We are recruiting postdocs to work on antimicrobial resistance and bacterial cell envelope biology. PLEASE SHARE.

New in JB: In the CF airway, P. aeruginosa transitions from an acute to chronic pathogen. Roxana Flores-Vega, Roberto Rosales-Reyes et al. review the role of 2-component systems in this crucial adaptation.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology

What a fascinating story is hiding in bioRxiv!! An elaborate work of @doylemt1.bsky.social an co-workers to understand the function of the bacterial TAM machinery ❤️‍🔥 and here it is, a rich body of evidence for the "ancient" bridge for the lipid transfer 👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Here is it! Super new science from us on horizontal gene transfer & bact defense systems! Liyana OW YONG discovered the first-of-its-kind defense factor AbjA that triggers 'abortive conjugation' as a defense mechanism, by targeting the T4SS! How neat?! #MicroSky 1/7

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

YdbL directly modulates YdbH-YnbE bridge formation to maintain Escherichia coli outer membrane homeostasis

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

QR code to access 'Structural diversification of phage tail fibres enables recognition of diverse type IV pili'

New paper showing how tailed #phages recognize diverse #Pseudomonas #T4P! Outstanding work by PhD candidate Ikram Qaderi, building on work started a decade ago during my sabbatical in the McArthur lab and in collaboration with the Guarné lab, now at #McGill. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through insertion sequence-mediated gene inactivation - Nature Microbiology Inactivation of chromosomal genes through plasmid-encoded IS elements is an extended mechanism of antimicrobial resistance evolution in bacteria.

Final version of our last paper is out!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A potential role for acyl-phosphate in the coordination of phospholipid and lipopolysaccharide synthesis in Escherichia coli www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

Magnesium depletion by Candida albicans unleashes two unusual modes of colistin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa with different fitness costs Bacterial resistance to the vital last-resort antibiotic colistin is an increasing challenge. This study shows that magnesium sequestration by C. albicans enables P. aeruginosa to evolve much higher l...

Our story on the evolution of colistin resistance is just out on @plosbiology.org (journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... Evolution doesn’t happen in isolation. We show that competing fungi can rewire the evolutionary trajectory of colistin resistance in P. aeruginosa. Great teamwork with the Ernst lab

🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Anti-Quorum Sensing Phages Disarm Pseudomonas aeruginosa www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Two Postdoctoral Research Associates in the Molecular Analysis of Bacterial Outer Membrane Protein Biogenesis

BEN BERKS lab 🤩

Predicting phage–host specificity Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 12 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01287-xThis Genome Watch article explores how protein language models are transforming phage–host specificity prediction by capturing meaningful biological information from viral sequences, from individual proteins to entire genomes.

New online! Predicting phage–host specificity

A surface-exposed cardiolipin synthase provides an unexpected paradigm for maintaining the Gram-negative outer membrane | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen | PNAS Microorganisms commonly exist in polymicrobial communities, where they can respond to interspecies secreted molecules by altering behaviors and phy...

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen

-in PNAS from @anukharelab.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Enterococcus fans: Check out our latest on E. faecalis EET, advancing our understanding of both the fundamental physiology of this bug and new mechanisms of its virulence. This is the product of a thrilling collaboration with friends in Singapore @gthibault.bsky.social led by @aarontan.bsky.social.

Metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli - Nature Microbiology The permeability of bacterial porins is dynamically regulated by periplasmic proton and potassium concentrations, altering antibiotic resistance.

Metabolic control of porin permeability
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

YfgH is a transmembrane glycine-zipper containing lipoprotein that stabilizes excess cardiolipin and outer membrane proteins during envelope stress www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12...

Peer-review practices of psychological journals: The fate of published articles, submitted again.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Security hacked: How phages slip past bacterial defenses Phages rely on diverse anti-defense proteins to neutralize bacterial defense systems and successfully infect their host.

📣 New MicroBites!

Security hacked: How phages slip past bacterial defenses 🦠

Phages rely on diverse anti-defense proteins to neutralize bacterial defense systems and successfully infect their host. 👇

A chimeric Mla-Pqi lipid transport system is required for Brucella abortus survival in macrophages | The EMBO Journal imageimageSeveral systems, such as the Mla and Pqi pathways, mediate lipid transport between the two membranes of gram-negative bacteria. This study identifies a novel Mla-Pqi chimeric complex in Bruc...

A chimeric Mla-Pqi lipid transport system is required for Brucella abortus survival in macrophages

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Peptidoglycan–outer membrane attachment generates periplasmic pressure to prevent lysis in Gram-negative bacteria - Nature Microbiology Outer membrane attachment to peptidoglycan enables periplasmic pressure to build up and counter cytoplasmic turgor pressure, preventing lysis during osmotic challenges in Escherichia coli.

#NewResearch

Outer membrane attachment to peptidoglycan enables periplasmic pressure to build up and oppose cytoplasmic turgor pressure, preventing lysis during osmotic challenge in Gram-negative bacteria

@michaeldeghelt.bsky.social #MicroSky 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A recent paper reveals that while LPS deficiency shields bacteria from phage infection (they lack receptor), it heightens vulnerability to T6SS contact-dependent antagonism, highlighting a critical evolutionary constraint.

by @seeyeunting.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

just like among humans, 𝗺𝗼𝗯bing is rampant in the microbial world.
here 👇 Maria Pilar Garcillán-Barcia , Fernando de la Cruz, and Eduardo Rocha review the extended 𝗺𝗼𝗯ility of plasmids...

#MicroSky

#MicroSky

Cartoon microbe with boxing gloves defending itself against other microbes Adobestock: 299822964

Just as our bodies have evolved to defend us against bacterial and viral pathogens, bacteria face the same challenges. They must deter their own viruses, chemically compete with other microbes, and deal with challenges from eukaryotic hosts 1/n 🧪

weekend is here! comes with a most welcome recording on youtube 👇

and if you need a less crick-heavy read, from the same author: DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.032
#MicroSky

Molecular interplay between peptidoglycan integrity and outer membrane asymmetry in maintaining cell envelope homeostasis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06....

Model for the interaction between P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae. These bacteria can co-exist in nutrient-replete conditions. Under iron-limiting conditions, siderophore synthesis is induced in both bacteria. Iron limitation can also turn on the synthesis of biosurfactants, rhamnolipids, in P. aeruginosa, allowing it to push away K. pneumoniae.

#MicrobiologyMonday: Pseudomonas aeruginosa releases a surfactant that displaces Klebsiella pneumoniae from solid surfaces. By pushing K. pneumoniae away, the detergent allows P. aeruginosa to better compete for limited iron. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2sH