Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠)

@crypticprophage

TAs 🛑 phages ('96), phages ➡️ persisters, E. c. CRISPR 🛑 cryptic prophages, indole=interkingdom signal, AI2 incr biofilm & TqsA exports (Prof. Thomas K. Wood)

Endowed Professor 3X (H 118) sites.psu.edu/woodgroup/ Joined February 2022

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Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠) @crypticprophage Jun 28

biorxiv.org/content/10.648…
(1/2) It took 12 yrs, but we performed the first directed evolution of methyl-coenzyme M reductase (ANME-1 Mcr that captures CH4) by selecting for growth on CH4 in a methanogen forced to reverse methanogenesis.

www.biorxiv.org Engineering Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase for Enhanced Methane and Carbon Dioxide Capture through... Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, nearly half of which is consumed anaerobically by anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) through methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr). However, ANME cannot be grown...

Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠) @crypticprophage 5d

doi.org/10.64898/2026.…
Lovely determination of the regulation of human toxin (pneumolysin, PlyA) by a type II toxin/antitoxin system (PlyC/PlyB). So study unifies the disparate fields of external toxins and toxins of TA systems.

www.biorxiv.org Tripartite toxin-antitoxin system regulates the production and release of pneumolysin by Streptoc... The production of toxins is critical to the success of bacteria, with their targets and outcomes varying widely. Pneumolysin (Ply), produced by the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, is a...

Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠) @crypticprophage 5d

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/sp…
More evidence that ribosome hibernation (i.e., dormancy from inactivation of ribosomes) is a conserved response that leads to persistence (from 47 different chemical stressors, distinct from resistance).

journals.asm.org rmf, a conserved ribosome hibernation marker of convergent dormancy in experimentally evolved... Bacteria survive antibiotics not only by becoming resistant but also by entering a dormant, slow-growing state that tolerates drugs, and how predictably different populations reach such a state has...

Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠) @crypticprophage 6d

doi.org/10.64898/2026.…
1/2. cDNA-encoded Hok/Sok with nat'l regulation inhibits phage (HokB most important). This stands in stark contrast to the report by Anaïs Le Rhun (DOI: 10.17912/MICROPUB.BIOLOGY.002040), who claimed that Hok/Sok does not inhibit phage without active Hok.

www.biorxiv.org Chromosomally-Encoded Hok/Sok Toxin/Antitoxin Systems Inhibit Phage Infection The primary physiological role of toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems is phage defense; they are also used to stabilize mobile genetic elements. In the initial publication in 1996, plasmid-encoded Hok/Sok,...

Cryptic Prophage (phage 🧬🪤 in 🦠) @crypticprophage Oct 30

biorxiv.org/content/10.648…
(1/2) In all reports to date, TA systems inhibit phage, as established by us in 1996. Now we find lytic phages can utilize toxin Hha of Hha/TomB (my namesake!) to activate cryptic prophage lysis genes to increase, not decrease infection.

www.biorxiv.org Achilles’ Heel: Type VII Toxin/Antitoxin System Hha/TomB Facilitates Phage Infection by Regulating... Toxin/antitoxin systems (TAs) are stress-response loci most-closely linked to stabilizing mobile genetic elements such as plasmids and inhibiting phage infection. In contrast to the phage inhibition...