Good to see this in the @microbiologysociety.org special collection, Advances in the Biology of Actinomycetes. OrrA directly controls WblA, a key regulator of sporulation and antibiotic production. A great team effort @johninnescentre.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Defining the OrrA regulon and its role in development and antibiotic production in Streptomyces venezuelae NRRL B-65442

Streptomyces bacteria have complex life cycles involving hyphal growth, sporulation and the production of diverse specialised metabolites, including antibiotics. In this study, we investigated the rol...

microbiologyresearch.org

Really pleased to finally see this out! More insights into the global regulator MtrA and how it helps S. ven sense and respond to its environment.

Matt Hutchings@matthutchings.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Great to see this published in the @microbiologysociety.org collection on Actinomycetes Conserved regulator MtrA directly activates ectoine biosynthesis and expression of BldM and WhiI to trigger sporulation in response to hyperosmotic stress www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... 1/2

Work led by @ainsley-beaton.bsky.social and @rdevine.bsky.social but a great team effort, including three of the amazing technology platforms @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Great to see this published in the @microbiologysociety.org collection on Actinomycetes Conserved regulator MtrA directly activates ectoine biosynthesis and expression of BldM and WhiI to trigger sporulation in response to hyperosmotic stress www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... 1/2

MtrAB activates ectoine production and triggers sporulation in response to osmotic stress in Streptomyces venezuelae

The MtrAB two-component system is a master regulator of antibiotic biosynthesis in Streptomyces species. MtrA is also required for sporulation under certain growth conditions, which means that on some...

microbiologyresearch.org

Good to see this @microbiologysociety.org cross journal special collection taking shape: Advances in the biology of Actinomycetes www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/adva...

I like the first line of this review article: “If bacteria are ranked by the number of commercially available antibiotics produced, Streptomyces would be number one by an overwhelming margin” www.sciltp.com/journals/npa...

The Streptomyces Genome and Its Exceptional Capacity for Antibiotics Production

If bacteria are ranked by the number of commercially available antibiotics produced, Streptomyces would be number one by an overwhelming margin—producing more approved drugs than all other bacterial g...

sciltp.com

Sad to hear this news. He was a real visionary. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Genome pioneer Craig Venter dies: here’s how he transformed science

Venter redrew the boundaries of biology — sequencing DNA at unprecedented speed, engineering synthetic life and charting ocean microbes.

nature.com

Please share - full funded (UK students only) PhD studentship in the Duncan lab ‘intergrated ‘omics for accelerated antibtioic dicovery from abyssal actinomycetes’. Co-supervisors @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social, Marcel Jaspars, @zmaw.bsky.social- deadline 20th May www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Sad to say farewell to @katienoble241.bsky.social after eight years in our group but happy that she has an exciting new adventure ahead with @webberma.bsky.social and his group @quadraminstitute.bsky.social

Excited to announce our new paper in Nature Microbiology describing diphtheria toxin homologues in Streptomyces called Streptomyces antiquus insecticidal proteins (SAIP), stemming from a long term collaboration with Ying Xu, Min Dong, Cameron Currie, and many others. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Streptomyces produce a diphtheria toxin-like exotoxin that targets insects - Nature Microbiology

Bioinformatic, structural and functional analyses characterize Streptomyces antiquus insecticidal protein (SAIP) as a diphtheria toxin homologue that is lethal to insect cells and targets the Flower p...

nature.com

New paper with @barriewilks.bsky.social. There are many reports on fasamycins and formicamycins (aka accramycins, naphthacemycins, streptovertimycins). Here, we unambiguously solve their structures and stereochemistry. A great effort, led by Dr Edward Hems pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Using X-ray Crystallography and 1,n-ADEQUATE NMR to Revise the Structures of Highly Substituted Aromatic Natural Products: The Absolute Configuration of Formicamycin Congeners

Formicamycins and their biosynthetic precursors, the fasamycins, form part of the phenylnaphthacenoid family of polyketide natural products. A recent atroposelective total synthesis of formicamycin H brought into question our original stereochemical assignment of the axially chiral linkage between C-6 and C-7. To address this, we obtained an X-ray crystal structure for formicamycin H that unambiguously confirmed our original assignment as the Sa atropisomer. X-ray structures for multiple additional fasamycins and formicamycins confirmed that this is common to all congeners. However, these studies identified a compounded error made by us whereby several structures previously reported as para-methoxy were found to have ortho-methoxy groups on the hanging E-ring. To address this for congeners that did not crystallize or gave nondiffracting crystals, we turned to the surprisingly underutilized 1,n-ADEQUATE NMR experiment. In total, we generated X-ray structures for 15 phenylnaphthacenoid metabolites and by combining these results report the corrected structures for three formicamycins, six fasamycins, and three biosynthetic lactone intermediates, noting that several revised fasamycin structures now match previously reported naphthacemycins. Our results highlight the utility of 1,n-ADEQUATE experiments for regiochemical determination in polysubstituted aromatic molecules. Moreover, our investigations uncovered a potential deracemization step during biosynthesis of the formicamycin framework.

pubs.acs.org

Salt supplementation-induced metabolic reprogramming in Streptomyces coelicolor journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

A new episode of my #MattersMicrobial podcast is available! This time, Dr. Paul Hoskisson joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss Streptomyces, antibiotics, and evolution. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord? I truly can use views and listens to keep podcasting. Thank you. youtu.be/2w9Hll4xcFk?...

