Conformational changes of the baseplate regulating tail contraction of Staphylococcus phage 812

Bíňovský J, Šiborová M, Zlatohurska M et al. The EMBO Journal 2026

Congratulations to Ján Bíňovský on his new paper - How bacteriophage recognizes and penetrates the cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus: From atomic structure to targeted phage therapy.

The combination of mupirocin and Kayvirus broadens the decolonization effect against Staphylococcus aureus

Siváková, Figallová, Botka et al., Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2026
In collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine of MU, we have demonstrated that the therapeutic phage of the Kayvirus genus extends the effect of mupirocin decolonization of S. aureus while preventing the development of resistance.

Antarctic Mokoshia rubra and Mokoshia mucilaginosa enhance growth and cadmium stress tolerance in Nicotiana species

In cooperation with the Section of Experimental Plant Biology ÚEB we described that the species of the genus Massilia, which we have described from Antarctic environments, function as an important component of beneficial plant microbiomes. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 2025. 

Virion content unpacked by long-read sequencing: stress-induced changes in transmitted staphylococcal mobilome due to phage-satellite interactions

Botka al. Nucleic Acids Research 2025
We published a study focused on the spread of mobile genetic elements of bacteria, which have a significant impact on the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens. Their spread is enabled by temperate bacteriophages and their satellites, for which we have presented a new approach to monitor the genetic content of individual viral particles. We also demonstrated how therapeutic bacteriophages can be utilized to suppress the spread of these factors, thereby combating the global issue of antibiotic resistance.

CRISPR-Cas10-Assisted Structural Modification of Staphylococcal Kayvirus for Imaging and Biosensing Applications

Šimečková et al. ACS Synthetic Biology 2025
Congratulations to Hanka on her publication of a structurally modified bacteriophage with a number of advanced applications.