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Reposted by Manuel Ares-Arroyo

The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 2d

Type IV secretion systems: from structures to mechanisms
Kévin Macé and colleagues summarize recent structural insights into the assembly and function of bacterial type IV secretion systems
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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Adrian Cazares @cazares-adr.bsky.social · 5d

Imagine we could travel back in time ⏪⌛️to explore the world of bacterial pathogens before humans discovered and industrialised antibiotics

We just did that to study the history of #AMR spread @science.org
doi.org/10.1126/scie...

If you like time travel & biology, this 🧵is for you👇

Pre- and postantibiotic epoch: The historical spread of antimicrobial resistance

Plasmids are now the primary vectors of antimicrobial resistance, but our understanding of how human industrialisation of antibiotics influenced their evolution is limited by a paucity of data predati...

doi.org

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Pedro Dorado-Morales @doradomoralesp.bsky.social · 8d

A plasmid and an ICE teaming up... 🤯😱

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

The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain - Nature Communications

Adherent-invasive strains of E. coli are commonly isolated from patients with Crohn’s disease. Here, the authors show that an AIEC harbours a hybrid Type IV secretion system (T4SS) that mediates pilin polymerization and biofilm formation in vivo.

www.nature.com

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Allison G @assemblerag.bsky.social · 11d

Most plasmids described in E. coli are small compared to the megaplasmids we identified here! Check out the preprint if you want to learn about these mysterious large elements and their potential functions 🧬. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this in @banfieldlab.bsky.social

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 11d

Megaplasmids associate with Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.30.679422v1

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Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 16d

Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n

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Géraldine Laloux @lalouxlab.bsky.social · 16d

📝New preprint! #MicroSky

🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.

🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle

The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...

www.biorxiv.org

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Iain Johnston @mitomaths.bsky.social · 19d

Great to see this out there! We infer the evolutionary pathways behind patterns of AMR in Klebsiella across 102 states, finding globally consistent principles, state-specific deviations (and covariates), and validating evol predictions with new genomes. biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/

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Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · 21d

Massive sibling regression study finds that human traits are largely environmentally driven (average heritability = 0.3)

Within-family heritability estimates for behavioural and disease phenotypes from 500,000 sibling pairs of diverse ancestries

Quantification of the direct effect of genetic variation on human behavioural traits is important for understanding between-individual variation in socio-economic and health outcomes but estimates of ...

www.medrxiv.org

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Sonja-Verena Albers @archaellum.bsky.social · 24d

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

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Agathe couturier @agathe-couturier.bsky.social · 24d

Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes.

@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes

Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena

academic.oup.com

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Plasmid Society @plasmidsociety.bsky.social · 26d

Hey hey hey!
Tomorrow, September 16th at 16:00 UTC, don’t miss the next ISPB virtual seminar!
This session will focus on plasmid elimination with great speakers lined up.

#Plasmid #ISPB #MGEs

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Eloi Littner @eloilittner.bsky.social · 26d

Et bien c'est fait ! Première à l'antenne d'une radio nationale, dans la matinale de France Culture ce matin. Merci à Guillaume Erner de m'avoir accueilli, et à Juliette Devaux pour la préparation de l'émission.

www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

Génétique : l’ADN des bactéries comme source de savoirs

Un pan de la recherche en génomique se propose d'étudier les bactéries, ces micro-organismes développent des mécanismes de défense particulièrement intéressants.

www.radiofrance.fr

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Eduardo Rocha @epcrocha.bsky.social · Sep 8

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

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Julie Le Bris @julielebris.bsky.social · Sep 10

How complex functions, with important physiological and evolutionary impacts get repeatedly and efficiently transferred across genomes?
That’s what we explored using one of the fastest-evolving loci in Bacteria: the capsule locus.
The paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thread👇

Serotype swapping in Klebsiella spp. by plug-and-play

Understanding how complex, multi-gene systems evolve and function across genetic backgrounds is a central question in molecular evolution. While such systems often impose costs through epistatic inter...

www.biorxiv.org

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José R Penadés @jrpenades.bsky.social · Sep 9

Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social
lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species.
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Chimeric infective particles expand species boundaries in phage-inducible chromosomal island mobilization

Capsid-forming PICIs (cf-PICIs) produce their own capsids and exploit phage tails from unrelated species to transfer their DNA across bacterial hosts. This tail piracy enables broad dissemination and ...

www.cell.com

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Tiago Costa @tcostalab.bsky.social · Sep 9

Thrilled to share that two of our papers with @jrpenades.bsky.social & GoogleDeepMind
are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social

1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3
2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj

@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@imperiallifesci.bsky.social

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esgmap.bsky.social @esgmap.bsky.social · Sep 8

We are pleased to share our second newsletter (www.escmid.org/fileadmin/es...) with updates on the survey launched in the previous issue, publications supported by ESGMAP, and upcoming scientific meetings.

Enjoy the read, and stay tuned for the next one.
#ESCMID #ESGMAP #plasmids #newsletter #AMR

www.escmid.org

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Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · Sep 7

For anyone who has used pling for comparing plasmids using rearrangement distances ("how many structural events apart are these plasmids"), here's how to tweak parameters, and integrate it with typing info, and the host phylogeny
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
github.com/iqbal-lab-or...

Clustering of plasmid genomes for genomic epidemiology by using rearrangement distances, with pling

Integration of plasmids into genomic epidemiology is challenging, because there are no clearly defined evolving-units (equivalent to species), and because plasmids appear to evolve as much by structur...

www.biorxiv.org

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Julie Le Bris @julielebris.bsky.social · Sep 5

Delighted to share our recently published work!
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇

Phenotypic heterogeneity of capsule production across opportunistic pathogens | mBio

The polysaccharidic capsule is present in ~50% of species across the bacterial phylogeny, including all ESKAPE microorganisms, the six most significant multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens. It is also an important virulence factor and a major ...

journals.asm.org

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David Sünderhauf @davvi36.bsky.social · Sep 2

PhD opportunity, please share:

We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA.
All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

Developing CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials to tackle antibiotic resistance spread in Klebsiella pneumoniae - GW4 BioMed MRC DTP

Project Code MRCIIAR26Ex van Houte Project Type Wet lab Research Theme Infection, Immunity, Antimicrobial Resistance and Repair Project Summary Download Summary Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a ...

gw4biomed.ac.uk

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Eduardo Rocha @epcrocha.bsky.social · Aug 27

Very happy to see this one out: doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf192
Here, we assessed the contribution of natural transformation to the acquisition of novel genes. See preprint thread. @molbioevol.bsky.social #microsky #evobio

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Marie-Eve VAL @val-meve.bsky.social · Aug 20

#microsky In this review, we summarize the current literature across bacterial phyla on large extrachromosomal replicons. Current Opinion in Microbiology: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi....

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Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · Aug 20

Mazzamurro, @epcrocha.bsky.social et al. compared gene gains by transformation and mobile genetic elements, finding
only a moderate contribution of transformation to gene acquisition, implying that most novel genes are acquired by other means.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf192

#evobio #molbio

Impact of Natural Transformation on the Acquisition of Novel Genes in Bacteria

Abstract. Natural transformation is the only process of gene exchange under the exclusive control of the recipient bacteria. It has often been considered a

doi.org

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Sarah Bigot @sbigot.bsky.social · Aug 20

Our paper “Genetic determinants of pOXA-48 plasmid maintenance and propagation in Escherichia coli” is now online in @natcomms.nature.com ✨
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@cnrs-rhoneauvergne.bsky.social @mmsb-lyon.bsky.social

Genetic determinants of pOXA-48 plasmid maintenance and propagation in Escherichia coli - Nature Communications

pOXA-48 plasmids have emerged as key vectors of carbapenem resistance within Enterobacteriaceae. In this study, the authors use a transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) approach to identify genetic determinan...

www.nature.com

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Didier Mazel @amazeld.bsky.social · Aug 20

For those who love bacterial replicons, The ultimate review, from our lab, signed by the master of their evolution.
‪@val-meve.bsky.social‬ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Taming wild replicons: evolution and domestication of large extrachromosomal replicons

Bacterial genomes often contain extrachromosomal replicons (ERs), ranging from small, mobile plasmids to large, stably inherited elements, such as meg…

www.sciencedirect.com

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