FEBS Press DNA damage in the tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris elicits distinct cellular outcomes depending on replication status. While non-replicating cells tolerate genotoxic stress, constitutively replicating...

Tardigrades resist heavy DNA damage by actively repairing such lesions & expressing DNA-protective proteins. Yet, they are not immortal. How & why do they die? @morielab.bsky.social now shows that their Achilles' heel is DNA replication: duplicating your DNA... will kill you doi.org/10.1111/febs...

Last day to register for the SMC meeting 2026!

Exploring the energy landscape of bacterial chromosome segregation | PNAS Faithful chromosome segregation during bacterial replication requires global reorganization of the nucleoid, where Structural Maintenance of Chromo...

Exploring the energy landscape of bacterial chromosome segregation

-in PNAS by Sumitabha Brahmachari et al from José Onuchic

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

(archaeal) cell divisionists take note 👇

asymmetric inheritance of the CdvA division ring component in 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘶𝘴 (shown by using fusion with MATCA, a new fluorescent protein brightly shining at 60°C)

Optimizing spatial organization of FtsZ rings for large-scale constriction in synthetic cells - Nature Communications Spatially regulated membrane constriction is an important milestone in reconstituting minimal cell division. Here the authors engineer a truncated system where the cytosolic domain of FtsN forms large...

Neat paper from Schwille lab. They demonstrate constriction of synthetic vesicles using important components of the bacterial cell division machinery, FtsZ and FtsN. They induce strong constriction of Z-rings in vesicles just by adding the cytoplasmic domain of FtsN www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Some molecular machines, like ribosomes, can persist for long periods of time in cells.

Could molecular aging of ribosomes shape how proteins are made?

In our new preprint we track ribosomes as they age in cells and uncover unexpected effects on translation (1/10)

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

IDPSeminars is back TOMORROW! Come see @tanjamittag.bsky.social and @xsalvatella1.bsky.social ! Not to be missed!!

🧵 Proud to present a tour de force by postdoc @gregbwhitfield.bsky.social solving the mystery of how bacterial Tad pili can extend and retract with a single motor ATPase. Great collaboration with Lynne Howell, @dr-lori-burrows.bsky.social, @ianyyen.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Xiaofeng combined 2D live-cell single-particle tracking with 3D simulations to specifically measure the bacterial nucleoid accessibility and viscosity! Our preprint describes how these nucleoid properties respond to cellular processes! Code is available too.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The nucleoid of rapidly growing Escherichia coli localizes close to the inner membrane and is organized by transcription, translation, and cell geometry - Nature Communications The mechanisms underlying bacterial chromosome configuration are not fully understood. Here, Spahn et al. show that the Escherichia coli nucleoid adopts a condensed, membrane-proximal configuration during rapid growth, with transcription and translation acting as main drivers of nucleoid organization.

The nucleoid of rapidly growing E. coli 🦠 localizes close to the inner membrane & is organized by transcription, translation, & cell geometry

@michriscopy.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de @heilemannlab.bsky.social @goetheuni.bsky.social
#microbiology

Also submitted just before the holidays: David Fuller collaborated with the Xindan Wang Lab to measure how growth-phase-dependent chromosome reorganization affects the behavior and function of bacterial nucleoid-associated proteins. #SingleMolecule #Microscopy
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Scientists have seen Asgard archaea crawling for the first time. When it comes to the origin of eukaryotes, this is like seeing a feathered dinosaur in the wild. (Video courtesy of Philipp Ralder)

Papers are like buses... You wait for ages, then two come along at once.

Huge congrats to @bornanovak.bsky.social and @jefflotthammer.bsky.social for pushing and driving every aspect of this work, preprinted ~1 year ago to the day (Friday before BPS), now published!

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

1/ With @maxencevincent.bsky.social, we ask: when single bacterial cells behave differently under stress, is it really just “noise”?
Read more @cp-cellreports.bsky.social :
Unveiling hidden variables in stressed bacteria (doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...)

Review @cp-cellreports.bsky.social @harvard.edu
Unveiling hidden variables in stressed bacteria
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Epitranscriptomic control of stress adaptations in Escherichia coli Abstract. The impacts of various stressors on bacterial systems have been studied at the phenotypic, transcriptional, and translational levels during the e

🦠💫 RNA modifications and stress

Abstract deadline for the SMBio26 organized with the University of Sheffield, is postponed to February 27th to accommodate for extra spots made available!

To accommodate for extra spots made available, we're reopening the abstract deadline for the SMBio26 organized together with the University of Sheffield!

Organized with the @sheffielduni.bsky.social team: Matt Newton, @alicepyne.bsky.social & Ruby Peters.

Program & registration 👉 bit.ly/3NtxZlM

Dynamic RNA Polymerase compartments organize the transcription of gene clusters www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

Hey alpha aficionados - it's almost time for CauloCon 2026! This free, virtual meeting will feature talks from @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social @thanbichlerlab.bsky.social and @lamasonlab.bsky.social with opps for trainee talks. Register using the link below. 👇

Indeed! Thanks for sharing :)

From sequence to function: Bridging single-molecule kinetics and molecular diversity Biological function is fundamentally determined by nucleic acid and protein sequence. Beyond encoding genetic information, nucleic acids also display complex physicochemical parameters that shape stru...

Great to see our Science Review on emerging multiplexed single-molecule methods that use libraries to link sequence to dynamics. A fun collaborative writing project! From sequence to function: Bridging single-molecule kinetics and molecular diversity | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Unraveling single-molecule reactions via multiplexed in-situ DNA sequencing DNA sequence regulates complex reactions and protein-DNA interactions, yet sequence effects remain poorly understood due to the lack of direct, high-throughput approaches to study sequence-dependence ...

New preprint! We share a new *DNA-only* method for single-molecule DNA sequencing, and use this cool tool to link single-molecule reactions/interactions to sequence. Big thanks🙏 to Jagadish Hazra @becs-andrews.bsky.social and all contributors since our 2016 start!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Variability in intrinsic promoter strength underlies the temporal hierarchy of the Caulobacter SOS response induction The bacterial SOS response unfolds in a defined temporal order, but the determinants of this hierarchy are unclear. This study shows that intrinsic promoter strength, modulated in part by sigma factor...

1/Now published! We identify a novel regulatory layer underlying SOS response dynamic. Find a short summary about our findings below.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
#MicroSky

Apply now to attend the next EMBO Bacterial Networks meeting #EMBOBacNet

🗓️13-18 September 2026
📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain

📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...

👩‍🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social

#MicroSky

Genome integrity relies on rapid recycling of DNA Pol III in bacteria | PNAS DNA replication requires precise coordination between DNA unwinding and DNA synthesis. In all domains of life, protein–protein interactions at the ...

Happy to share our most recent work www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... Here we describe how efficient DNA replication in E. coli is dependent on an interaction between SSB-ssDNA and the DNA polymerase (Pol III). Thanks to all the co-authors for their hard work!