Maria Sokolova
Lise Meitner Research Group Leader
@mpibiochem.bsky.social
Bacteriophages
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages. Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms. A thread 1/8
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaPhages are full of genes of unknown function that are likely adaptive in specific conditions. New preprint: Phage TnSeq identifies essential genes rapidly and knocks all non-essentials. We would like to send a pool of phiKZ mutants to anyone wanting it! Reach out tinyurl.com/bdcfrejh
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaSave the date, please RT: Looking forward to an exciting International Symposium @spp2330.bsky.social "New concepts in prokaryotic virus-host interactions". October 5-7, 2026; Harnack-Haus Berlin (Germany). @dfg.de @hhu.de @fz-juelich.de
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova1/10 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...
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova1/9 Metagenomics lets us read microbiomes in nature without cultivation, but writing (editing) them in their native context is still a major challenge. Meet MetaEdit: a platform for pathway-scale metagenomic editing inside the gut microbiome. science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaHow do SMC complexes load onto DNA to get ready for loop extrusion? @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social & co discovered that Wadjet, an SMC complex involved in bacterial DNA immunity, performs some impressive molecular gymnastics 🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️. Check out the new paper: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaNAD+ is a central molecule in bacterial immunity. An excellent and timely review by Hugo Vausset and Aude Bernheim
- Many antiphage systems use NAD+, in many ways. @hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all! Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity! www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaBeen working on a really strange retron bacterial immune system, here's the preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Type VI retrons are unlike any other. Phage infection triggers reverse transcription of a DNA fragment that activates translation of a toxin to kill the infected cell.
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaNew article alert: Bacterial TIR-based immune systems sense phage capsids to initiate defense Out now in Nature Microbiology by Cameron G. Roberts, Chloe B. Fishman, Zhiying Zhang, Dalton V. Banh, Dinshaw J. Patel & Luciano A. Marraffini #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaBacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides. Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaFascinating discovery - anti-phage defense protein is a proenzyme that is cleaved by partner protease after phage infection and all three! products of cleavage form active nuclease.
- Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaVery happy to see this piece out in @plosbiology.org, on the bacterial immune systems and microbial communities. It was a great team effort with Rafael Custodio, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social , @brownlab.bsky.social, and Edze Westra! 🦠🧫 #phagesky #mevosky journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova🚀New preprint from our lab! I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡 Continue reading (🧵)
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaWork I co-led with @jnoms.bsky.social is now online at @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social ! We revealed a previously unrealized diversity of viral immune-evasion proteins that selectively destroy different cyclic nucleotide signals used in bacterial immunity. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaCheck out our latest paper on mirusviruses, one of the most remarkable new groups of protist viruses - extremely diverse, carry lots of spliceosomal introns (including new homing introns) and are at the evolutionary crossroads between tailed phages and herpesviruses! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaLooking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaPhage "satellites" that produce capsids but have no genes to produce tails have puzzled scientists for a long time. These are abundant as prophages in bacteria, but it was unclear how they can infect without tails Now, Penadés & co show that they hijack tails from other phages. Incredible!
- Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species. @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaPreprint: “Structural modeling reveals viral proteins that manipulate host immune signaling” Using AI-guided structural modeling, we find new families of viral proteins that sequester or cleave host immune signaling molecules Congrats Nitzan Tal! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova📢Preprint out! Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social! We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery. Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaHow phages trigger antiphage defence systems is a big unknown in the field. Looks great! #mevosky
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaHello everyone! I am pleased to share information on the first ever Computational Structural Virology Symposium, conducted August 4th on zoom and highlighting work in this emerging field. You can register for this event here: forms.gle/CNiqskMwQEuV.... Please re-post!
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaWe're thrilled to share the published version of our DRT9 story, online today @nature.com! Congratulations to all authors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaCool work by Sanasar investigating how bacteria-phage dynamics affect the distribution of antiphage defense systems in the genome www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaExcited to share that my work in the @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social lab describing chaperone-mediated phage sensing by a bacterial NLR-related protein is out in @plosbiology.org!
- Bacteria encode homologs of the human NACHT proteins that form inflammasomes and use them to defend against phage #infection. @amyconte.bsky.social @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social &co show that bNACHT25 detects diverse phages indirectly through interaction with the host chaperone DnaJ. 🧪 plos.io/4koXP60
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaSoftAlign: End-to-end protein structures alignment biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaNews from the world of pAgos: We explored a distinct clade of short pAgos associated with HNH nuclease partners, which we named SPARHA, and discovered that they protect bacteria from phages and plasmids via abortive infection. Upon activation, SPARHA oligomerizes, forming filaments. A long 🧵
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaHappy to share our latest piece of work on the PARIS bacterial immune system. We performed a detailed characterization of the AriB Toprim nuclease, the effector of PARIS immunity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova🚨 🧬 Updated preprint on the completed BASEL collection - what's new? Some fun with bacterial immunity and a new P22 relative infecting E. coli K-12. A thread 🧵
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaIt 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...
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaMy lab’s first preprint! We used functional metagenomics to identify phage defenses in human and soil microbiomes. We scaled these selections while maintaining accuracy, enabling us to examine 9 habitats for defense elements against 7 phages. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaFantastic new paper out @nature.com! @merbllab.bsky.social discovers proteasome-derived peptides that function as a defence against bacterial infections. I'm not an immunologist but even I can tell that this finding has huge implications for new therapeutic interventions! 👉 go.nature.com/43k1a0H
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- Reposted by Maria SokolovaGlad to share the work of @yli18smc.bsky.social and co on Lamassu, a bacterial defense system related to Rad50/Mre11 (RM). While RM carefully trims DNA ends for repair, Lamassu chops up the host chromosome. Our study reveals how it is regulated to minimize damage, activating only during infection.
- Reposted by Maria Sokolova1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬 But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯 Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A short thread 🧵👇
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaJoin our favorite microbiology meeting! Fantastic talks, poster sessions, new technologies, and all the hot areas of microbiology in a great environment - experts in cell & systems biology, microbiomes, environment & evolution, pathogenesis, phage & antibiotics DON’T MISS abstract deadline, April 1
- Reposted by Maria SokolovaPreprint alert! ✨ In this project that I co-led with @benadler.bsky.social, we show that a miniature CRISPR-Cas10-like enzyme, mCpol, uses a novel inverse signaling mechanism to prevent the spread of viruses that attempt immune evasion by depleting host cyclic nucleotides. Check it out:
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