Gallego-del-Sol et al. show that arbitrium-coding phages can sense non-cognate peptide signals from other phages to regulate lysis-lysogeny decisions. This crosstalk affects lysis-lysogeny outcomes of phage infections, mixed lysogenic communities, and polylysogens. Our results demonstrate that crosstalk is an important mechanism that drives phage interactions in microbial communities.

Xiao et al. identify α-KG as a rosacea-associated metabolite that activates the OXGR1-Gq-MYL9 axis in the vascular smooth muscle cells to boost contractility and suppress pathological vasodilation underlying erythema. Cryo-EM reveals a bipartite-acid pocket of OXGR1 that enables structure-guided development of A-1, a selective agonist that alleviates erythema in rosacea-like models.

Precise genome editing of the rice strigolactone receptor DWARF14 confers robust, transgene-free antiviral resistance by blocking viral suppression of endogenous RNA silencing, offering a promising strategy for durable disease protection without a yield penalty.