Yaroslav Ispolatov

The paper argues that the number of defense and counter-defense systems in the prokaryote-virus arms race is limited to around 10 due to metabolic and autoimmune costs.

The paper profiles single-cell transcriptomes of Bacteroides fragilis infected with a phage, revealing combinatorial phase-variable expression of defense systems that enable super-resistant cells to avoid phage infection without mutations.

This study examines evolutionary dynamics in multi-level selection models, showing that weaker individual-level selection promotes group-level diversification while stronger selection enhances group adaptation.

The paper estimates the optimal number of spacers in CRISPR arrays that maximizes bacterial protection against viral attacks by balancing spacer diversity and effectiveness.