT1 cleavage consensus sequence is highly conserved in mammals, except in some rodents (denoted by a cute little mouse), where a key Q residue is replaced with K. (Bottom) Western blots showing that while WT TRMT1 is efficiently cleaved by Mpro, TRMT1 with the Q->K mutation (like in some rodents) is not cleaved! (Does this help out rodents during coronavirus infection? We don't know!)

Next, with @lucievirevolte.bsky.social we found that the TRMT1 cleavage sequence is highly conserved in mammals, except for some #rodents 🐭, where a Q -> K mutation at the absolutely critical Q residue makes TRMT1 variants with this change entirely resistant to cleavage!... 6/9

Recognition and cleavage of human tRNA methyltransferase TRMT1 by the SARS-CoV-2 main protease The SARS-CoV-2 main protease specifically cleaves a conserved sequence in the human tRNA modifying enzyme TRMT1, resulting in reduced tRNA binding and the complete loss of TRMT1-mediated tRNA methyltr...

📣 Final version of our @elife.bsky.social article is now online! We show how the human tRNA methyltransferase TRMT1 is recognized, cleaved, and inactivated by the SARS-CoV-2 main protease to disrupt host tRNA modification!

elifesciences.org/articles/91168

A short bluetorial... 🧵 1/9

🎁 Early Xmas present from your friends at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research @cvrinfo.bsky.social

We're thrilled to unwrap Viro3D - a comprehensive database of virus protein structures: >85,000 predicted structures from 4,400 human & animal viruses! 🦠

viro3d.cvr.gla.ac.uk

Experimental horizontal transfer of phage-derived genes to Drosophila confers innate immunity to parasitoids Metazoan parasites have played a major role in shaping innate immunity in animals. Insect hosts and parasitoid wasps are excellent models for illumina…

Excited to share the major work of my dissertation, out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We use Drosophila genetics to dissect the evolution of phage-derived toxins that were horizontally transferred to insects and now function as potent anti-parasitoid defenses (1/n): tinyurl.com/2k9ypyxr

Register 2025 | American Society for Virology The 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology! Dates: July 14 – 17, 2025 (Monday – Thursday) Palais des congrès de Montréal Host: McGill University *TEACHER TRAVEL GRANTS: Applications…

Get ready for ASV 2025! The 2025 American Society for Virology meeting will be hosted by McGill University and held at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada from July 14 - 17, 2025. Abstract submission, travel award apps, and registration are now open! asv.org/asv2025/regi...