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RNA-guided transcription factors arose repeatedly via the domestication of transposon-encoded tnpB genes, representing a parallel evolutionary path to CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity.
Simultaneous DNA-FISH and multiplexed rRNA-FISH spatially map antimicrobial resistance plasmids and phage with their host taxa in polyspecies human oral biofilm samples, revealing hotspots of genetic exchange or amplification.
A real-world study of 100 diverse cases facilitated by a single centre for individualized bacteriophage therapy demonstrates feasibility and provides new hope for refractory and resistant bacterial infections.
Reporting in Nature Communications, Huo and colleagues provide three-dimensional structures of a bacterial immune defense system called Gabija. This work builds on recently published structural and functional studies and contributes strong evidence that protein assembly formation is essential for antiviral function.
We deeply characterized the early-life gut virome, which consists mainly of bacteriophages (phages) and the diversity of which greatly exceeds bacterial diversity. The virome was associated with later asthma development, independently of the bacterial hosts of the phages; we further uncovered intriguing interactions with immune genetics.
Two recent studies provide mechanistic understanding of how bacteria employ the Gabija system for defence against phages, as well as how phages use anti-defence proteins to overcome bacterial immunity.