Fluorescent labeling extended to 3 streptococcal species 🧫✨ @veeninglab.com & coll. benchmarked 5 proteins and developed multicolor cassettes enabling triple labeling—expanding tools for gene expression, cell dynamics & infection studies.
👉️ buff.ly/DFMXjE7
What happens when Klebsiella's capsule locus is swapped? Unexpectedly little in terms of cell growth. Yet, it does change the bacterium's environment and interactions with it: evolution by seamless plug-and-play capsule swap. Led by @julielebris.bsky.social @olayarendueles.bsky.social
Our latest manuscript explores capsule exchangeability & phenotypic portability
We didn’t directly address its role in #virulence
⏩️ that was already elegantly shown here—worth a look 👀👇🏻
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
🎯 Their results supports our plug-and-play model!
Bonus: we kept 🐭 alive
#microsky
So happy to see this finally published in @plosbiology.org!
This is the first chapter of @julielebris.bsky.social PhD thesis demonstrating how capsules are exchanged by plug-and-play dynamics
w/ @epcrocha.bsky.social
#microsky @klebclub.bsky.social
Link below-
Check out her 🧵 for more details!
Characteristics and capsule production of capsule-swapped strains. Genetic (lower triangle) and biochemical (upper triangle) relatedness between the different capsule types analyzed in this study. Biochemical similarity was calculated as the percentage of residues shared between two K types (# of shared unique oligosaccharides/# of different nonredundant oligosaccharides). Oligosaccharidic compositions and models were taken from K-PAM. Genetic relatedness was calculated taking into account all homologous genes between two K types. Monosaccharides composing the different capsules are depicted according to the Symbol Nomenclature for Glycans convention.
How do multi-gene systems evolve across genetic backgrounds without disruptive epistasis? @julielebris.bsky.social @olayarendueles.bsky.social &co show the #Klebsiella capsule locus is a plug&play module that swaps with low fitness cost while preserving #virulence @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4s64Ko0
🦠 How does #Salmonella find #iron in the gut? @ferrytin.bsky.social & colleagues show acidic pH pushes it to switch from using endogeneous to exogeneous #siderophores—revealing a flexible, pH-driven iron uptake strategy.
👉 buff.ly/90EZoqQ
🦠 Beyond classic probiotics: @schmitzstreitslab.bsky.social lab reveals diverse #Bacteroidota gut strains that block #biofilms of major pathogens. Many also disrupt quorum sensing & show bile salt hydrolase activity—expanding the #microbiome toolbox against infection.
👉 buff.ly/sjPk8ZD
New preprint out on bioRxiv!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Can conjugative plasmids be used to control plasmid and pathogen spread?
Follow me down the rabbit hole that led to this story 🧵
🧬 Dive into the small proteome of Methanosarcina mazei (across 5 conditions)! A key resource by @schmitzstreitslab.bsky.social @uni-kiel.de for uncovering #smallproteins functions, motifs and proteoforms in #archaea.
👉 buff.ly/HJOi3E0
🦠 @laurentterradot.bsky.social lab reviews #Brucella’s #T4SS—a key virulence factor—covering its structure, function, and growing effector arsenal. It also explores how effectors enter host cells, opening new paths to understand and target infection. 🔬
👉 buff.ly/KW4kVN4
My team at @cbitoulouse.bsky.social is recruiting a postdoc #bioinformatics with solid experience in metagenomic analyses.
Interest in evolution, ecology & MGEs is important.
The offer stands until the perfect candidate is found, and it could be you 🫵
🔁 🙏
#microSky #phagesky #UTIsky
@cnrs.fr
@archaellum.bsky.social lab reveals how #cdiAMP and 4 RCK proteins shape osmotic stress responses in H. volcanii 🧬🦠. In highly halophilic #archaea, c-di-AMP coordinates ion balance and cell volume—mirroring bacterial strategies for environmental stress adaptation.
👉 buff.ly/ApWkCtg
Review –by J. Yuan @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social, HG. Koch & B. Berghoff— highlights bacterial small membrane proteins (SMPs) 🧫: from regulating membrane targets and insertion pathways to toxin roles. SMPs also offer potential as tools and templates for new antibiotics.💊
👉 buff.ly/9UzCwF2
As 2026 begins, the EAM, @Vdlorenzo.bsky.social, Paul B. Rainey and many others remind us the urgency of renewing support to Society Journals and, taking action to reward quality research and curb predatory publishing.
