Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Aaron Whiteley @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social · 16h

Our work on the Panoptes antiphage system is published! Here we find that Panoptes "watches" the cytosol for phage immune evasion proteins–captured in this illustration by Clair Huffine of Insight Illustrations. A beautiful example of the effector triggered immunity paradigm.

Illustration depicting a bacterium under assault by phage. The bacterium “sees” phage immune evasion proteins and protects itself using a newly described antiphage system called Panoptes, named for the many-eyed mythical giant Argus Panoptes. Credit: Clair Huffine Insight Illustrations LLC

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Feng Zhou @fengzhou10.bsky.social · 15h

This discovery traces back to the spring of 2018, when I was a postdoc in nikogeldner.bsky.social 's lab. After shifting Arabidopsis seedlings from solid to liquid culture, I observed that the root commensal bacterium CHA0 rapidly colonized Casparian strip–defective mutants.

Science Magazine @science.org · 6d

Using precise spatial and temporal analysis, researchers in Science provide insight into how bacteria around the root interact both with the plant and with each other.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/3WgNajk

A confocal microscopy image shows root-colonizing bacteria clustering around an emerging lateral root, where localized glutamine leakage induces spatially confined reporter activity.

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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 1d

Excited to be part of this collaboration with the Burrows lab exploring twitching and surface surface sensing by P. aeruginosa. This work further delineates a role for the T4P motor proteins and pili for surface sensing.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org

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Nature @nature.com · 2d

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to three scientists for discovering a class of immune cells that help to prevent the body from attacking its own tissues

go.nature.com/48QDdAJ

Medicine Nobel goes to scientists who revealed secrets of immune system ‘regulation’

Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered cells that protect the body from autoimmune diseases.

go.nature.com

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Patricia Bernal @pbernalt6ss.bsky.social · 2d

Our paper, describing how the T6SSs of P. putida shape the tomato rhizosphere, is now in its final format in @isme-microbes.bsky.social ISME Communications. If you'd like to learn more, here is a thread (1/11) or read the Article doi.org/10.1093/isme....

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Dave Baltrus 🦦 @surtlab.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

academic.oup.com

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2025 10th ASM Conference on Biofilms @asmbiofilms2025.bsky.social · 2d

Biofilm Researchers - The standard registration rate expires on October 9 (late registration is a bit more expensive)! Also, check out our Session II invited speakers (all speakers can be viewed at the ASM Biofilms Conference website lnkd.in/gkG3Rh2q)

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Lingchen He 何灵尘 @lingchenhe.bsky.social · 29d

We discovered a new horizontal gene transfer mechanism: tail-less cf-PICIs hijack free phage tails extracellularly, forming infectious chimeric virions that drive both intra- and inter-species transfer among bacteria. @jonaszpatkowski.bsky.social @tcostalab.bsky.social @jrpenades.bsky.social

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Tracy Palmer @proftracypalmer.bsky.social · 3d

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 · 3d

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

George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 6d

New in JB: Fleitas, Rebollar & Bustamante explore the strategies that bacteria use to combat antimicrobial peptides - here they focus on "releasome" mechanisms that are the first line of defense.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology

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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 6d

DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?

We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.

"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"

🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...

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Despo Fatta-Kassinos @bluepapagao.bsky.social · 6d

Assessing antimicrobial resistance connectivity across One Health sectors|Nature Water. Led by T. Zhang & L. Li, our new paper discusses connectivity at ecological, microbial & genetic levels; & advocates for cross-sector studies. www.nature.com/articles/s44... @natwater.nature.com

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fillouxlab.bsky.social @fillouxlab.bsky.social · 5d

Nice to see Genevieve @lcbofficiel.bsky.social and Patricia @pbernalt6ss.bsky.social meeting in Marseille to exchange about protein secretion

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fillouxlab.bsky.social @fillouxlab.bsky.social · 7d

Back to back seminars @scelse.bsky.social Gad Frankel from @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social and Niranjan Nagarajan from NUS and A*STAR

