Kerrin Steensen

👋 Hi antiphage defense community, we are soon releasing an update of DefenseFinder.

We are doing our best to include all the great discoveries from the community, but with so much going on we might miss things.

Please answer wt preprints/papers with new systems or mail/git them to us. 🙏

Streptomyces secretes a siderophore that sensitizes competitor bacteria to phage infection - Nature Microbiology A secondary metabolite sensitizes competitor Bacillus subtilis to a wide panel of lytic phages by sequestering iron and preventing the activation of Spo0A.

OUT NOW - Streptomyces secretes a siderophore that sensitizes competitor bacteria to phage infection

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

Bacteria use exogenous peptidoglycan as a danger signal to trigger biofilm formation - Nature Microbiology Peptidoglycan released by neighbouring kin or non-kin cell lysis induces physiological changes that protect from a range of stresses, including phage predation.

We found that many bacterial species use exogenous peptidoglycan fragments - released by lysis of neighboring cells - as a general danger signal, triggering a danger response that protects bacteria against many dangers: biofilm formation.

Details here 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

‘Dark proteome’ survey reveals thousands of new human genes Database confirms that overlooked segments of the genome code for a multitude of tiny proteins

'But a new systematic analysis of what some call the “dark proteome” suggests scientists have missed thousands of nontraditional genes that lurk in previously overlooked stretches of the genome and make smaller than average proteins.'
www.science.org/content/arti...

Characteristics of phage-plasmids and their impact on microbial communities Abstract. Bacteria host various foreign genetic elements, most notably plasmids and bacteriophages (or phages). Historically, these two classes were seen as separate, but recent research has shown con...

Excited to share this new publication where we review the current stand of Phage-Plasmids (P-Ps), check it out!

@fnobrega.bsky.social

portlandpress.com/essaysbioche...

Get ready to dance, our paper – Phage DisCo: targeted discovery of bacteriophages by co-culture – has been pre-printed! 🪩 This has been a really fun project to work on with @sianowen.bsky.social, @baym.lol, @nquinoneso.bsky.social, and our two talented undergrads Kesther and Carmen!

A huge thanks to my amazing co-authors Joana Séneca, Nina Bartlau, Xiaoqian Yu, @fatiaysh.bsky.social, and Martin Polz. Couldn't have done it without you!

Despite their small genomes, they hold a surprise for all defense aficionados: tailless and filamentous prophages harbor regions packed with highly variable genes, enriched with phage defense genes and toxin-antitoxin systems.

Tailless and filamentous-like prophages aren't *just* abundant in our model system - they're also highly diverse and rapidly turned over, emphasizing their underestimated role in the ecology and evolution of marine Vibrio

Prophages in Vibrio Abstract. Although tailed bacteriophages (phages) of the class Caudoviricetes are thought to constitute the most abundant and ecologically relevant group o

Ever thought that only tailed phages really matter? Our latest paper reveals that non-Caudoviricetes prophages could be more important than you'd expect. Curious? Read more here: academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...