Eduardo Rocha

Horizontal gene transfer is often depicted as a process distributing pre-existing functions to novel genetic backgrounds. Yet HGT can also increase the rate of functional innovation after transfer. Here's a brief review on the topic: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... #evosky #microsky

Happy World Phage Day to all who celebrate... ... delighted to share new work led by Jacopo Marchi, Chadiga Khalek & joint w/Remy Chait on stable coexistence of phage with migrating bacteria driven by the forces of infection, lysis, and chemotaxis. A 🧵 at the interface between known & unknown.

The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous DNA substitutions (dN/dS) encodes information about selection pressures. This study develops a model of dN/dS in recombining bacterial populations, offering insights on how horizontal gene transfer shapes the genome. 🧪 #AcademicSky #evolution plos.io/3Wcy9lT

Very nice discovery from the Jackson, Bravo and Basel labs. Cleaved tRNA ends, loaded with an amino acid, activate a form of bacterial immunity

Very happy that this work found a good home at @pnas.org Thanks to the reviewers for their constructive comments. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

@pavelpayne.bsky.social et al. show that bacterial herd immunity can promote homologous recombination, suggesting bacterial immune systems can shape molecular evolution not only by blocking infection but also by regulating genetic exchange 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #societyjournal #evobio

Out today in @nature.com: our review on how single cells evolve into multicellular organisms. With Ozan Bozdag, @kaitong25.bsky.social, Peter Yunker, and @matthewherron.bsky.social. rdcu.be/9ZuiKow9twKa For an overview, check out the video below.

#VeilleESR #ESR Le premier rapport des Assises pour l'Université et pour la Recherche propose à la représentation nationale un plan de redressement budgétaire pour l'Université, la Recherche et la Vie Etudiante. A télécharger ici: raw.githubusercontent.com/cpesr/assise...

#plasmidbiology #plasmid Just out! 🚀 Thrilled by our discovery: the function of the C-terminal domain of MOBH1 relaxases! We uncovered this thanks to a fertility inhibitor encoded by a parasitic mobile genetic element. Congrats to Florence on a great piece of work! 👏 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

How bacterial immune systems sense phage infection #bacteriophage #phage #microSky #scienceSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to share that @averynoonan.bsky.social paper “Phylogeny-agnostic strain-level prediction of phage–host interactions from genomes using machine learning” is now published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com 🎉🎊 👉🏽 rdcu.be/nR2NizD7H5va

Bacterial chromosomal gene positioning is likely shaped by selection on both mean and growth-dependent expression #genomes #genetics #genes #evolution #evoSky #scienceSky journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

The latest issue of Microbiology Australia is now online! connectsci.au/ma/issue/47/3

The final version of our manuscript on TnSeq in bacteriophages (“HIDEN-SEQ”) is out today – if you have an interesting phage phenotype and want to know the underlying genetic basis, this one is for you! 1/4

We have an open Assistant/Associate Professor position in Pathogen Biology at the Department of Genetics - come and join us! 🦠 🧫 🧬https://www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assistantassociate-professor-in-pathogen-genetics-pc51175

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon. many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/

*PLEASE RE-POST* Applications for the trainee-focussed GRS immediately preceding this meeting are also now open! We will begin accepting applicants on *January 15th, 2027*. We will expedite our review for applicants requiring Visas, so please submit ASAP. www.grc.org/microbial-po...

Great work led by @tomipou.bsky.social and @jrpenades.bsky.social with contributions of Yiqing Wang from our lab. While plasmid conduction has a very long history, there is a flood of papers coming on the combinatorics of plasmid co-integrations and excisions. Makes research fun, but not easier...

Great work led by @jmouradesousa.bsky.social, where we find that phage and satellite defense hotspots change by recombination exceedingly fast, producing novel defenses. Oddly, phage & their satellites exchange defenses with lots of elements from theirs and other types, but not among the two.

Some of the smallest 😎 viruses on Earth are all around us. Three or four genes 😍 each, in nearly every environment. We keep finding thousands by sequencing, yet don't know who they infect, can't easily isolate them, or even how the few we have infect a cell. Our new preprint takes this on 🧵👇

New paper from the lab, out in Nature Microbiology. We ran CRISPRi screens to ask what genes E. coli needs in order to live in a gut and what this can tell us about the gut environment itself. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02471-8

Dear all, I have the pleasure to inform you that the online course "Resistance to Antibacterial Agents", produced by the Institut Pasteur, will start on November 3, 2026. How does ABR emerge and spread? ... 🔗 www.fun-mooc.fr/en/courses/r...