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Tominaga K. (tomiken) @pacyc184.bsky.social · 7d

Structure of a distinct β-barrel assembly machinery complex in the Bacteroidota | Nature Microbiology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02132-2

Structure of a distinct β-barrel assembly machinery complex in the Bacteroidota - Nature Microbiology

Structural and functional characterization of the β-barrel assembly machinery complex in Bacteroidota reveals a distinct, seven-component complex with a large extracellular domain that may enable β-barrel–surface lipoprotein complex assembly.

www.nature.com

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Ronan McCarthy @ronanmccarthy.bsky.social · 7d

Delighted to share that Lyuboslava Harkova passed her PhD viva today with only minor corrections. Her thesis focused on virulence regulation in Acinetobacter baumannii. Special thanks to Prof Jake Malone and Dr Ayca Sayi Yazgan for being fantastic examiners

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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 7d

New in JB: Fung, Visick et al. show that a single SNP can impact biofilm formation and colonization of its squid host by V. fischeri.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology

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Emmanuele Severi @emmseveri.bsky.social · 8d

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

#microsky

Polymyxin B lethality requires energy-dependent outer membrane disruption - Nature Microbiology

The antibiotic polymyxin B requires bacterial metabolic activity to cause sufficient damage to the outer membrane to access the inner membrane, which it permeabilizes via an energy-independent mechanism to kill the cell.

www.nature.com

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Cell Host & Microbe @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social · 9d

Bacteria enhance sulfur deficiency tolerance in plants

Rhizosphere microbiome is remodeled under sulfur (S) deficiency with competition among bacteria increasing their release of glutathione, which benefits the plant at expense of bacterial fitness
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

A bacterial signal coordinates plant-microbe fitness trade-off to enhance sulfur deficiency tolerance in plants

Mukherjee et al. report fitness trade-off between plants and the rhizosphere microbiome under sulfur deficiency, mediated by the tri-peptide signal glutathione. Competition among rhizosphere bacteria ...

www.cell.com

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Feldman Lab@WashU @feldmanlab.bsky.social · 9d

I said I will never work on phages, but having @micheleleroux.bsky.social next door made me change my mind. Here is Alexis's new paper showing how different phages deal with the capsular barrier to infect Acinetobacter! A great collaboration between our labs!
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Acinetobacter phages use distinct strategies to breach the capsule barrier

Author summary Acinetobacter baumannii causes life-threatening and often antibiotic-resistant infections thereby posing a global threat. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for alternative treatments...

journals.plos.org

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Avinash Shenoy @avishenoy.bsky.social · 10d

📢A new effector-triggered immunity role for GBP1! No place for pathogens to hide now that GBP1 can detect extracellular pathogens that hijack the actin cytoskeleton. Surprise*suprise* GBP1 does this independently of LPS! 🧵
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 10d

PhD fellowship in biofilm-phage interactions - with Mette Burmølle at University of Copenhagen 🇩🇰
deadline 1 October 2025

employment.ku.dk/faculty?show...

#phagesky #microsky

PhD fellowship in biofilm-phage interactions

employment.ku.dk

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Reposted

Jacques Izard @jacquesizard.bsky.social · 10d

Metagenomics for Microbiology 2nd Ed provides an opportunity to reflect on the growth of the metagenomics field, from new applications to technological advances. The chapters cover methodology, analysis, AI, omics, and more.
shop.elsevier.com/books/metage...
#microbiome #omics #DataScience

Metagenomics for Microbiology

Metagenomics for Microbiology, Second Edition unveils the intricate and diverse world of microbial communities, emphasizing their critical roles in he

shop.elsevier.com

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fillouxlab.bsky.social @fillouxlab.bsky.social · 10d

Great thank you

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Dr Katherine Duncan @kateduncan.bsky.social · 14d

There seems to quite a few new faces lately, so if I haven’t already added you, but you’d like added please let me know and for anyone interested in following more microbial natural products folks, then our starter pack is now 100 strong go.bsky.app/72NeGsT

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