👉 buff.ly/V36xgMO
👉 buff.ly/T8QE90G
🦠Insight into the resilient world of prokaryotes! Koch lab – @sfb1381.bsky.social – reveals that E.coli use small membrane proteins (YohP & YncL) to condense their DNA & slow down metabolism, helping them survive to stresses. 🧬
buff.ly/dMzcQsP
Everything you need to explain AMR to family and friends-12:
@pablolaborda.bsky.social
@crisherencias.bsky.social
@pharmageddon.bsky.social
@ecdc.europa.eu
@eberllab.bsky.social
@klebclub.bsky.social
@olayarendueles.bsky.social
the ESKAPE Rogues
www.imili-eah.com/prod-api/pro...
New insights into #Hpylori’s virulence machinery 🕵️🧪 Josenhans lab & coll. unravel new interactions between CagT4SS surface proteins and outer membrane proteins HopQ & HopZ—key for host interaction and #proinflammatory signaling. 🦠
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
👉 buff.ly/toApn0c
🦠 Small changes, big defense! Jordan Vacheron & coll. show specific SNPs in #Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 (algC & ykcC) remodel LPS to block #phage ΦGP100—while growth, competitiveness & root colonization stay intact, in lab conditions. 🧬 @unil.bsky.social
👉 buff.ly/MFOH2er
What can an “orphan” #Cas4 do? 🧫 In #archaea M. mazei, Solo-Cas4 cleaves dsDNA in a metal-dependent manner and is upregulated in stationary phase—hinting at roles in stress or DNA metabolism.
Biochemical characterization by Schmitz lab @uni-kiel.de
👉 buff.ly/kpz0yZ1
#C.albicans invades tissues as hyphae but spreads as yeast, How?
@jlspragu.bsky.social & coll. show yeast can reach the bloodstream by hitchhiking with invasive hyphae or by switching forms. 🧫 More clues for understanding systemic infections !
👉 buff.ly/0vklJeb
🔍 From rods to stars, bacteria craft their shapes using bPBPs & GTases. Garcia-del Portillo lab’s global analysis reveals unexpected diversity & flexibility in these morphogenetic complexes. 🦠 @cnb-csic.bsky.social
👉 Read more : buff.ly/D0pMhMr
De-DUFing the DUFs 🧩 @franznarberhaus.bsky.social lab uncovers how small DUF1127 proteins regulate #phosphate uptake by binding the sensor kinase PhoR. Their conserved role from Agrobacterium to E. coli highlights how even small DUFs can shape bacterial physiology 🦠
buff.ly/jJd9Eho
New insights from #CRISPR-Cas systems! 🧬 @cyanolab.bsky.social reveals that in the #cyanobacteria Synechocystis, RNase J works with RNase E to mature CRISPR3 RNAs—key for RNA-based immune defense. RNase J can also team up with PNPase in a degradosome-like complex.
buff.ly/CrxiQPy
New tools unlock #Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus’s predatory secrets 🦠. By combining inducible gene expression with #CRISPRi-mediated depletion for precise control of essential genes, @lalouxlab.bsky.social uncovered new insights into its unique lifecycle and cell division.
buff.ly/FcDzAY4
Entretien pour Brut sur la vie Miroir, l'ingénierie génétique et l'éthique de ces recherches: www.brut.media/fr/videos/sc...
A new subgroup of #CRISPR-associated transposons, V-K_V2, has been discovered in Nostocales #cyanobacteria by @cyanolab.bsky.social & colleagues 🧬. Its unique features suggest genetic mobility and V2 tracrRNAs are now included in the updated CRISPRtracrRNA tool.
buff.ly/gioIfEB
Some #Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains naturally lack the major virulence system T3SS. 🦠 @inaattree.bsky.social & @cbuch.bsky.social labs reveal that avirulent isolates still produce valuable metabolites (e.g. rhamnolipids, elastase, pyoverdine)—making them promising for #biotech use.
buff.ly/JST7ZR1
Phages are promising against antibiotic-resistant bacteria—but resistance can emerge. 🦠 New work from @baerboletta.bsky.social lab shows E. coli can resist phages in the lab, but in the gut that resistance comes at a cost: context is crucial for #PhageTherapy success.
buff.ly/NLOjnE2
Cyril Anjou, 2e candidat au prix de thèse nous a présenté ses travaux sur les rôles physiologiques des systèmes thioredoxine de Clostridioides difficile, impliqués dans les étapes du cycle de vie de la bactérie, ainsi que sur l’intérêt thérapeutique potentiel de la modulation de leur expression.🦠
🦠 Mycobacteria aren't just tough, they're interior designers! 🦠 Check out our latest #preprint 🚨, led by our PhD student @camimille.bsky.social , where we show that #Mycobacterium tuberculosis builds secret cytoplasmic membranes to adapt its metabolism and sneak past immunity 🤫
Thread coming soon!