Matters Microbial #125: Antibiotics, Streptomyces and Evolution

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

youtu.be

We first developed ALBERT-DF, a model trained on genomic context, hypothesizing it would recognize defense islands or MGE. We validated its predictions in Streptomyces Albus, uncovering six novel antiphage systems, including only proteins with completely novel domains.

Preparing for my talk at @microbiologysociety.org annual conference next week and enjoyed looking over my collection of bioassay images. If you come along to the Actinos session on Monday afternoon you might get to see some of the cool science that went into unlocking some cryptic BGCs to make them

Biochemist Elizabeth Bugie co-discovered streptomycin (with Selman Waksman), the first antibiotic against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Waksman went on to win the 1952 Nobel Prize for Medicine & took full credit for the discovery. Bugie died #OTD in 2001. #WomenInSTEM #MatildaEffect (1/2)

Paul Hoskisson discusses the Streptomyces genus; the soil microbes behind many of our most important antibiotics and a cornerstone of the antibiotic revolution. Excerpt from Matters Microbial 125: Antibiotics, Streptomyces and Evolution @markowenmartin.bsky.social @paulhoskisson.bsky.social

Cool paper from the ISBA collection (www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/adva... ) from @evodivmet.bsky.social et al Functional shifts of the dual-substrate phosphoribosyl isomerase PriA from primary to specialized metabolism in rare Actinomycetota www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Fermentation conditions outweigh phylogeny in shaping the metabolome of novel Micromonospora strains: an integrated genomics-metabolomics analysis | Applied and Environmental Microbiology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Fermentation conditions outweigh phylogeny in shaping the metabolome of novel Micromonospora strains: an integrated genomics-metabolomics analysis | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Our study provides a comprehensive genomic and metabolomic elucidation of the significant biosynthetic potential within the genus Micromonospora. It reveals a core biosynthetic capacity for terpenes a...

journals.asm.org

How. My. Science. It's official. We are heading back to Latitude Festival and are excited to be branching out into the forest of science and culture!! 🥳🥳🥳

Latitude Festival@latitudefestival.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Are you ready to venture into the cosmos? 🪐 The @cosmicshambles.com Forest of Science and Culture is back - bigger, bolder, and more fascinating than before. Expect the unexpected. There will almost certainly be surprises. Head here to explore your full Shambles line up 🔎 tinyurl.com/5n6fw86m

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Pipeline of new drugs to fight superbugs is ‘worryingly thin’, experts warn

UK’s GSK is leading the way in research but AstraZeneca is not involved in the area, report finds

theguardian.com

2 year fellowship available in AMR research www.medicalresearchfoundation.org.uk/grants/antim...

2 x Assistant Professor in Chemistry University of Warwick - Department of Chemistry. 📍 Location: University of Warwick, UK 📅 Start date: AY 2026/2027 ⏰ Deadline to apply: 8th April 2026 warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/appcentre...

Very excited to join the editorial board of @natprodreports.rsc.org

Natural Product Reports@natprodreports.rsc.org · 6mo ago

🎉We are delighted to welcome @kelloggnpgroup.bsky.social, @kateduncan.bsky.social & Yihua Chen to the @natprodreports.rsc.org Editorial Board! #natprod #secmet Learn more about our new Editorial Board members here🔽 blogs.rsc.org/np/2026/01/3...

The Microbe Zoo will be going to the Royal Society summer science exhibition 2026!!! Fantastic achievement by @sawtrust.bsky.social and @norwichmicro.bsky.social royalsociety.org/science-even...

Streptomyces and other actinos are really fascinating bacteria. Always something new to discover.

ActinoBase@actinobase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

If anyone is interested in working on these bacteria @johninnescentre.bsky.social has protocols, strains, plasmids and a genome database available here: streptomyces.org.uk

I'll be coordinating the efforts along with others on the MIBiG 5.0 Annotathon team including: @marnixmedema.bsky.social, @TilmannWebber, @kblin.bsky.social, @mmzdouc.bsky.social, @jjjvanderhooft.bsky.social, @BarbaraTerlouw, and @ArjanDraisma.

The MIBiG 5.0 Annotathon is coming soon, and registration is now open! 🧬 Does your research involve biosynthetic gene clusters? Do you love natural product biosynthesis? Do you have an interest in rare & exotic enzymes? We can use your help & expertise. Register here 👉 forms.gle/C1cWcLHtrjT2...

If anyone is interested in working on these bacteria @johninnescentre.bsky.social has protocols, strains, plasmids and a genome database available here: streptomyces.org.uk

Matt Hutchings@matthutchings.bsky.social · 6mo ago

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...

If anyone's looking for computational biology collaboration in this area, hit me up ;)

Matt Hutchings@matthutchings.bsky.social · 6mo ago

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...