We'll be there with many lab members, sharing new stories, we'll be very happy to get feedback on :)
Really looking forward.
11.02.2026 17:18 — 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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
05.02.2026 09:15 — 👍 17 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
Bacterial defense via RES-mediated NAD+ depletion is countered by phage phosphatases
Many bacterial defense systems restrict phage infection by breaking the molecule NAD+ to its constituents, adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR) and nicotinamide (Nam). To counter NAD+ depletion-mediated defense, phages evolved NAD+ reconstitution pathway 1 (NARP1), which uses ADPR and Nam to rebuild NAD+. Here we report a bacterial defense system called aRES, involving RES-domain proteins that degrade NAD+ into Nam and ADPR-1″-phosphate (ADPR-1P). This molecule cannot serve as a substrate for NARP1, so that NAD+ depletion by aRES defends against phages even if they encode NARP1. We further discover that some phages evolved an extended NARP1 pathway capable of overcoming aRES defense. In these phages, the NARP1 operon also includes a specialized phosphatase, which dephosphorylates ADPR-1P to form ADPR, a substrate from which NARP1 then reconstitutes NAD+. Other phages encode inhibitors that directly bind aRES proteins and physically block their active sites. Our study describes new layers in the NAD+-centric arms race between bacteria and phages and highlights the centrality of the NAD+ pool in cellular battles between viruses and their hosts. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, ERC-AdG GA 101018520 Israel Science Foundation, MAPATS grant 2720/22 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SPP 2330, grant 464312965 Minerva Foundation with funding from the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research research grant from Magnus Konow in honor of his mother Olga Konow Rappaport Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, https://ror.org/05aycsg86 Clore Scholars Program
We found a new mode by which bacteria deplete NAD+ to protect from phages. And then we found how phages overcome this defense
Discovered by talented biochemist Dr Ilya Osterman, read the preprint: tinyurl.com/Narp-ap
A thread 🧵
29.01.2026 15:34 — 👍 45 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 0
Bacterial defense via RES-mediated NAD+ depletion is countered by phage phosphatases
Many bacterial defense systems restrict phage infection by breaking the molecule NAD+ to its constituents, adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR) and nicotinamide (Nam). To counter NAD+ depletion-mediated defense, phages evolved NAD+ reconstitution pathway 1 (NARP1), which uses ADPR and Nam to rebuild NAD+. Here we report a bacterial defense system called aRES, involving RES-domain proteins that degrade NAD+ into Nam and ADPR-1″-phosphate (ADPR-1P). This molecule cannot serve as a substrate for NARP1, so that NAD+ depletion by aRES defends against phages even if they encode NARP1. We further discover that some phages evolved an extended NARP1 pathway capable of overcoming aRES defense. In these phages, the NARP1 operon also includes a specialized phosphatase, which dephosphorylates ADPR-1P to form ADPR, a substrate from which NARP1 then reconstitutes NAD+. Other phages encode inhibitors that directly bind aRES proteins and physically block their active sites. Our study describes new layers in the NAD+-centric arms race between bacteria and phages and highlights the centrality of the NAD+ pool in cellular battles between viruses and their hosts. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, ERC-AdG GA 101018520 Israel Science Foundation, MAPATS grant 2720/22 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SPP 2330, grant 464312965 Minerva Foundation with funding from the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research research grant from Magnus Konow in honor of his mother Olga Konow Rappaport Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, https://ror.org/05aycsg86 Clore Scholars Program
🧬 Metabolic arms race continues!
We discovered a new NAD⁺-depleting bacterial immune system aRES and phage enzymes that overcome it.
Our preprint is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
29.01.2026 11:20 — 👍 29 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 5
Great new story from Sophie Helaine and Molly Sargen!
www.helainelab.com
28.01.2026 23:01 — 👍 35 🔁 18 💬 0 📌 0
Yay!!!!! Awesome. Congratulations.
23.01.2026 07:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Join us in congratulating Philip J. Kranzusch (@kranzuschlab.bsky.social) of @danafarber.bsky.social and @harvardmed.bsky.social, winner of the 2026 NAS Award in Molecular Biology for his groundbreaking work advancing understanding of innate immunity! www.nasonline.org/award/nas-aw... #NASaward
22.01.2026 16:04 — 👍 60 🔁 12 💬 4 📌 2
Deadline is approaching (Feb 9) to apply for a PI position at Institut Pasteur. Come join us and contribute to an amazing scientific environment!!!
19.01.2026 16:55 — 👍 17 🔁 31 💬 1 📌 0
N1-Methylpseudouridine directly modulates translation dynamics
Nature - N1-Methylpseudouridine enhances the translation of synthetic mRNAs, independently of innate immunity.
Our new paper is out in Nature 🎉. We show that m1Ψ in mRNA vaccines doesn’t just quiet immunity, it also directly enhance translation by reshaping ribosome dynamics in a sequence-dependent way 🧬
Full paper : rdcu.be/eY5gx
15.01.2026 11:56 — 👍 56 🔁 24 💬 0 📌 1
Fascinating work on genomic islands!
14.01.2026 16:29 — 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.
Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
14.01.2026 10:14 — 👍 81 🔁 52 💬 4 📌 2
👏🥳 Congrats to Lucas Paoli and all authors for this collective effort, from data generation to analysis and discussion, and to the broader community whose tools, datasets, and ideas made this work possible (YAY iModulons).
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Rather than a simple on/off response to infection, this work suggests that bacterial immunity is continuously tuned by environment, physiology, and genome organization!
Antiphage defenses form a regulated repertoire raising new questions about population-level immunity and single-cell heterogeneity.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Finally, we explore how expression differences are functionally relevant: by tuning conditions and strain background, we found conditions where famously repressed native E. coli CRISPR-Cas system becomes active.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
What about the famous defense islands ?🛡️🏝️
They emerge as key regulatory units, frequently associated with candidates local transcription factors that could coordinate multiple systems.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
How is transcription organized ?
Defense genes behave as cohesive transcriptional units, yet with notable internal asymmetries—often separating effectors from regulators, as exemplified in CRISPR-Cas or CBASS systems.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
What could be the drivers of this variability ?
Antiphage system expression correlates with cellular physiology and mobile element activity, e.g. repression during SOS, association with IS activity.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
This variability is not noise. Most systems show multi-fold expression changes across environmental (low or high temperatures🌡️), physiological (growth stage), or spatial gradients.
For examples, some systems seem expressed at the center of biofilms, others on the biofilm edges
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
What did we learn ?
Across species and strains, antiphage systems are typically moderately expressed, but expression is highly variable across conditions.
We put it in context with highly expressed genes (ribosomal proteins) or repressed ones (famous lac operon!).
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
To study this, we combine:
- ~10,000 public RNA-seq samples across 14 species
- a new, high-resolution dataset corresponding to 540 RNA seq samples: 15 E. coli strains, 6 environments, 2 growth stages, surveilling the expression of over 230 antiphage systems.
We love complex datasets ❤️💻
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
🐘In eukaryotes, immunity is largely switched on by infection.
🧫In bacteria, little is known, partly because much has been done outside native contexts. Given how fast phages act, many defenses may instead be tuned in advance by physiology and environment, rather than induced upon infection.
15.12.2025 21:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Congrats David, so well deserved :) :)
10.12.2025 19:18 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Microbiology editor at a multidisciplinary open-access journal.
Born & raised in Asturias, Spain.
In the UK since 2008.
Dad ×3, husband ×1.
Posts in English and Spanish.
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/CesarSanchez
The views expressed are my own.
Pues eso.
Eternally asking questions.
Likes guts.
Has guts.
And a lab at the Francis Crick Institute @thecrick.bsky.social
https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/irene-miguel-aliaga
Neuroscience, Stem Cells, Physiology, OMICs, Evolution, Modeling-lover
Team leader @IGFL (ENSdeLyon, CNRS),
Spatio-Temporal Logic of Adult Neurogenesis Group (ST-LAN)
Comparative developmental biology, regeneration, non-conventional model organisms, live imaging; see www.averof-lab.org
Assistant Professor at University of Utah studying host-virus interactions
http://hobbs.biochem.utah.edu/
Incoming PI at Institut Pasteur 🇫🇷
Current: Evolutionary Virologist based at the University of Tokyo 🇯🇵
💻🦠🏳️🌈
In-depth, independent reporting to better understand the world, now on Bluesky. News tips? Share them here: http://nyti.ms/2FVHq9v
Ex v_lemire sur X-Twitter, Professeur d’histoire à l’Universite Gustave Eiffel, directeur du projet http://www.openjerusalem.org, auteur de la BD Histoire de Jérusalem (Les Arènes 2022).
Molecular biology of bacteria and phage @algao lab 🧪 PhD student at Stanford Biochemistry
freelance science writer, biology, physiology, evolution, ecoevodevo; bylines @quantamagazine @sciam and more. she/her
News from the Rubin Lab 🧬🧫 We conduct DNA-level editing of microbial communities for understanding and control. Managed by lab members.
@innovativegenomics.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social 🔬🌁
🔗 therubinlab.org
Neuroscience, Sleep, Imaging - Teacher @ LPI - Researcher @ CNRS and Atip-Avenir Emerging Group Leader @ Paris Brain Insitute
Virologist. Professor. Cambridge, UK
https://www.immunology.cam.ac.uk/staff/professor-sam-wilson
https://tinyurl.com/samjwilsonscholar
Postdoctoral researcher at Intistut Pasteur | MSCActions | Vet | Plasmid Biology, Bacterial Evolution & Antimicrobial Resistance
Group Leader, Molecular mimicry / chromatin evolution / engineering
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge. Wellcome Trust CDA fellow
https://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research/research-groups/hocher-group
Structural biologist and biochemist. CNRS researcher at CBM Orléans @cbm-upr4301.bsky.social. Interested in protein modifications & interactions. Also husband, dad of 2, friend, ☧. Personal website: msuskiewicz.github.io
Meta-organism lab @pasteur.fr
https://research.pasteur.fr/en/team/meta-organism/
Economiste OFCE, Sciences Po
Directrice du programme d'études sur le genre de Sciences Po
Présidente du Conseil de la famille au HCFEA
heleneperivier.fr
Sociologue · chercheuse
Sociologie des inégalités, de la culture et des sciences
#genre et #maths
