Cristina Herencias

New preprint on the limits of detecting higher-order interactions in microbial communities.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We find that the dominance of additive and pairwise interactions on community function may not reflect biological simplicity, but fundamental limits of statistical detection.

Plasmid mutation rates scale with copy number | PNAS Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA molecules that spread by horizontal transfer and shape bacterial evolution. Plasmids are typically present at mul...

New paper out in PNAS!!! 🎉

Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution?

🧵 Dive into the story

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Frontiers | Genome assembly and functional predation analysis of novel Bdellovibrio isolates from human gut microbiota IntroductionPredatory bacteria of the Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALOs) have long been postulated as living antimicrobials, yet their occurrence and ec...

🧬New paper out! We report the first isolation of viable B. bacteriovorus predators from human gut microbiota. www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic.... Great work of Mario Romero @migueldiezfdz.bsky.social @josete600.bsky.social and @rosacampo.bsky.social

Universal rules govern plasmid copy number - Nature Communications Plasmids exhibit a broad range of sizes and copies per cell, and these two parameters appear to be negatively correlated. Here, Ramiro-Martínez et al. analyse the copy number of thousands of diverse b...

🚨🚨New paper out in @natcomms.nature.com!!

Come for the first large-scale analysis of plasmid copy number across species,
stay for one of the most intriguing results of my lab: universal scaling laws in plasmid biology! 📈🧬

👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

New paper alert! 🚨

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate.

We combine theory, simulations, experimental evolution, and bioinformatics to demonstrate that mutation rates scale with plasmid copy number.

Let's dive in! 🧵👇

Do plasmids evolve faster 🐇, slower 🐢, or just like chromosomes 🧬?

In our new paper, we tackled this question using theory, simulations, bioinformatics, and experiments!

👇 Check out all the details in Paula’s thread!

Hint: 🐇 (most of the time)

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...

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

Dissecting pOXA-48 fitness effects in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens Nature Communications - This study investigates the effects of the carbapenem resistance plasmid pOXA-48 in clinical enterobacteria. Using CRISPRi screens, the authors revealed that the...

This work is finally published! 🥳🧬
Plasmids are associated with very variable fitness costs in their different bacterial hosts. But, what is the contribution of each of the plasmid-genes in these host-specific effects? Study led by
@jorgesastred.bsky.social, @sanmillan.bsky.social and myself! 1/14

Un placer estar en Logroño en tan buena compañia hablando de resistencia a los antibióticos. #fundacionibercaja

Interactions and evolutionary relationships among bacterial mobile genetic elements - Nature Reviews Microbiology In this Review, Lang and colleagues present an overview of the current knowledge landscape regarding mobile genetic elements in bacteria, with a focus on their evolutionary relationships and interacti...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In collaboration with Andrew Lang and Alison Buchan, we just published a review on the complex and sometimes convoluted interactions and evolutionary relationships among bacterial mobile genetic elements.
#phage #plasmid #evolution #bacteria #plasmidbiology #MGE

Coexistence Theory for Microbial Ecology, and Vice Versa Classical models from theoretical ecology are seeing increasing uptake in microbial ecology, but there remains rich potential for closer cross-pollination. Here we explore opportunities for stronger ....

In our new paper we discuss how modern coexistence theory can help microbial ecologists tackle fundamental & applied questions, and how microbial systems can help to push coexistence theory forward! With Andrew Letten and Dave Armitage (@darmitage.bsky.social). doi.org/10.1111/1462...

Rosettier A free, user-friendly web application for planning 96 or 384-well plate experiments. Rosettier si...

Just migrated here from twitter! Hello everyone.

Also, I've just put up a super simple (and free) to use APP to streamline experiment design and result analysis of 96 (or 384) wells plate experiments for my lab pals.

You can try it here: rosettier.streamlit.app

Feedback is very welcome 😁!

Jeronimo holding the prize in formal attire surrounded by excellent friends and coworkers

Jeronimo with the prize in a funny pose

All awardees happy with their prizes

Really beautiful day receiving the “Margarita Salas” Award from the Madrid Region!

Really proud to share it with my colleagues, friends and family!!

El Prof. José Luis García, investigador del CIB, ha recibido el Premio de Investigación Margarita Salas 2024 otorgado por la CAM, en reconocimiento a su trayectoria investigadora y de transferencia, que ha posicionado la Biotecnología Española como referente internacional.

➡️ s.mtrbio.com/gukzeylqqs

⚠️ Job(s) alert! ⚠️

We are launching a new postdoctoral program in Systems Biology at IBFG. Join us!

👉 Several positions available with competitive work conditions for up to 4 years

📄 More info: jdiazc9.github.io/files/jobs/2...

A plasmid-chromosome crosstalk in multidrug resistant enterobacteria - Nature Communications The authors describe a new crosstalk between a globally disseminated carbapenem resistance plasmid and clinical enterobacteria clones. This crosstalk provides a fitness advantage to the plasmid-carryi...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New paper out!!

Very excited to have this paper officially out. This one is pretty special... Unfortunately, @kevinwoodum.bsky.social passed away when this paper was in its final stages. He was my biggest supporter, and I miss him deeply as a mentor and friend.

Diverse phage communities are maintained stably on a clonal bacterial host Bacteriophages are the most abundant and phylogenetically diverse biological entities on Earth, yet the ecological mechanisms that sustain this extraordinary diversity remain unclear. In this study, w...

Nora finished her paper with a sentence I like a lot "Our results show that even under extremely restrictive, competitive conditions, the simplest biological entities on Earth can still find paths to coexistence." There is a curious dichotomy in her experiments... 1/3
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plasmid-encoded insertion sequences promote rapid adaptation in clinical enterobacteria bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

New preprint in collaboration with @asantoslopez.bsky.social lab and led by Jorge Sastre. Combining experimental evolution and analyses of longitudinal samples from hospitalised patients, we unveiled a new mechanism of plasmid-mediated evolution beyond HGT 1/8
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share the first preprint from my lab, collaborating with the fantastic @sanmillan.bsky.social 's lab, led by the amazing Jorge Sastre. We've demonstrated how insertion sequences encoded in plasmids promote bacterial adaptation. This project has been incredibly fun!