New preprint out on bioRxiv!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Can conjugative plasmids be used to control plasmid and pathogen spread?
Follow me down the rabbit hole that led to this story 🧵
A short research stay in 2019 (back in the pre-COVID era) at José R. Penadés lab turned into the third chapter of my PhD and today it finally sees the light.
Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.
Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We've come full circle! I began my postdoctoral career by identifying the peptidyl deformylase gene. Today, we show that half of bacterial species harbor multiple PDF genes (up to 7, for always a single Met-tRNA transformylase), and while the role of these PDFs ... academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Thanks Basile ! 😁
Many thanks to all co-authors! @manon-b.bsky.social @baptistedarracq.bsky.social @EliaBandini @eloilittner.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @celineloot.bsky.social
And don't miss the upcoming paper from @mblokesch.bsky.social lab on the same topic! 5/5
Mechanistically, incoming ssDNA is a game changer: it promotes attC site folding, triggers integrase expression via SOS, and allows cassette excision without the need for replicative resolution. This suggests both intra- and inter-bacterial shuffling shape integron recombination dynamics. 4/5
Here, we reveal an alternative route for cassette shuffling: natural transformation. Incoming cassettes from isogenic cells can be excised and integrated into integrons, mimicking cassette shuffling without deleting endogenous cassettes. 3/5
Integrons are genetic “biobanks” that bacteria use to adapt on demand. They store cassettes that provide functions from antibiotic resistance to phage defense. Our lab showed that cassette shuffling in SCIs is limited because toxin–antitoxin cassettes keep cassette excision rate low. 2/5
Our new paper is out in @narjournal.bsky.social We show that natural transformation enables bacteria to shuffle integron cassettes, boosting their phenotypic diversity.
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... 1/5
Here, we reveal an alternative route for cassette shuffling: natural transformation. Incoming cassettes from isogenic cells can be excised and integrated into integrons, mimicking cassette shuffling without deleting endogenous cassettes. 3/5
Integrons are genetic “biobanks” that bacteria use to adapt on demand. They store cassettes that provide functions from antibiotic resistance to phage defense. Our lab showed that cassette shuffling in SCIs is limited because toxin–antitoxin cassettes keep cassette excision rate low. 2/5
Our new paper maps the tRNA modification landscape in Vibrio cholerae! 💫
We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠
Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators!
@plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications
Back in June, we welcomed #EESMicrobiology in Heidelberg 🦠
Today, we're happy to introduce you to the five best poster prize winners 👏
🏅 Kevin Debatisse
🏅 Elena López Rodríguez
🏅 Yorben Casters
🏅 Prunelle Carcassone
🏅 Lucía Pérez
Learn more 👉 https://s.embl.org/EES25-06-blog
A 2-year postdoc position in my lab, under the supervision of P-Alex Kaminski, on Z-DNA phages and the benefit given by ZTGC DNA and the replication machinery, with attempt to create a Z based minireplicon
research.pasteur.fr/en/job/a-two...
📢 Postdoctoral research position
A 2-year postdoctoral position on bacteriophages research is available at the Institut Pasteur in Paris in the Plasticity of the Genomes Unit.
🧐 Those interested can now send their applications!
