Structural basis for DNA processing and membrane translocation by ComEC in natural transformation Natural transformation is one of the major pathways of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria, enabling the acquisition of extracellular DNA and its integration into the host genome. ComEC is a membrane...

ComEC structure is out!! 😍
Congratulations to the authors! That’s not an easy one. We have been trying for years to get that structure…
We failed and gave up.

Structural insights into the mechanism underpinning iron piracy in pathogenic Neisseria Neisseria hijacks iron from human proteins for survival and pathogenesis.

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

65 years after Peter Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory, we report an association between ATP synthase and the electron transport chain. In the preprint led by @longzhou88.bsky.social, we describe a large supercomplex and show how the supramolecular organization contribute to oxidative phosphorylation 🧵

2D classes of a 58 kDa particle collected on a 100 kev Tundra electron microscope

2D classes of the 58 kDa sample collected on the 100 keV Tundra TEM with a Falcon C detector at @nusbf.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social. Still much work to do to optimise the sample & data collection but its cool to see what a 100 keV TEM is capable of. #cryoEM @recon4imd.bsky.social

Unbelievably proud of the work that everyone has put into this paper. Really grateful for such fab colleagues! Mycobacteria continue to be (subjectively) the most interesting bacteria 🤭

A GH with an immunity protein that binds with nM affinity and looks like this 🤩. Bacteria are always surprising us

We’ve been sciencing! M abscessus makes a arabinanase toxin to chop up the cell wall of competitor mycobacteria! #glycotime 🦠 thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for the funding that makes this collaborative work possible! Also Sam’s structures are 😍 and Jean-Lou did some lovely biochem

Clostridia from preterm infants metabolize human milk oligosaccharides to suppress pathobionts and modulate intestinal function in organoids - Nature Microbiology Clostridium perfringens lacking perfringolysin O toxin isolated from preterm infants metabolizes human milk oligosaccharide disialyllacto-N-tetraose to produce metabolites that promote the growth of c...

🚨 A new piece of the preterm gut microbiome puzzle just fell into place!

Bifidobacterium metabolise human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in early life — shaping immunity, supporting gut development, and protecting against diseases like necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).

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

Great to see Arnaud Basle, facility manager of our structural biology facility @nusbf.bsky.social there representing @newcastleuni.bsky.social 👏

Figure 1. Cryo-EM of abundant protein complexes in native membranes.

Figure 2. Cryo-EM of membrane proteins in vesicles.

Figure 3. 3D reconstruction of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicle membranes.

Figure 4. Generation of membrane vesicles for structure determination of proteins in their native lipid bilayer.

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM:

Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer

Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics:
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Sorry to hear that! I really liked the preprint and so did everyone I discussed it with.

Structural and functional characterisation of the dextran utilisome from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706672v1 #cryoEM

I’ve officially started my lab at Monash University! 🎉

We’re diving into #cellgrowth and #lysosome biology, through the lens of molecular #structure and mechanism.

I’m thrilled to say that PhD student scholarships are available—so please share widely and get in touch if you’re interested. 🤩

My latest preprint on the LolB in Bacteroides! Can't delete it, but you can deplete it to basically nothing and cells grow fine, plus lipoproteins still get to the cell surface 🤯

There is still SO much to understand about lipoproteins in Bacteroides!

Bacteriocin biophysics: From protein-protein interaction models to navigators of the bacterial cell envelope Bacteriocins are toxins deployed by bacteria to kill their competitors. Here, I reflect on my laboratory’s work on protein bacteriocins and their immunity proteins from Gram-negative bacteria. We unco...

A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends.

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Still lots of time to apply for this exciting project with us. Please share and encourage interested students to get in touch.

BBSSRC (NEEDL) funded PhD studentship in my lab co-supervised by
@thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social
If you're interested in structural biology and membrane transport processes, check out www.findaphd.com/phds/project... deadline 27th of Feb!
Get in touch for more info

Forged by Iron: Synthetic protein binders to decode bacterial iron transport mechanisms at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Forged by Iron: Synthetic protein binders to decode bacterial iron transport mechanisms at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

Fully funded four-year PhD position available in my lab!
Combining structural and synthetic biology to understand iron transport.
Deadline 27th of Feb, get in touch for more details!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

