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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Tracy Palmer @proftracypalmer.bsky.social · 5d

Check it out! A proper team effort from past and present group members and a great collaboration with @sergemostowylab.bsky.social

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 5d

The Staphylococcus aureus LXG-domain toxins EsxX and SAR0287 do not promote virulence in a zebrafish larval infection model https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.04.680436v1

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

bioRxiv Biochemistry @biorxiv-biochem.bsky.social · 8d

Mechanism of phosphoinositide regulation of lysosomal pH via inhibition of CLC-7 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.01.679551v1

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

(not) Imran Khan @imrsankhan.bsky.social · 10d

Our work deciphering the substrate preferences of a di-/tripeptide transporter from S. aureus is now available as a proof at @plos.org Pathogens! Big thanks to the reviewers and to all the brilliant co-authors, particularly Callum who helped get those last few crucial experiments across the line

Defined roles for the Staphylococcus aureus POT transporter DtpT in di/tripeptide uptake and glutathione utilisation inside human macrophages

Author summary The environments where bacterial pathogens thrive are often rich in proteins and their degradation products, including oligopeptides, which can be taken up by the bacterium and used as ...

journals.plos.org

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Rhys Grinter @rhyswg.bsky.social · 20d

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.

A Protein Antibiotic Inhibits the BAM Complex to Kill Without Cell Entry

Many antibiotics are ineffective against Gram-negative pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa because they cannot penetrate the bacterial outer membrane. Here, we show that protein antibiotics calle...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Andy Edwards @bugsinblood.bsky.social · Aug 23

New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Ed Tate, Nate Traaseth and many others!

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

Small molecule inhibitors of the NorA multidrug efflux pump potentiate antibiotic activity by binding the outward-open conformation

Antibiotic resistance is among the greatest threats of the modern era. Multidrug efflux pumps expel antibiotics from bacterial cells and present a particular challenge by conferring resistance to a br...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Camilo Perez @camiloperezc6h6.bsky.social · Aug 21

We are hiring a Postdoc in membrane protein cryo-EM at the University of Georgia. Looking for candidates with expertise in membrane protein purification and biochemistry. Fully funded for up to 5 years. Join us in Athens, GA. Apply: [email protected]

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Chris Mulligan @chrismulligan.bsky.social · Aug 18

This work was driven primarily by a fantastic former MRes student, Lily Jaques, with excellent support from two PhD students Joe Davies and Jack Sheldon-Towler, and some really lovely protein modelling from Vanessa Leone. None of whom are on this platform (I think)!

Chris Mulligan @chrismulligan.bsky.social · Aug 18

Really pleased to share some recent work from our lab now published in Comms Bio. Here, we’ve identified and characterised a peculiar TRAP transporter binding protein from B. pertussis that we think uses a membrane component from a completely different transporter family.
rdcu.be/eAr8v

A new class of binding-protein dependent solute transporter exemplified by the TAXI-GltS system from Bordetella pertussis

Communications Biology - Identification and characterization of an unusual tri-domain TRAP transporter binding protein from Bordetella pertussis reveals insight into the diversity of binding...

rdcu.be

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Aug 15

Di-Gembodies (dimerized nanobodies) for improved and duplexed CryoEM of small and challenging targets!

A collaboration of @cmd.ox.ac.uk, STRUBI, @diamondlightsource.bsky.social, @rosfrankinst.bsky.social

Out now in Nature Chemical Biology @natchembio.nature.com

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

Covalently constrained ‘Di-Gembodies’ enable parallel structure solutions by cryo-EM - Nature Chemical Biology

Disulfide-based dimerization of modified identical and heterologous nanobody scaffolds enables higher-order assembly for high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure determination that is widely...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

(not) Imran Khan @imrsankhan.bsky.social · Aug 1

Exciting new paper from Wonsik Lee's group in Korea, using TnSeq to study gene essentiality in various intracellular and extracellular infection niches of S aureus. Loads of cool insights into metabolism and nutrient acquisition in the host

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

Environmental cues in different host niches shape the survival fitness of Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Communications

Staphylococcus aureus adapts to diverse host environments during infection. Here, the authors use transposon sequencing to reveal niche-specific genes and identify 27 core genes required for S. aureus...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

MitoCarriers @mitocarriers.bsky.social · Jul 25

Our review on the peculiar properties of mitochondrial carriers of the SLC25 family out: portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

Characterised members of the human SLC25 mitochondrial family. Members of the mitochondrial carriers are shown in rainbow (blue to red) cartoon and surface representations with their primary substrates shown in sphere representations to scale. Only one paralogue is shown.

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

(not) Imran Khan @imrsankhan.bsky.social · Jul 13

Just seen this very clever paper from Alex O'Neill's group at Leeds. Systematic approaches to identify routes of antibiotic uptake in S. aureus and E. coli! As someone who never believed the dogma of passive diffusion, I feel very vindicated.. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40631918/

Carrier-mediated transport as a common route of antibiotic ingress into bacteria - PubMed

Increasing antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria is undermining our ability to treat infection, and new antibacterial drugs are urgently needed to address the problem. One of the most signif...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Shu-Sin Chng @figlegend.bsky.social · Jun 17

Super excited to share our latest work revealing impt of protein-lipid interactions for the pri fn of the Tol-Pal complex in maintaining outer memb lipid homeostasis in E. coli! Huge discovery by Nadege Lim in collab @pstansfeld.bsky.social @robincorey.bsky.social 1/7
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 3

Join our group in the Centre for Medicines Discovery at Oxford Univ. @cmd.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk !!!!

