Rafael Pinilla‐Redondo

This study defines the structure and mechanism of retron type IX, revealing how its DNA-scaffolded ring assembly mediates antiphage immunity through phage-encoded nuclease-triggered activation.

The paper shows Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a CRISPR-Cas system to silence a proline-codon toxin that stops phage growth, revealing a defense mechanism against anti-CRISPR phages.

This paper identifies viral single-guide RNAs (vsgRNAs) that subvert bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 immunity by sequestering Cas9 and redirecting its activity, and shows they can enable genome editing in mammalian cells.

This study shows that plasmid-borne CRISPR-Cas is beneficial in plasmid competition but is hindered by toxin-antitoxin systems in horizontally transferred plasmids.

The paper identifies new anti-phage defense systems in E. coli by analyzing modular defensive domains, validating several candidates with anti-phage activity.

The paper describes a non-canonical mechanism in Type VI retrons where reverse transcribed ssDNA derepresses translation of an antiviral toxin, providing phage defense without detectable msDNA.

The paper identifies DRT10, an antiviral reverse transcriptase, and shows its structural and mechanistic similarities to telomerase, suggesting a bacterial origin for telomerase.

The paper identifies a bacterial anti-phage system that uses nucleobase modification to generate immune messengers, leading to population-level defense through infected cell death.

The paper identifies viral crlRNAs that suppress bacterial immunity by reprogramming Cas proteins and demonstrates their potential for mammalian genome editing.

CRISPRCasTyper is a tool that identifies and classifies CRISPR-Cas loci in prokaryotic sequences using machine learning, achieving high accuracy in subtyping and handling fragmented data.