Michaela Novotná

Bacteria deliver a microtubule-binding protein into mammalian cells to promote colonization Pathogenic Bordetella bacteria use protein adhesins to infect the ciliated respiratory epithelia of vertebrate hosts. In this work, we show that the filamentous hemagglutinin FhaB adhesin of Bordetell...

How Bordetella resist removal by the mucociliary “escalator” that normally clears the respiratory tract of microbes?

#paper in Science (2026). Costello et al.📄
Bacteria deliver a microtubule-binding protein into mammalian cells to promote colonization🦠
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Context-dependent translation inhibition as a cancer therapeutic modality - Nature Communications Robust protein synthesis by the ribosome is required for rapid cancer growth. Here authors present interdictors, small molecule inhibitors of protein synthesis with context-dependent activity that inh...

Incredibly proud of our small but mighty team at Interdict Bio as we bring the interdictor modality closer to the clinic! Check out our first publication that lays the foundation for context-dependent translation modulators as a therapeutic approach for cancer!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ribosomal RNA expansion segments mediate the oligomerization of inactive animal ribosomes Cells down-regulate protein synthesis when stressed to conserve energy and shift resources toward repair. We found that in some mammalian cells, including neurons, stress also resulted in the formatio...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Revitalizing actinobacteria research: an urgent response to the antimicrobial resistance crisis - Natural Products and Bioprospecting Abstract The crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is escalating while the antibiotic pipeline remains stagnant. Our bibliometric analysis of eight decades of literature reveals a critical imbalanc...

Research into filamentous actinomycetes, the antibiotic producers, is in steep decline. Loads of natural products chemistry research worldwide but not much aimed at understanding their biology and ecology. The latter is key to unlocking their specialised metabolism

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Long in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome!
Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins.
bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG
This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected!
1/n 🧵

Structure of the 30S translation initiation complex coupled to paused RNA polymerase and its potential for riboregulation - Nature Communications Small regulatory RNAs can act on target mRNAs to control their translation and stability. Here, the authors present evidence that this riboregulation can potentially regulate by pairing to a target si...

Structure of the 30S translation initiation complex coupled to paused RNA polymerase and its potential for riboregulation #rnasky 🦠

The ribosome synchronizes folding and assembly to promote oligomeric protein biogenesis Large oligomeric proteins constitute a major fraction of proteomes, but are difficult to refold in vitro, raising the question of how cells direct their biogenesis. Roeselová and Shivakumaraswamy et a...

Our latest cotranslational folding story is now published @cp-molcell.bsky.social. Really cool (I think) new ideas about how exactly the ribosome directs folding and assembly to make sure complicated proteins mature efficiently in cells.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

We’re thrilled to share our latest iTP-seq protocol for mapping bacterial translation landscapes in vitro — with a complete experimental workflow streamlined by Mélanie Gillard and an open source Python library for data analysis developed by Thibaud Renault.

Discovery and development of a new oxazolidinone with reduced toxicity for the treatment of tuberculosis @naturemedicine.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If anyone is interested in making bacterial ribosome-nascent chain complexes and studying them using HDX-MS, we have written up a detailed protocol.
rdcu.be/eYFx4
Characterise the conformational dynamics of the ribosome, nascent polypeptide and bound chaperones, label-free and at peptide-level

Evolution of the ribosomal exit tunnel through the eyes of the nascent chain The ribosomal exit tunnel is a universally conserved feature of the large subunit that directs the nascent polypeptide chain into the cellular environment and is involved in co-translational folding, ...

Just in time for 2026! 🎆 Presenting a nascent-centric view on the shape of the ribosomal exit tunnel topology, based on MD-derived occupancy maps for 55 distinct ribosomes. 🧶🧬🖥️
📄 Read the preprint: biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#StructuralBiology #Ribosome #CryoEM #Evolution #Biophysics

How medically important antimicrobials bind to the 30S ribosomal subunit in a bacterial pathogen Ribosomes translate the genetic code in mRNA to synthesize proteins in all living organisms. Decoding of mRNA occurs in the small subunit of the ribosome and is mediated by tRNA anticodons. Regions ne...

1/ Our new preprint is out on biorxiv on how antibiotics bind to bacterial 30S subunits, please repost. #ribosome #antibiotics #microsky #rnasky doi.org/10.64898/202...

In this study, we highlight the importance of the base composition of the first codons for protein expression. An increased abundance of adenine (A) and a decrease in guanine (G) enhance expression and improve mRNA stability. The mediator of this effect is the ribosome.

