Basile Beaud Benyahia
@babebe.bsky.social
Microbiologist in Simonetta Gribaldo’s lab at Institut Pasteur. Love membranes, evolution and bacteria that never want to grow the way i want them to 🥲✨🔮
Devastated to report that Brandon Jutras passed away a day or two ago. Brandon earned his PhD with me. He went on to be an Associate Professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine and a super star in Lyme research. A loving husband and father, a sincere friend, and a brilliant scientist 💔
Fantastic Prokaryotic Cell Biologists and where to find them! A truly lovely set of researchers, making huge progress and discoveries in their field. We hope you've all enjoyed the first 2 days, with plenty more to come. #ProkaryoticCellBio
New preprint! We show that the bacterial predator B. bacteriovorus deploys a unipolar Tad nanomachine for irreversible attachment to prey and invasion. @coralietesseur.bsky.social used CRISPRi+microfluidics to overcome barriers associated with essential systems in an obligate predatory lifestyle 🦠
A polarity-controlled Tad nanomachine enables prey invasion in a bacterial predator
Type IV pili are dynamic surface appendages assembled by envelope-spanning nanomachines that mediate diverse bacterial interactions, yet how these systems are adapted to predatory lifestyles remains p...
biorxiv.org
🔬 Rencontre avec @navarropaula.bsky.social, pour qui les secrets du vivant se cachent à l’échelle atomique. Pour explorer cet univers minuscule, la biologiste s’appuie sur la #cryo-microscopie #électronique. Lire la suite 👉 www.unil.ch/news/fr/1783...
Lausanne, Terre promise de la cryo-microscopie électronique
Pour Paula Navarro, les secrets du vivant se cachent à l’échelle atomique. Pour explorer cet univers minuscule, la biologiste s’appuie sur la cryo-microscopie électronique. Et s’il y a un endroit où p...
unil.ch
(bacterial) cell divisionists take note 👇 happy to learn that this excellent work goes on! 👇 slide shown by tom bernhardt at the '24 EMBO workshop in alcobaça PT #MicroSky
Paula Navarro@navarropaula.bsky.social · last mo.🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇
Excited to see our story published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com today! It’s been a long journey. We answered a major outstanding question: why does E. coli encode two aPBPs, yet only one plays a critical role in ensuring reliable PG fortification during cell division?
Paula Navarro@navarropaula.bsky.social · last mo.🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇
🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇
The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology
A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.
doi.org
Microbes that have the greatest genomic potential for secondary metabolism tend to be multicellular. Here, we show that signatures of ancestral BGC expansions within 3 bacterial phyla and 2 fungal lineages coincide with origins of complex multicellularity [1/12] 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Complex multicellularity is linked with expanded specialized metabolite production in microorganisms - Nature Microbiology
The evolutionary emergence of complex multicellularity in bacteria and fungi, such as the ability for mycelial growth, is strongly associated with increased genomic carriage of biosynthetic machinery ...
nature.com
A multilayered cell envelope of a member of the Chloroflexota offers an anchoring platform for the archaellum #microbiology #archaea #bacteria #MicroSky doi.org/10.3389/fmic...
How ancient are the building blocks of animal sensory systems? Key components of animal sensory systems evolved before animals. We find that choanoflagellates possess diverse & spatially segregated TRP channels, pointing to ancient origins of sensory specialization. doi.org/10.64898/202...
I am recruiting a PhD student (fully funded, 4yrs) to analyze modern 🧬 and ancient 🦴 genomic data from humans and domestic animals 🐑 Please share, I am happy to chat at #ICP2026 or #SMBE2026 this summer www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
PhD student position in Population Genomics - Uppsala University
PhD student position in Population Genomics , Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
uu.se
After a long hiatus, happy #MicroscopyMonday! Here are some amoebae squeezing themselves into narrow channels (part of a video for our preprint pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41377514/). Sound effects by Dillon (my 4 month old who may have had a little to do with the bluesky hiatus!)
