Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals Move comes amid effort to grow the country’s own journals

Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

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Apply by February 15 and join us in Würzburg. ⬇️

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...

Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...

NLR-like immunity in bacteria

A new study from the Alex Gao lab. The scope of this work is incredible!!!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nature Microbiology turns 10! 🎂

As a special treat, we take you back to the editorial team that started it all and then fast forward to take a peek into the future of microbiology through some brilliant microbiologists.

#MicroSky 🦠

www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

Environment and physiology shape antiphage system expression Bacteria and archaea encode on average ten antiphage systems. Quorum sensing, cellular, or transcription factors can regulate specific systems (CRISPR-Cas, CBASS). Yet, a systematic assessment of anti...

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed.

In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How does a bacterial small RNA evolve new functions?

Our new study reveals the stepwise evolutionary journey of UhpU, a 3′UTR-derived sRNA in E. coli and relatives. It evolved from a metabolically-focused regulator to one with expanded targets and biogenesis manner.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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

Evolution of hunt, kill, devour in a Vibrio ecospecies Bacterial ecospecies are a recently recognized genetic structure that is hypothesized to arise by complex adaptation to a new niche. Coadaptation within the “Molassodon” ecospecies of Vibrio parahaemo...

Sharing the link to our updated Vibrio preprint, where we compare and contrast Ecospecies with other genetic structures, and using the opportunity to fix typos and update some bluesky handles! with @danielfalush.bsky.social @whqqq.bsky.social @yjchao.bsky.social @chaooo.bsky.social

Preprint: Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

tinyurl.com/ch3damp

We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity

Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇

I'm happy to co-organize the 2nd Microbial RNA Symposium in Shanghai! Looking forward to these inspiring talks this weekend! @rnasociety.bsky.social @natmicrobiol.nature.com @cellpress.bsky.social

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...

Expanding the genetic toolbox of the obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus with inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference Inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference-mediated depletion in the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4

Wave succession in the pandemic clone of Vibrio parahaemolyticus driven by gene loss - Nature Ecology & Evolution A combination of large-scale phylogenomic analysis, mouse lethality experiments and bacterial growth assays shows that gene loss in the putrescine utilization pathway has enhanced biofilm formation an...

Combination of large-scale phylogenomic analysis, mouse lethality experiments and bacterial growth assays shows sheds light on how a pandemic clone of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was able to spread worldwide

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

tRNA modification profiling reveals epitranscriptome regulatory networks in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Abstract. Transfer RNA (tRNA) modifications have emerged as critical post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression affecting diverse biological and di

tRNA modification profiling reveals epitranscriptome regulatory networks in Pseudomonas aeruginosa 🦠👏High-throughput tRNA epitranscriptome profiling using mass spec on P. aeruginosa transposon insertion library and links with metabolic networks #microsky #rnasky doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

New preprint! We characterise the small, regulatory RNA Arp which controls DNA uptake and twitching motilty in A. baumannii. Led by our Dr Fergal Hamrock @hamrockfergal.bsky.social and in collaboration with @westermannlab.bsky.social and Mike Gebhardt's lab!

Evolution of hunt, kill, devour in a Vibrio ecospecies Bacterial ecospecies are a recently recognized genetic structure that is hypothesized to arise by complex adaptation to a new niche. Using coadaptation analysis as a foundation for laboratory experime...

Evolution of hunt, kill, devour in a Vibrio ecospecies
Great paper 'Molassodon' - genetically distinct ecospecies from typical V. parahaemolyticus, it has evolved a predatory strategy that devour other bacteria in viscous environments
@campy-bara.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A Vibrio-specific T6SS effector reshapes microbial competition by disrupting Vibrio bioenergetics Liu et al. report that a Vibrio-specific T6SS effector, TseVs, selectively disrupts Vibrio bioenergetics while sparing non-target microbes via an immunity-independent mechanism. This work reveals how ...

#NatMicroPicks

Vibrio in competition! 🦠💉

An orphan T6SS effector in non-toxigenic Vibrio cholerae targets susceptible strains by disrupting ion balance, shaping Vibrio population dynamics and offering a model for precision antimicrobials.

