Sidewinder enables high-fidelity DNA assembly by separating the information that guides assembly from the final assembled sequence.

by John B. Bruce, Robyn Manley, Elvina Smith, Philippe Carmona, Sylvain Gandon, Edze R. Westra Temperate phage can transmit both horizontally (lytic cycle) and vertically (lysogenic cycle). Many temperate phage have the ability to modify their lysis/lysogeny decisions based on various environmental cues. For instance, many prophage are known to reactivate when SOS stress responses of their host are triggered. Temperate phage infecting Bacilli can also use peptide signals (“arbitrium”) to control their lysis/lysogeny decisions. However, information from the arbitrium and SOS systems can be potentially conflicting, and it is unclear how phage integrate information carried by these two different signals when making lysis–lysogeny decisions. Here, we use evolutionary epidemiology theory to explore how phage could evolve to use both systems to modulate lysis/lysogeny decisions in a fluctuating environment. Our model predicts that it can be adaptive for phage to respond to both host SOS systems and arbitrium signaling, as they provide complementary information on the quality of the infected host and the availability of alternative hosts. Using the phage phi3T and its host Bacillus subtilis, we show that during lytic infection and as prophage, lysis–lysogeny decisions rely on the integration of information on host condition and arbitrium signal concentrations. For example, free-phage are more likely to lysogenise a stressed host, and prophage are less likely to abandon a stressed host, when high arbitrium concentrations suggest susceptible hosts are unavailable. These experimental results are consistent with our theoretical predictions and demonstrate that phage can evolve plastic life-history strategies to adjust their infection dynamics to account for both the within-host environment (host quality) and the external environment that exists outside of their host (availability of susceptible hosts in the population). More generally, our work yields a new theoretical framework to study the evolution of viral plasticity under the influence of multiple environmental cues.

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.

Intestinal barrier integrity is crucial for gut homeostasis. Douadi et al. show that bacteriophages can cross this barrier without causing damage and that translocation rates depend on the barrier sta...

PhD Project - NERC RED-ALERT CDT: Bacteriophages as river pollutants: determining the impact of phage pollution, with focus on antimicrobial resistance. at Bangor University, listed on FindAPhD.com

Author summary Prophages—viral genomes integrated into bacterial chromosomes—are common in enteric bacteria and can profoundly influence bacterial physiology and ecological fitness. Here we show that ...