{
  "abstract": "The arms race of bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts has inspired major breakthroughs in biotechnology and shaped phages as fierce predators with great clinical potential to fight multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. However, the large amount of genes of unknown function in phage genomes remains a major obstacle for the molecular understanding of phage–host interactions. Here we present HIDEN-SEQ (hidden Acr-enabled transposon-insertion sequencing), a transposon-insertion sequencing method for phages that systematically links viral genes to selectable phenotypes. Using model phage T4, we show that HIDEN-SEQ readily reproduces the gene essentiality map established over decades of research. Our method is easily portable across diverse non-model phages and reveals conditionally essential genes in multiple bacterial hosts and growth conditions, including previously unknown antidefence factors that we matched to specific antiviral defences. We anticipate that HIDEN-SEQ will be leveraged to reveal functions of viral genes with direct relevance for microbial ecology, biotechnology and phage therapy.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland",
    "Department of Urology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland",
    "Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland",
    "Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland",
    "Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland",
    "Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. alexander.harms@hest.ethz.ch"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dorentina Humolli",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-1819-6155"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Damien Piel",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-3760-8142"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jessica Ransome",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-2698-3439"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kathrin Bausch",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6253-0854"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Sarah Tschudin‐Sutter",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4875-5368"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Monica Ortelli",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-3256-3987"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Christoph Dehio",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7288-1052"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Jan‐Willem Veening",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3162-6634"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Alexander Harms",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2106-1286"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epk48gcbrkfxn.bib",
  "cited_by": 6,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41564-026-02455-8",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13716836/",
  "id": "epk48gcbrkfxn",
  "issns": [
    "2058-5276"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02455-8",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2303|Bacteriophages and microbial interactions"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2406|Bacteriophages and microbial interactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214290298",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-026-02455-8.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13716836",
  "pmid": "42791354",
  "published": "2026-09-25",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epk48gcbrkfxn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:24:02Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13716836",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02455-8"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T13:21:18Z",
      "native_id": "W7214290298",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02455-8"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2303|Bacteriophages and microbial interactions",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    },
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2406|Bacteriophages and microbial interactions",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Systematic mapping of bacteriophage gene essentiality with HIDEN-SEQ",
  "title_text": "Systematic mapping of bacteriophage gene essentiality with HIDEN-SEQ",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:46Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epk48gcbrkfxn",
  "venue": "Nature Microbiology",
  "versions": []
}