@peterfineran.bsky.social and colleagues develop Tn-seq for phages by leveraging anti-CRISPR (Acr) as a positive
selectable marker in the presence of CRISPR-Cas counter-selection, and identify essential genes in phage from non model orgs
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#MicroSky ...and #PhageSky. brian 😀

Environment-dependent evolution drives divergent adaptive strategies and parasite dynamics in a minimal community Prophages, phage genomes integrated into bacterial chromosomes, are widespread, yet, the extent to which these resident parasites contribute to host fitness and shape evolutionary trajectories, partic...

Preprint alert📢! 
Ever wondered how much bacterial parasites influence evolutionary outcomes of their host?
➡️ We co-evolved two bacterial strains in conditions in which the costs and benefits of prophage carriage varied

Here is what we found. 
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#MicroSky #PhageSky
🧵

Systematic mapping of bacteriophage gene essentiality with HIDEN‑SEQ The constant arms race of bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts has inspired major breakthroughs in biotechnology and shaped phages as fierce predators with great clinical potential to fight multid...

#microsky #phagesky

(Fancy!) transposon-insertion sequencing identifies essential genes in #phage. By @aharms485.bsky.social & Co.

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

A Gifsy prophage-encoded protein confers broad phage resistance in Salmonella enterica and is widely distributed across Enterobacteriaceae - PubMed Phage Felix O1 (FO1) is one of the most widely used bacteriophages for targeting <i>Salmonella enterica</i> and is applied in both research and food safety settings. Despite its broad host range, we observed significantly reduced efficiency of plating (EOP) on a subset of <i>Salmonella enterica</i> …

A Gifsy prophage-encoded protein confers broad phage resistance in Salmonella enterica and is widely distributed across Enterobacteriaceae.

DOI: 10.1128/aem.01384-25

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41211961/

Genome synthesis, assembly, and rebooting of therapeutically useful high G+C% mycobacteriophages - PubMed Bacteriophages show therapeutic promise for treating bacterial pathogens including nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). A major impediment is the paucity of therapeutically useful phages and the great variation in the phage infection profiles, especially among <i><i>Mycobacterium</i> abscessus</i> cli …

Genome synthesis, assembly, and rebooting of therapeutically useful high G+C% mycobacteriophages.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2523871122

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41213020/

A novel tail fiber protein triggers phage DNA ejection by recognizing lipopolysaccharides of K54 hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae - PubMed Phage infection begins with the adsorption of the phage particle to the bacterial cell surface, followed by the injection of the phage genome into the cell. In the encapsulated hypervirulent <i>K. pneumoniae</i> (hv<i>Kp</i>), the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) surrounding the bacterium was assumed t …

A novel tail fiber protein triggers phage DNA ejection by recognizing lipopolysaccharides of K54 hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae.

DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02171-25

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41212188/

How many plasmids can bacteria carry? A synthetic biology perspective | Open Biology Plasmids are pinnacle tools in synthetic biology and other biotechnological applications. They serve as the simplest approach to introduce recombinant DNA, which is then transcribed into RNA that func...

How many #plasmids can #bacteria carry? royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 🦠🧬

Dive into the lytic cycle! A bacteriophage injects DNA, hijacks the host, and rapidly replicates until the bacterium lyses, releasing a new swarm of virulent phages!

#blender #3D #cgi #science #research #biology #phage #lyticcycle #bacteria #scicomm #sciart

Much appreciated George!

Interesting, I got this domain on my phage putative tail protein..and they did not show typical halos around the plaques...

Capsular specificity in temperate phages of Klebsiella pneumoniae is driven by diverse receptor-binding enzymes Understanding host-range determinants in temperate bacteriophages is critical for elucidating phage-host co-evolution and advancing phage therapies. We analysed 3,900 Klebsiella genomes from diverse e...

This work was equally driven by two PhD students, Aleksandra Otwinowska (experiments) and Janusz Koszucki (bioinformatics). Check out the preprint or DM if you want to learn more.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We discovered a widespread class of SGNH hydrolase–containing RBPs — enzymes structurally related to deacetylases.

They likely modify capsules (e.g. by removing acetyl groups) instead of degrading them — a very different phage infection strategy!

Very grateful for the opportunity and excited about the findings. We got the phages with unique armour: long Shelf-life even after multiple freeze-thawing for 12 months.

Highly stable bacteriophages PIN1 and PIN2 have hallmarks of flagellotropic phages but infect immotile bacteria npj Viruses - Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that kill bacteria, with potential as antibacterial agents in industrial settings, agriculture, and human health. Here, we identified two phages,...

We have been working on ways to find #phage with long shelf-life and this one is a winner. 12 months freeze-thawing as much as you like, no loss of viability
#phageSky #microSky

rdcu.be/ewnzT