🧬Phages in Toulouse — November 18–20, 2026! 🦠 We are delighted to announce the next edition of Phages.fr congress, Phages in Toulouse, bringing together the phage research community for 3 days of talks, presentations & scientific discussions! 📍 Toulouse, France 📅 Nov. 18–20

We are searching for an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Biology! Looking for colleagues asking fundamental questions relating to evolutionary processes and drivers of evolutionary patterns. If you think it is you, please do apply! And please repost. facultypositions.stanford.edu/jobs/assista...

Bravo! Much deserved! What a year.

1/17 Submissions are now open for the 2027 Microbial Population Biology GRC! We expect this meeting to be extraordinarily oversubscribed. If you want to come, time is of the essence--apply ASAP! June 27–July 2 • Andover, NH www.grc.org/microbial-po...

Does an AMR gene on a plasmid diversify differently to an AMR gene on a chromosome? We are looking for a PhD student to work on this question in Bath!

Chair in Bacteriology in Cambridge Department of Medicine. A great opportunity. Please circulate. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Manuel , it was an immense pleasure to work with you here. I’m looking forward to learn about your incoming great scientific achievements!!

Our paper is now out in the @isme-microbes.bsky.social Journal (and selected as editor's choice)! We use an ecological framework to analyze the distribution of small transposable elements in over 30,000 prokaryotic genomes, characterizing their genomic niche doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Delighted to share news that our preprint “Slower-than-exponential viral decay is prevalent and can reshape virus-microbe dynamics” is now online, led by Akash Arani (UMD-BEES PhD), Paul Fremont (UMD-Biology postdoc) and Emma Wachter (former UMD Honors Bio student) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Professor in Bacteriophage Biology & Evolution at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Closing date 1 October, with an expected start date no earlier than January 1, 2027, and a salary within the range of $200,000 to $270,000 per year. For details: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ubcfac...

Institut Pasteur researchers describe LIN codes in PLOS Biology: a standardized numerical system for identifying bacterial strains from genome data, now used in BIGSdb-Pasteur and Pathogenwatch for outbreak surveillance. @sylvainbrisse.bsky.social ↘️ doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003781

Some bacteria use the CRISPR/Cas systems as transcriptional repressors of other anti-phage systems, such that when CRISPR interfered with, gene expression of repressed anti-phage systems goes up www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/4 Every good defence needs a backup! 🛡️⚔ Out now in @natrevmicro.nature.com our Comment on "𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴"! 🎉 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Starting with the DNA sequence of a #phage genome, #PholdAPhage will create a 3D reconstruction of the complete phage, almost like you did cryoEM on it! Check out Renee's awesome software github.com/reneegreen81... to assemble unknown phage particles one protein at a time

Out @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social, natural products meet bacterial immunity! We used genomics to identify lanthivirins: a family of >2,000 lanthipeptide BGCs that protect Actinobacteria against phages. Led by @hshomar.bsky.social & @mariegllm.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Significant update to the AllTheBacteria paper, including discovering new antimicrobial peptides and testing in vitro and vivo. This has grown into a fantastic collaboration!

1/10 🚨Preprint! One RING to rule them all (phages)👑💍⚔️ Bacteria build giant DNA-scaffolded RNase rings (larger than the ribosome!) to shut down viral infection🧬🧵👇 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bacteriophage continue to have so much to teach us. It's in our interest to understand how they work and impact human & environmental health. New joint work led by @mariandm.bsky.social & @rantahan.bsky.social inferring single-cell latent period & burst size heterogeneity from population dynamics.

Job Opportunity: #CNRS Chemistry - #InstitutPasteur Mid-Career Group Leader (Chemistry for Health) is open in Paris, France. This is a fantastic opportunity for a standout chemist to establish themselves in a world-class environment. research.pasteur.fr/en/call/mid-...

Characterizing the ecological niche of insertion sequences within prokaryotic genomes academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs

Fate of Horizontally Acquired Genes: Rapid Initial Turnover Followed by Long-Term Persistence | Molecular Biology and Evolution | Oxford Academic

We are looking for a motivated PhD student in phage genomics! Please find the details attached. Application deadline 24/07. Don't hesitate to spread the word!

Les nouvelles règles d'éligibilité de l'AAPG 2027 de @agencerecherche.bsky.social sont une catastrophe. Comment se fait-il qu'il n'y ait pas plus de réactions dans la communauté ? Sommes-nous à ce point résignés, ou individualistes ? #ESR