Lars Barquist
@lbarquist.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1.5K following 120 posts
Assistant prof @ UofT, associated scientist @ Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research. Pathogen systems biology / informatics / functional genomics. Coastal New Hampshirite. Drink Moxie.
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Reposted by Lars Barquist
zeynepbaharoglu.bsky.social
Happy to share our new review in Royal Society Open Biology 🎉
tRNA-modifying enzymes in bacterial stress adaptation:
How tRNA mods rewire translation under oxidative + antibiotic stress (MoTTs, moonlighting, therapy angles).
Read: doi.org/10.1098/rsob...
#RNAsky #microsky #AMR #RNAmodifications
tRNA-modifying enzymes in bacterial stress adaptation | Open Biology
Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and their modifications are central to bacterial translation and physiology, yet their roles in stress adaptation remain underexplored. While extensively studied in eukaryotes, a...
doi.org
Reposted by Lars Barquist
rivaselenarivas.bsky.social
Integrated prediction of RNA secondary structure jointly with 3D motifs and pseudoknots guided by evolutionary information.
@aakaran31.bsky.social and @rivaselenarivas.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
All-at-once RNA folding with 3D motif prediction framed by evolutionary information - Nature Methods
Structural RNAs exhibit a vast array of recurrent short three-dimensional (3D) elements found in loop regions involving non-Watson–Crick interactions that help arrange canonical double helices into tertiary structures. Here we present CaCoFold-R3D, a probabilistic grammar that predicts these RNA 3D motifs (also termed modules) jointly with RNA secondary structure over a sequence or alignment. CaCoFold-R3D uses evolutionary information present in an RNA alignment to reliably identify canonical helices (including pseudoknots) by covariation. Here we further introduce the R3D grammars, which also exploit helix covariation that constrains the positioning of the mostly noncovarying RNA 3D motifs. Our method runs predictions over an almost-exhaustive list of over 50 known RNA motifs (‘everything’). Motifs can appear in any nonhelical loop region (including three-way, four-way and higher junctions) (‘everywhere’). All structural motifs as well as the canonical helices are arranged into one single structure predicted by one single joint probabilistic grammar (‘all-at-once’). Our results demonstrate that CaCoFold-R3D is a valid alternative for predicting the all-residue interactions present in a RNA 3D structure. CaCoFold-R3D is fast and easily customizable for novel motif discovery and shows promising value both as a strong input for deep learning approaches to all-atom structure prediction as well as toward guiding RNA design as drug targets for therapeutic small molecules.
link.springer.com
Reposted by Lars Barquist
ariannebabina.bsky.social
🚨PHD PROJECT!🚨
Interested in #bacteria, #RNA, #evolution, #biotech, #EnvironmentalMicro?

Opportunity for a fully-funded #PhD with me, @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social, & @walllabuoglasgow.bsky.social via the NorthWestBio DTP:

www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Deadline 21 Nov. #MicroSky Please share!
University of Glasgow - Postgraduate study - Centres for Doctoral Training - NorthWest Biosciences - Our Projects - Underpinning Bioscience - Arianne Babina
www.gla.ac.uk
Reposted by Lars Barquist
ariannebabina.bsky.social
Apply for a #PhD with @paulhoskisson.bsky.social and me on all things #Streptomyces, #evolution, #AMR, #antibiotics, #biotech!

Deadline 21st November. #MicroSky please share!
Reposted by Lars Barquist
betanalpha.bsky.social
On Wed, Dec 10 I will be offering my comprehensive introduction to regression modeling at a steep discount in an effort to raise funds for World Central Kitchen and United Farm Workers. Details about the course and registration process can be found on my website, betanalpha.github.io/courses/.
Courses
betanalpha.github.io
Reposted by Lars Barquist
Reposted by Lars Barquist
vivekmutalik.bsky.social
Excited to share this cool cold shock 😅 work of Yan Zhang ! scholar.google.com/citations?us...

#microsky
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
Cross-species phenotypic profiling uncovers functional determinants of bacterial cold shock adaptation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.22.676666v1
Reposted by Lars Barquist
inschool4life.bsky.social
New Paper!