Happy to chat about any questions about the role and science. Oxford will assist with a skilled worker visa.

Please RT!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Photo of a Sauer Membrane Protein group party, why space for a new hire

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Matt McNeil @mattmcneil86.bsky.social · May 30

Really excited that our group was able to contribute to this awesome work from Bing Zhang and Zihe Rao solving the structure and assembly of the MmpS5L5 efflux pump from Mtb!!

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

Structure and assembly of the MmpL5/MmpS5 efflux transporter from Mycobacterium tuberculosis - Nature Communications

The MmpL5/MmpS5 efflux system is crucial for drug extrusion and siderophore export in M. tuberculosis. Here, the authors report its high-resolution cryo-EM structures, revealing a unique trimeric asse...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · May 28

Beta-lactams covalently bind to Penicillin Binding Proteins and have been the mainstay of antimicrobial chemotherapy for decades.
In this new paper with colleagues @Bicycle_tx we show a new way to hit old targets: rdcu.be/eoaRI

Discovery and chemical optimisation of a potent, Bi-cyclic antimicrobial inhibitor of Escherichia coli PBP3

Communications Biology - Discovery of a bicyclic peptide inhibitor of cell wall biosynthesis in the Enterobacterales demonstrates applicability of a modified phage display platform to antibiotic...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Lucy Forrest @lucyrforrest.bsky.social · May 28

Are you wondering how sugar is used to fuel your body? Work with @mitocarriers.bsky.social and Vanessa Leone describes an important step along the way... how the break-down product pyruvate gets into the mitochondria!

A very satisfying application of #alphafold3

www.linkedin.com/posts/nation...

How sugar fuels ATP production in the mitochondrion | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) posted on the topic | LinkedIn

Ever wonder why sugar gives us such an energy buzz? Its breakdown product, pyruvate, fuels ATP production in the mitochondrion. Dr. Lucy Forrest, an #NINDSIntramural investigator, and collaborators re...

www.linkedin.com

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bioRxiv Biochemistry @biorxiv-biochem.bsky.social · May 21

The Role of Chloride Ions in Serotonin Transport https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.20.654092v1

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Allister Crow @allistercrow.bsky.social · May 19

New Type VII ABC Transporter just dropped!

We are super excited to present our characterisation of the YbbAP-TesA complex, a novel Type VII ABC transporter linked to a periplasmic thioesterase.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · May 17

Structure of YbbAP-TesA: a Type VII ABC transporter lipid-hydrolase complex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.16.654284v1

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Ron Leuty @rleutybiotech.bsky.social · May 13

Today is SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day, I'm reminded in an email this morning from Kim Nye, founder of TESS Research Foundation.
Read more here: www.tessresearch.org/awareness/ and …

SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day – TESS Research Foundation

May 13 is SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day! The goal of this annual virtual event is to raise awareness for the international community affected by SLC13A5 Epilepsy. We hope all affected f...

www.tessresearch.org

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Membrane Enzymology @membraneenzymology.bsky.social · May 13

Solène’s 4.5 years of postdoctoral work in our lab (she started just before the corona pandemic) has now been published. A heroic effort that revealed -at the single molecule level- that ATP drives the dissociation of an ECF transporter complex under turnover conditions. See rdcu.be/elTKc

Single-molecule visualization of ATP-induced dynamics of the subunit composition of an ECF transporter complex under turnover conditions

Nature Communications - The association and dissociation dynamics of the ECF transporter complex for vitamin B12 are visualized by single-molecule FRET, highlighting the original transport...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Inga Hänelt @ihaenelt.bsky.social · May 12

This took us a while and I am all the happier it is finally out! I thought that simply adding ATP to purified potassium channel KtrAB should be sufficient to stabilize its active state. I was so wrong...
Read the full story on how an IDR facilitates channel opening upon membrane interaction.

A short intrinsically disordered region at KtrB’s N-terminus facilitates allosteric regulation of K+ channel KtrAB

Nature Communications - KtrAB is a major potassium uptake system that has been linked to the pathogenesis of many infectious bacteria. Here the authors show that KtrB from Vibrio alginolyticus...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

Gavin Thomas (he/him) @gavinhthomas.bsky.social · May 12

Got any great final year students who love the bench but don't (yet) want to do a PhD? I'm looking for a research technician to join our amazing AVERT team for the last 2 years of the project - a great chance to develop lab skills while supporting our team in York.
jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...

Jobs - The University of York

jobs.york.ac.uk

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Reposted by Chris Mulligan

André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · May 6

Why are biological membranes asymmetric, with different lipids in the two bilayer leaflets? Discovered in the 70s, lipid asymmetry is linked to many cellular processes, but why the cell needs it is largely unclear. @pavelbarahtjan.bsky.social addresses this question: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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