Matías Rojas-Montero

This study develops a phage transposon sequencing (TnSeq) platform to identify essential genes in bacteriophages, finding ~110 fitness-conferring genes in a jumbo phage model.

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 isolates and characterizes novel retrons from environmental bacteria, tests their phage defense mechanisms, and engineers them for genome editing in E. coli.

The paper experimentally characterizes retrons to determine their RT-DNA sequences, production rates, and editing efficacy across bacterial, phage, and human genomes.