#MicroSky

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

Evolution of hunt, kill, devour in a Vibrio ecospecies Bacterial ecospecies are a recently recognized genetic structure that is hypothesized to arise by complex adaptation to a new niche. Using coadaptation analysis as a foundation for laboratory experime...

Happy to share the preprint from here in Shanghai, together with @danielfalush.bsky.social, as well as with team Zhizhou Jia, Huqi Wen, and Zhe Xie!

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

3'UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06....

Welcome, Leon!

Quality over quantity: Small RNA pauses translation elongation to lift protein activity Small noncoding RNAs typically regulate the translation initiation of target mRNAs and thereby protein production. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Thongdee et al. discovered a novel regulatory mechan...

Quality over quantity: Small RNA pauses translation elongation to lift protein activity: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Quality over quantity: Small RNA pauses translation elongation to lift protein activity Small noncoding RNAs typically regulate the translation initiation of target mRNAs and thereby protein production. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Thongdee et al. discovered a novel regulatory mechanism where a bacterial small RNA modulates translation elongation and co-translational folding to alter protein activity without affecting protein abundance.

Quality over quantity: Small RNA pauses translation elongation to lift protein activity

Advancing RNA phage biology through meta-omics Abstract. Bacteriophages with RNA genomes are among the simplest biological entities on Earth. Since their discovery in the 1960s, they have been used as i

I'm happy to share the first publication from my lab @hoerlab.bsky.social, now out in @narjournal.bsky.social! I take a look at the biology of RNA phages, focusing on how meta-omics methods are discovering new RNA phage families and bacterial defense strategies.

#PhageSky

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Grant opportunity! 200K USD for 3 years from CAS-ANSO program. Apply by May 20th. Details in here: www.anso.org.cn/programmes/S...

© Nico Manger

Where science meets culture 🔬🎭
At the Vogel Foundation Dr Eckernkamp’s 25th anniversary gala at the Mainfranken Theater, #HIRI director Jörg Vogel emphasized the vital role of culture for cutting-edge research.
Congrats & thank you for supporting our science!
➡️ www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/newsroom/...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: RNA Collaborative - Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) & Shanghai RNA Club. After registering, you will receive a confirmation emai... Featuring: “Insights into the role of RNA in bacterial immunity and phage replication” Jens Hör, PhD Group Leader, Helmholtz Institute for RNA based Infection Research, Junior Professor, University...

📅🖍️ Mark your calendars: The #HIRI & the Shanghai #RNA Club will host @rnasociety.bsky.social’s next RNA Collaborative Seminar on March 12. HIRI group leader @jenshoer.bsky.social will discuss “Insights into the role of RNA in bacterial immunity and phage replication.”
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

CRISPRi-ART enables functional genomics of diverse bacteriophages using RNA-binding dCas13d - Nature Microbiology Leveraging RNA-targeting dCas13d enables selective interference with phage protein translation and facilitates measurement of phage gene fitness at a transcriptome-wide scale.

It is finally out!

Muntathar Al-Shimary, @doudna-lab.bsky.social , @cresslab.bsky.social and I present a gene knockdown tool that works in diverse bacteriophages: CRISPRi through antisense RNA Targeting (CRISPRi-ART)!

Check it out @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Highly multiplexed spatial transcriptomics in bacteria Single-cell decisions made in complex environments underlie many bacterial phenomena. Image-based transcriptomics approaches offer an avenue to study such behaviors, yet these approaches have been hin...

🅲🅾🅾🅻 🆃🅴🅲🅷🅽🅾🅻🅾🅶🆈

“Bacterial-MERFISH” provides ~1000-fold volumetric expansion of individual cells, charts gene expression in hundreds of thousands of cells, deciphering bacterial single-cell heterogeneity, intracellular transcriptome organization, and bacterial adaptation to µm-scale niches in vivo

Within-host evolution of a transcriptional regulator contributes to the establishment of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection Zhou et al. identify a 9-bp deletion in a putative transcriptional regulator in P. aeruginosa. This mutation is highly associated with chronic P. aeruginosa infection and leads to pyruvate accumulatio...

My collaborators in Shanghai discovered that Within-host evolution of a transcriptional regulator contributes to the establishment of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection: Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...