Machine learning models that attempt to predict microbial load collapse outside of their training context with an R2<0!

In contrast, our Bayesian Partially Identified Models embrace uncertainty in unmeasured microbial load and consistently outpreform.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Uncertainty Modeling Outperforms Machine Learning for Microbiome Data Analysis
Microbiome sequencing measures relative rather than absolute abundances, providing no direct information about total microbial load. Normalization methods attempt to compensate, but rely on strong, of...
www.biorxiv.org
lbarquist.bsky.social
And importantly Hainan to complete the chicken rice archipelago.
Reposted by Lars Barquist
asm.org
ASM @asm.org · Jul 16
Using experimental evolution in host-mimicking media, researchers show that inflammation-like environments limit the loss of quorum sensing—a common adaptation during chronic infections—in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Learn more in #mSystems: asm.social/2vd
Population densities and frequencies of protease-deficient mutants over time. Differences in environmental factors associated with inflammation varied the population density (A) and the frequency of evolved protease-deficient mutants, PDMs (B), over time. Box plot tracks the average and overall distribution of population density at each detected time point within each selective environment. Each line shows the tracked population density or PDM frequency along the daily passage in a single population, grouped by selective environments (Casein SCFM or casamino acids, labeled CAA SCFM, and with or without supplemented 2 mM hydrogen peroxide, OS±).
Reposted by Lars Barquist
abaumler.bsky.social
Hydrogen sulfide production distinguishes Salmonella from close relatives, but its biological significance remains obscure. This study uncovers the secret: Salmonella uses hydrogen sulfide production as a weapon to outcompete E. coli and gain a foothold in the gut.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Lars Barquist
Reposted by Lars Barquist
jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social
Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…
Reposted by Lars Barquist
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, could help fight antibiotic resistance, but phage–host interactions are not yet sufficiently understood. Researchers from #HIRI, JMU & HZI now successfully interfered with phage reproduction using ASOs.
Just out in @nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com
Reposted by Lars Barquist
pkoo562.bsky.social
2025 Machine Learning in Computational Biology (#MLCB) meeting starts TODAY (9/10) at 9:30a (EST) at the NY Genome Center in NYC!

We have a great lineup of keynotes, contributed talks, and posters today and tomorrow

Schedule: mlcb.org/schedule

Join for free via livestream: m.youtube.com/@mlcbconf
MLCB - Schedule
The in-person component will be held at the New York Genome Center, 101 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013. All times below are Eastern Time.
mlcb.org
Reposted by Lars Barquist
zaminiqbal.bsky.social
Sometimes you meet absolutely incredible bioinfo-magicians.
It was a huge privilege when @shenwei356.bsky.social
joined our group for a year on an @embl.org sabbatical.
While here, he developed a new way of aligning to
millions of bacteria, called LexicMap 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Efficient sequence alignment against millions of prokaryotic genomes with LexicMap - Nature Biotechnology
LexicMap uses a fixed set of probes to efficiently query gene sequences for fast and low-memory alignment.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Lars Barquist
westermannlab.bsky.social
New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Wenhan Zhu (U Vanderbilt): using dual RNA-seq during B. theta colonization of the host mucous layer, we identify IroR--an iron-response sRNA that tunes capsule expression and facilitates adaptation to iron limitation.
doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.08.672848
An RNA regulates iron homeostasis and host mucus colonization in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron
Symbiotic bacteria in the human intestinal microbiota provide many pivotal functions to human health and occupy distinct biogeographic niches within the gut. Yet the molecular basis underlying niche-s...
doi.org
Reposted by Lars Barquist
annealiz1.bsky.social
🧪 #RNAsky

If you aren’t using RNAcanvas to draw your RNA structures and explore alternative structures, you are missing out! 56 citations in a year, with multiple ones in top journals like Nature, Science & Cell. Easy to use and packed with unique features! Try it!

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
RNAcanvas: interactive drawing and exploration of nucleic acid structures
Abstract. Two-dimensional drawing of nucleic acid structures, particularly RNA structures, is fundamental to the communication of nucleic acids research. H
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Lars Barquist
Reposted by Lars Barquist
vscooper.micropopbio.org
The 2024 rankings of bacterial threats