The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 13 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02280-zOn 25 November 2025, the international phage therapy research and biotechnology communities gathered in Liverpool, UK, to discuss progress in implementing clinical phage therapies and the latest technological breakthroughs in phage biology and engineering, while UK regulators and health agencies provided the latest guidance.

Feng et al. uncover how a bacterial immune effector, KomBC, is activated by the toxic nucleotide dITP. A preassembled filament converts sparse, non-cyclic dITP signals into cooperative NADase activation, revealing a distinct ultrasensitive immune mechanism.

Biologics are delivered to the gut using phage that infects resident commensal bacteria.

Many temperate Bacillus phages use the arbitrium peptide-based signaling system to regulate lysis-lysogeny decisions. In this system, the secreted Aim…

Temperate phages integrate multiple information sources to regulate lysis-lysogeny transitions. SPbeta-like phages use arbitrium signaling and DNA dam…

The Bikard lab at Institut Pasteur in Paris is seeking to hire postdoctoral researchers. We are investigating bacteria / bacteriophages interactions, and the genetic innovation that happens at this in...

Extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs) are bacteriophage tail-derived toxin delivery complexes that are present in many prokaryotes. Here, the authors present an analysis of eCIS tail fib...

Bacteriophages and PICIs spread bacterial defenses via lateral transduction, shaping microbial immunity and pathogen evolution.

A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.

Bacteria must distinguish phage attack from normal homeostatic processes, yet the danger signals that trigger many defence systems remain unknown. Here, we show that a PUA-Calcineurin-CE-HAD module from Escherichia coli ECOR28 confers broad anti-phage protection by binding Dam-methylated deoxyadenosine monophosphate (m6-dAMP) generated during phage-induced chromosome degradation. Ligand binding converts a preassembled PUA-Calcineurin-CE hexamer loaded with six HAD phosphatases into a polymerising filament. The filament acts as a high-flux dNTP sink through a two-enzyme cascade: HAD first dephosphorylates dATP to dADP, and Calcineurin-CE then converts dADP to dAMP. dNTP collapse halts phage replication and enforces abortive infection. Multiple mobile-element DNA mimic proteins block filament assembly, revealing a direct phage counter-defence. More broadly, our findings extend a conserved, cross-kingdom paradigm of immune filament assembly to nucleotide-depletion antiviral defence and suggest modified-nucleotide sensing by related PUA-Calcineurin-CE modules as a widespread, underappreciated bacterial strategy. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, https://ror.org/01qqpzg67, Postdoctoral Bridging Fellowship F.L.N. is supported by a Wessex Health Partners (WHP) and National Institute for Health and Care Research Wessex Experimental Medicine Network (NIHR WEMN), Seed fund National Institutes of Health, GM145888, U24 GM129539) Maloris Foundation Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, P30-CA008748 Simons Foundation, SF349247 New York State Assembly

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02239-6A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.