AlphaFold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination - Nature Methods An analysis of AlphaFold protein structure predictions shows that while in many cases the predictions are highly accurate, there are also many instances where the predicted structures or parts of pred...

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

Saskemycin, a potent and selective antimycobacterial agent targeting a unique site on the ribosome - PubMed Tuberculosis is the deadliest bacterial disease on the planet. The months-long regimen of multiple antibiotics required to treat tuberculosis profoundly affects the microbiome and leads to the development of antimicrobial resistance. Furthermore, non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections pose an incr …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41282059/

Two M. tuberculosis RelE toxins don’t cut mRNA, they slice 16S rRNA itself, shutting down translation in a totally unexpected way, new study reveals.
A big leap in understanding TB’s survival tricks and new angles for therapies.

📖 shorturl.at/Z8MVX
✍️ @genevauxpierre.bsky.social & coll.
#MicroSky

`Mix-it-up': accessible time-resolved cryo-EM on the millisecond timescale pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41140236/ #cryoEM

Mapping rRNA, tRNA, and mRNA modifications in ribosomes at high resolution Chemical modifications of rRNA, tRNA, and mRNA play key roles in protein synthesis by affecting the structure of these RNAs, by modulating decoding, and by influencing ribosomal efficiency. Recent adv...

Mapping rRNA, tRNA, and mRNA modifications in ribosomes at high resolution: Trends in Biochemical Sciences www.cell.com/trends/bioch...

Structural basis of enhanced stalling efficiency of an engineered ribosome arrest peptide - PubMed Ribosome stalling is a critical regulatory mechanism in protein synthesis, controlling the rate and fidelity of translation. Arrest peptides, short sequences within nascent chains, can induce ribosome stalling, providing insights into the dynamics of translation and potential therapeutic targets. In …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41099701/

Figure 1 from the preprint

Check out our preprint! With new molecular mechanisms, 140 subtomogram averages, and ~600 annotated cells under different conditions, we @embl.org were able to describe bacterial populations with in-cell #cryoET. And there’s a surprise at the end 🕵️

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#teamtomo

Our work on ribosome hibernation in archaea is out!
We identified Hib, a new hibernation factor broadly distributed across archaea.
Check out the preprint 👉 biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.11.676729v1
(1/🧵)

Dvě vědkyně z @mbuavcr.bsky.social - Natalia Slonská a Lucie Najmanová, se zúčastnily soutěže Věda fotogenická, kterou pořádá @akademievedcr.bsky.social. Do soutěže přihlásily snímky, které propojují krásu květu fuchsie se světem půdních bakterií Streptomyces coelicolor.

Structures redefine the mechanism of action for tetracyclines https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.25.678686v1

This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!

We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.

Read on for details... 1/x

Translational coupling of neighboring genes in prokaryotes | Journal of Bacteriology Prokaryotic genes are arranged in operons, with functionally related genes often located adjacent to one another (1). There are several ways in which the operonic organization of genes facilitates the...

Check out our new paper: a review of translational coupling, the phenomenon where translation of one prokaryotic gene can promote translation of the gene downstream. We cover the history, and delve into the mechanism, which is still not fully understood. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Mechanism of 30S subunit recognition and modification by the conserved bacterial ribosomal RNA methyltransferase RsmI Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) modifications are important for ribosome function and can influence bacterial susceptibility to ribosome-targeting antibiotics. The universally conserved 16S rRNA nucleotide C1402...

Mechanism of 30S subunit recognition and modification by the conserved bacterial ribosomal RNA methyltransferase RsmI #microsky #rnasky 🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Structural insights into YheS-mediated release of SecM-arrested ribosome. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.28.672766v1

Origins of life: the molecules that could have unlocked peptide synthesis For life to emerge on Earth, peptides must first have formed without the aid of enzymes — but how? Reactions of sulfur-containing molecules might have been key.

OMG this is it?! The final piece in the puzzle?!😲 tRNAs are the key, because archaic tRNAs sit at the core of all ribosomes. If aminoacyl-tRNAs could form on early Earth, you have a plausible route for the first self-replicators, the bridge from chemistry to biology
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Integrated structural biology of the native malarial translation machinery and its inhibition by an antimalarial drug Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Integrated structural biology approach leveraging in situ cryo-electron tomography reveals molecular details of the native malarial translation...

Our #CryoET story on how a top antimalarial drug candidate perturbs the native malarial translation machinery is out @natsmb.nature.com🥳 rdcu.be/eBbrH

A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo