Using RIL-seq, Silverman et al. map the RNA interactome of E. coli during phage lambda infection and uncover a conserved phage-encoded sRNA that activates host replication machinery. Their findings re...

Using RIL-seq, Silverman et al. map the RNA interactome of E. coli during phage lambda infection and uncover a conserved phage-encoded sRNA that activates host replication machinery. Their findings reveal a previously unrecognized RNA-level regulatory layer in phage-host interactions and highlight the role of post-transcriptional control in promoting phage infection.

Using RIL-seq, Silverman et al. map the RNA interactome of E. coli during phage lambda infection and uncover a conserved phage-encoded sRNA that activates host replication machinery. Their findings re...

In bacteria, many small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) associate with the RNA chaperone Hfq to modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Here, the authors identify global Hfq-mediated RNA-R...

Phage therapy is not a recent discovery; it dates back to the early 20th century, with two scientists making impactful discoveries within two years of each other. But research priorities shifted towar...

It’s likely that many people are unrecognized carriers of the drug-resistant bacteria, which could lead to community spread, CDC scientists said.

The Azrieli International Visiting PhD Fellowship offers outstanding international PhD candidates the opportunity to conduct short-term research in Israel, fostering academic collaboration and strengt...

Microcolony-seq systematically uncovers inherited phenotypic diversity directly from infected human samples, revealing that bacteria can retain long-term genetic and nongenetic memory from the host en...

Abstract. Transfer RNA (tRNA) modifications have emerged as critical post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression affecting diverse biological and di

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 25 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01213-7Metal ions are required for all cells, and their homeostasis relies on ancient mechanisms that facilitate their import, distribution and storage. In this Review, Helmann discusses the key chemical concepts underlying microbial metal physiology and highlights several exemplary microbial systems.

The presence of tRNAs in bacteriophage genomes has intrigued scientists since their discovery in the early 1960s, as phages were believed to rely on the host tRNAs for their translation. Over the years, a multitude of hypotheses have been explored, providing evidence that phages with different lifestyles utilize tRNAs in distinct ways. In recent years, several studies have provided evidence that phage tRNAs play a crucial role in evading phage defense systems. In this review we summarize the current state of the field of phage tRNAs, highlighting their diverse roles in phage infection. We also discuss the host response to phage tRNAs and the application of this knowledge to improve phage-based therapeutics to combat bacterial infections.

Prokaryotic defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) were recently identified with antiviral functions; however, their functional mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Here we show that DRT9 f...

Linking genotype to phenotype is a central goal in biology. In the microbiological field, transposon mutagenesis is a technique that has been widely used since the 1970’s to facilitate this connection...

The RNA-binding protein CsrA switches from upregulation to downregulation of virulence genes in bacteria through unclear mechanisms. Here, the authors show that the switch between promoting and repres...