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Graham F. Hatfull (University of Pittsburgh)05/10/2026, 14:15Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleTalk from invited speaker
Mycobacteriophages are natural predators of Mycobacterium strains. We have gained insights into mycobacteriophage biology through science education programs such as PHIRE and SEA-PHAGES, in which many students have collected over 30,000 phages, half of which infect Mycobacterium. This set of phages isolated on a single bacterial strain (M. smegmatis mc2155) reveals the amazing genetic...
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Avigail Stokar-Avihail (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany)05/10/2026, 14:45Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
The typical phage infection cycle begins with adsorption of a phage particle to a bacterial cell, followed by injection of the phage genome and production of new progeny phages. However, it is often overlooked that, in addition to their genomes, some phages also inject proteins into the host cell. Although a handful of such proteins have been described, their prevalence and diversity across...
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Katharina Höfer (Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy, Division "Nucleic Acid technologies", Regensburg)05/10/2026, 15:00Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
Bacteriophage infection is shaped by small metabolites and dinucleotides, which can act as crucial regulatory molecules in virus–host interactions. One prominent example is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a central redox cofactor that also serves as an RNA cap. In this project, we investigate how NAD-capped RNAs influence bacteriophage infection using the T4–Escherichia coli system...
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Nandika Sanjog Sahani (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry)05/10/2026, 15:20Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
CrAss-like phages are a group of viruses that include some of the most abundant phages in the human gut. These phages infect bacteria of the Bacteroidetes phylum. Despite their abundance, their molecular biology remains poorly understood.
In this study, we use phi14:2, a crAss-like phage isolated from the marine microbiome that infects Cellulophaga baltica, as a model system to...
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Rob Lavigne (KU Leuven)05/10/2026, 15:35Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleTalk from invited speaker
In fracture-related infections (FRI), antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus frequently persists within fibrin-encapsulated biofilms and abscess communities that restrict immune clearance and antibiotic penetration. This trait is mediated by prophage-encoded accessory genes, which serve as major drivers of Staphylococcus aureus virulence.
We here present FibriLysins, a...
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Jörg Vogel (1 Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), 2 University of Würzburg)05/10/2026, 16:35Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
Jumbo phages with large genomes (200-600 kb) are fascinating models to study RNA translocation across membranes and intracellular structures. Many such jumbo phages including the Pseudomonas phage phiKZ build and replicate with an intracellular structure in the infected bacterium, the so-called phage nucleus. This protects their genome from cytosolic phage defense proteins, but it also...
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Fabian M. Commichau (Institute for Biology, FG Molecular Microbiology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany), Katharina Kohm05/10/2026, 16:55Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
SPβ-like phages possess a unique lysogeny control system [1]. Our recent work identified the master repressor of SPβ and an essential activator of the lytic cycle [2]; however, the regulatory network governing the lysis-lysogeny decision requires further elucidation [1]. Furthermore, fundamental mechanisms such as virion assembly or the adsorption of SPβ to its bacterial hosts remain poorly...
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Yael Litvak (The Hebrew University)05/10/2026, 17:15Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
Shiga toxin (Stx) prophages lysogenize various bacterial species, converting them into dangerous pathogens and driving the ongoing emergence of outbreaks. These pathogens are often polylysogens, harboring multiple prophages within their genomes. Yet, the impact of Stx prophage acquisition on resident prophages remains largely unknown. We show that upon infection the Stx prophage lysogenizes...
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Milan Gerovac (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research)05/10/2026, 17:30Cellular organisation and regulation of the viral infection cycleShort-talk only
Chimalliviridae reorganise infected bacterial cells by assembling a phage nucleus for replication of their genomes. However, the role of the phage nucleus in host takeover and unique infection dynamics is poorly understood (1,2,3). Here, we investigate how these phages reshape the organisation of protein complexes in infected cells and how this helps sustain phage replication under stress....
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