Bacteriophages are in a constant arms race with bacteria 🦠 The Phage ORFeome pooled library from the Aaron Whiteley lab contains phage proteins that activate antiphage defense systems — a tool to dissect the mechanisms of bacterial immunity. Aaron Whiteley

Innate immune responses to Rickettsia: emerging themes and contrasts between species Over 10 species of Rickettsia cause serious human disease across the globe, including deadly spotted fever and typhus. These arthropod-borne microbes …

I'm happy to share a review that our lab put together on innate immune responses to Rickettsia. One interesting tidbit - different Rickettsia species have distinct interactions with xenophagy, where some species co-opt ubiquitylation, while others avoid it!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Check out this wonderful piece by @vcallier.bsky.social on how parts of the human immune system can be traced back to the conflict between bacteria and phages!

Thank you to @vcallier.bsky.social and Quanta Magazine for highlighting our lab along with the incredible research from @soreklab.bsky.social @audeber.bsky.social @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social @benmorehouse.bsky.social @teralevin.bsky.social @algao.bsky.social Eugene Koonin, L. Aravind and others!

PostDoc position available!
(links in post below)

Feel free to share!

Postdoc position available in St Andrews for a structural biologist: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

A welcome editorial message.

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

Bacterial 2′,3′-cGAMP activates a SAVED effector to form membrane-disrupting filaments and restrict phage replication Tak et al. discover that bacteria use 2′,3′-cGAMP, the same signaling molecule employed by mammalian cGAS-STING, for phage defense. In response to phage, 2′,3′-cGAMP activates filament formation of Ca...

Happy to share the final version of my postdoc work on bacterial CBASS immunity with @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social published in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Congrats @snowkaryote.bsky.social – Keep an eye on the Tak Lab at University of Virginia!

Bacterial 2′,3′-cGAMP activates a SAVED effector to form membrane-disrupting filaments and restrict phage replication Tak et al. discover that bacteria use 2′,3′-cGAMP, the same signaling molecule employed by mammalian cGAS-STING, for phage defense. In response to phage, 2′,3′-cGAMP activates filament formation of Ca...

Open Access link to the paper: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Out now–our work on bacterial cGAS-like enzymes making 2′,3′-cGAMP! Read Uday's thread for updates since the preprint including determining our lab's first protein structure and developing a new system to study bacterial STING homologs in phage defense👇

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!

A DNA damage-activated kinase controls bacterial immune pathway expression www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

This work constructed a large library of 406 vectors that individually express nearly every protein from 6 phages. We hope this resource will be broadly useful to the field and have deposited a version at Addgene (ID 249629). It should be available soon!

PD-T2-1 detects diverse phage tail fiber proteins. Proteins like T7gp17 and T2gp34 activate the system, but share virtually no amino acid identity. How? We hypothesize this system may detect the peculiar trimeric β-helix structure that each tail fiber adopts (but we don’t really know!)

One of the more peculiar phage defense systems that we better characterize in the final version of the paper is PD-T2-1. A provisional name that we hope will be updated once it is better understood.

Check out @toninagy3.bsky.social 's thread from the preprint for highlights of our findings bsky.app/profile/toni...

A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system - Nature Microbiology A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.

I’m thrilled to share our work on phage triggers of the bacterial immune system in its final form @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system Nature Microbiology, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02239-6A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.

Out Now! A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system #MicroSky

Retrotransposons unplugged: Rewiring the nervous system and wreaking havoc In this perspective, Whiteley and Shepherd describe emerging studies showing a role for long terminal repeat retrotransposons and endogenous retroviruses in brain function and disease. Historically ig...

Our Perspective article on the emerging role of retroelements in brain function and disease is now out in this week's edition of @cp-neuron.bsky.social!
@alexwhiteley.bsky.social

www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

The EMBO Gold Medal 2025 was awarded to Tanmay Bharat and David Bikard: www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold... 🧪

At #CellBio2025, the EMBO Gold Medal was handed over to David Bikard in recognition of his pioneering work on #GeneEditing.

Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed)
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu

Last year it was discovered that a single bacterial NLR-like protein can recognize multiple, structurally unrelated phage proteins (Béchon et al, Kibby et al)

Now, a new study shows the same for a plant NLR. Another example how principles of immunity remain conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes

Beyond Immunity: Uncovering the Hidden Diversity of Bacterial NLRs (SCHLIMPERT_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership Join us in exploring the hidden functions of ancient immune proteins in bacteria. Bacteria, like plants and animals, have evolved sophisticated systems to detect and respond to threats.

We have a PhD opportunity available in our group @johninnescentre.bsky.social through the NRP Doctoral Training Partnership. Help us uncover the Hidden Diversity of Bacterial NLRs.

Start date: October 2026. For more information and how to apply👉 biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/bey...

Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...

1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thank you to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences for honoring our research uniting human innate immunity and bacterial anti-phage defense at @danafarber.bsky.social @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvard.edu

bit.ly/4pZUDkF

blavatnikawards.org/news/items/t...

Bacteria use a decoy defence molecule to set a trap for viruses Some bacterial-infecting viruses use ‘sponges’ to mop up defence molecules, but bacteria can fight back by responding when a sponge captures decoy molecules.

@mfwhite2.bsky.social reviewed both papers in a News and Views and put the collaboration between phage defense systems best: "scientists can confidently conclude that bacterial defences are indeed more than just the sum of their parts" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

Check out the complementary story from @doudna-lab.bsky.social led by @erinedoherty.bsky.social and @benadler.bsky.social Their work on OptE oligomerization is particularly crucial to completing our understanding of Panoptes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This work was led by @aesully98.bsky.social and was a fantastic collaboration with @benmorehouse.bsky.social + lab. Thanks to all authors including Aravind and Max Burroughs at NIH

Panoptes guards the CBASS pathway (bacterial cGAS-STING). One facet of this work that I find particularly exciting is the genetic linkage between Panoptes and CBASS, which significantly co-occur in bacterial genomes. What other phage defense systems may be genetically (and functionally) linked?