Erin E. Doherty

tRNA-derived second messengers confer bacterial immunity

The paper identifies a bacterial immune pathway where tRNA cleavage generates second messengers that trigger cell death via RNA-guided nuclease activity.

Stepwise DNA unwinding gates TnpB genome-editing activity

Ymu1 TnpB unwinds DNA via a long-lived partially unwound intermediate before a rarely stable open state; the WFR triple variant stabilizes both, boosting plant editing.

Conserved folds enable immune antagonism across the tree of life

The paper identifies conserved structural folds used by pathogens across all domains of life to evade immune responses.

Divergent viral phosphodiesterases for immune signaling evasion

This study identifies diverse 2H phosphodiesterases in viruses that selectively degrade cyclic dinucleotides to evade host immune signaling.

Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity

The paper identifies recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in bacterial antiviral immunity and shows their proteolytic activation mechanism across different immune systems.

Rapid two-step target capture ensures efficient CRISPR-Cas9-guided genome editing

This study identifies a trade-off between PAM recognition breadth and CRISPR-Cas9 editing efficiency, proposing a two-step target capture mechanism to improve genome editing.

A miniature CRISPR-Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by an inverse signaling pathway

The paper shows that the CRISPR-related enzyme mCpol produces cyclic oligonucleotides to prevent cell death and counteract viral immune evasion.

RNA language models predict mutations that improve RNA function

The paper develops an RNA language model to predict mutations that enhance RNA thermostability using a new database of RNA sequences linked to environmental temperatures.

Rapid DNA unwinding accelerates genome editing by engineered CRISPR-Cas9

The paper shows that engineered GeoCas9 variants enhance genome editing by accelerating DNA unwinding, revealing a new role for the WED domain in this process.