First inhibitor of a bacterial two-partner secretion system. Two-partner secretion system transporter proteins (TpsB) are widely conserved across Gram-negative pathogens. TpsB family proteins secrete exoprotein virulence factors that perform a myriad of functions such as adhesion and immune modulation. Despite their incredible importance in bacterial infectious disease, TpsB inhibitors have not yet been discovered. Here, we describe a potent inhibitor of FhaC, a TpsB protein produced by Bordetella spp . FhaC secretes the exoprotein FhaB that is essential for the establishment of whooping cough. We designed a peptide called P1 that we predicted would prevent substrate binding and lock FhaC in a secretion-inactive state. Simulations and biochemical assays supported our hypothesis and identified interactions important for P1 binding to FhaC. Strikingly, we observed that the peptide strongly inhibited FhaB secretion from clinical isolates and broadly reduced correlates of virulence. Together, this work provides a strong case for further development of a novel class of anti-TpsB anti-virulence compounds. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, R21AI180112

💊 We are excited to share our preprint that describes an inhibitor of the widespread and highly conserved Two-Partner Secretion (TPS) system that is critical for Gram-negative pathogens to export a multitude of diverse virulence factors.

(1/6)

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

Hi fellow membrane protein #StructuralBiology people!

Do you use maltoside detergents / model them in your stuctures? Watch out! ⚠️

Most PDB models of LMNG and GDN are wrong ❌, yet continue to be re-used. Spread the word!

See more: doi.org/10.1021/acsc... (w. @sebvidalchem.bsky.social ) #cryoEM

UK will rejoin Erasmus student scheme in 2027 The UK left in December 2020 as part of the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU negotiated by Boris Johnson.

Good news! Erasmus is a great scheme. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Fab afternoon at the MHD festive gathering 🎉 congratulations to the winning quiz team and @johncorrigall.bsky.social for most festive outfit.

AlphaFold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination - Nature Methods An analysis of AlphaFold protein structure predictions shows that while in many cases the predictions are highly accurate, there are also many instances where the predicted structures or parts of pred...

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

Structure and organization of AMPA receptor-TARP complexes in the mammalian cerebellum AMPA receptors (AMPARs) are multimodal transducers of glutamatergic signals throughout the brain. Their diversity is exemplified in the cerebellum; at afferent synapses, AMPARs mediate high-frequency ...

Structure and organization of AMPA receptor-TARP complexes in the mammalian cerebellum | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Polymyxins slow down lateral diffusion of proteins and lipopolysaccharide in the E. coli outer membrane - Communications Biology Multi-scale molecular dynamics simulations reveal that polymyxins form polymyxin-protein aggregates upon associating with the E. coli outer membrane thereby reducing lateral mobility of outer membrane...

Our paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42...

To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.

Fantastic to have Prof Matthias Wilmanns from EMBL Hamburg hosted by @kshbeckham.bsky.social to give a @mhd-newcastle.bsky.social seminar on mycobacterial infection #dreamtheme

Structural characterization of the YbbAP-TesA ABC transporter identifies it as a lipid hydrolase complex that extracts hydrophobic compounds from the bacterial inner membrane In E.coli, three of the four Type VII ABC transporter systems have been structurally characterized. This study solves cryo-EM structures of the fourth Type VII ABC system, YbbAP-TesA, and suggests tha...

Type VII ABC transporters underpin many core activities in the bacterial cell envelope - including efflux, cell division and lipoprotein trafficking.

A new paper in PLOS Biology reveals YbbAP-TesA as a novel Type VII system in E. coli.

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Industrial and agricultural chemicals exhibit antimicrobial activity against human gut bacteria in vitro - Nature Microbiology Screening of 1,076 compounds reveals 168 chemical pollutants with inhibitory effects on gut bacteria and genetic screens indicate commonality between pollutant and antibiotic resistance.

Excited to share our latest research in @natmicrobiol.nature.com . We uncover hundreds of inhibitory interactions between common chemical pollutants and human gut bacteria. A thread🧵 (1/10) #microbiomesky #microsky @kiranrpatil.bsky.social lab @mrc-tu.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A tripartite protein complex promotes DNA transport during natural transformation in Firmicutes | PNAS Natural genetic transformation is a conserved mechanism of bacterial horizontal gene transfer, which is directed entirely by the recipient cell and...

Pleased to share our recent article in PNAS - a collaboration with @jessicaandreani.bsky.social & Pablo Radicella, with important roles played by many members of each team.

A tripartite protein complex promotes DNA transport during natural transformation in Firmicutes www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Inhibition of fusidic acid resistance through restricting conformational flexibility in domain III of EF-G | PNAS Fusidic acid (FA) is one of few remaining antibiotics active against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. FusB confers resistance to FA by ...

Happy to see work I contributed to during my MSc at @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social with Jennifer Tomlinson’s lab out in @pnas.org! Everyone Bluesky-less except @antoncalabrese.bsky.social

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

#AMR #MRSA #NMR