Happy to share the last work of Jonas Desjardins, identifying and characterizing a novel Rhs NAD(P) glycohydrolase delivered by the #T6SS of the major cosmetic contaminant, Pluralibacter gergoviae. www.jbc.org/article/S002...
it's summer, and time to go to the pool. our post next monday will be about bacteria that swim the backstroke. stay tuned... #MicroSky
The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)
🌟 Very proud of the newest Dr. in the team , Dr. @julielebris.bsky.social 👩🎓! She brilliantly defended her PhD last Friday @pasteur.fr Excellent thesis in terms of output & quality! Thanks to the jury @lucyweinert.bsky.social @sylvainbrisse.bsky.social @edfeil.bsky.social Maria Halima Laaberki
Some very cool simulations, look at those little guys climb that ladder! #MolecularNodes
@corrylab.bsky.social · 2mo agoExcited to share this paper from @yiechanglin.bsky.social showing how lipids can move between bacterial membranes along the bridge like protein TamB. Also happy to be able to post the cool movie. 🎥🌟 #MDsimulations #StructuralBiology doi.org/10.1016/j.bp...
Massive fan of IQ-Tree! academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
IQ-TREE 3: phylogenomic inference software using complex evolutionary models
Abstract. IQ-TREE (https://iqtree.github.io/) is a widely used open-source software tool for efficiently inferring phylogenetic trees under maximum likelih
academic.oup.com
Live streaming from the Loki’s Castle hydrothermal vent. What a time to be alive! Thanks @paccardenas.bsky.social for sharing www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLua...
Deep Arctic - Divestream 04 - Loki's Castle
YouTube video by Greenpeace International
youtube.com
New preprint! Cell division has to happen at the right place but how Archaea pick that place is unknown. We now identified a three-protein system, Dip, that positions the divisome at midcell in H. volcanii and is broadly conserved across Archaea. A thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...
Ben Larson@blarson.bsky.social · 11mo agoWhat could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n
What could be better than giant cannibal ciliates? SUPERgiant cannibal ciliates, is the answer! Read below for a fascinating case study in the phenotypic plasticity of protists, full of fratricidal drama ⬇️
Ben Larson@blarson.bsky.social · 3mo agoAnd now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...
@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social Who knew ParB-CTPase fold can kill!!! A protein fold best known for segregating chromosomes…can be transformed into a potent antibacterial toxin in some plant and animal pathogens. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Repurposing a chromosome segregation ParB-CTPase fold into an ATPase toxin for contact-dependent growth inhibition in plant and animal pathogens
Bacterial competition drives the evolution of antibacterial mechanisms, yet how new activities arise remains poorly understood. A major route to innovation is the reuse of pre-existing genetic systems, whereby conserved protein modules are repurposed in new biological contexts to generate new capabilities. Here, we show that the ParB-CTPase fold, a conserved nucleotide-binding module best known for its role in chromosome segregation, can be functionally repurposed as an antibacterial toxin. We identify ToxB, a ParB-like domain embedded within the polymorphic toxin region of contact-dependent inhibition systems and show that it functions as a potent antibacterial effector. Structural and biochemical analyses reveal that ToxB retains the core architecture of the ParB-CTPase fold but lacks DNA-binding capability and preferentially binds ATP. This shift in nucleotide specificity underpins a distinct mode of action, in which ATP binding and hydrolysis trigger rapid nucleoid compaction, chromosome segregation defects, oxidative stress, cell chaining, and ultimately cell lysis. ToxB also exhibits toxic activity in plant cells, suggesting that it targets conserved cellular processes. Together, these findings provide direct experimental evidence that the ParB-NTPase fold is biologically versatile and can be repurposed for biological roles fundamentally distinct from its ancestral function in DNA segregation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, 221776/Z/2/Z, 227755/Z/23/Z Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, https://ror.org/00cwqg982, BB/X01097X/1 Diamond Light Source, MX32728
biorxiv.org
I just caught this really interesting paper today. They obtained genomes for a new species of Treponema using genome-resolved metagenomics, associated with Noma diease:
Angus O’Ferrall@angusoferrall.bsky.social · 4mo agoVery pleased to see this work published. We analysed the oral microbiomes of children with noma and found that previously uncharacterised Treponema bacteria were both prevalent and highly abundant. journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Happy to share the finalized version of my paper on phage lysis in bacteria with unique envelopes! 🎉 Bacteriophages target membrane-anchored glycopolymers to promote host cell lysis and progeny release www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
A Marine Group A isolate relies on other growing bacteria for cell wall formation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A Marine Group A isolate relies on other growing bacteria for cell wall formation - Nature Microbiology
Marine Group A isolate IA91 captures peptidoglycan fragments produced by other growing bacteria and uses them to build its own cell wall, an effective and potentially common energy-saving strategy for...
nature.com
Bridging the membrane lipid divide: bacteria of the FCB group superphylum have the potential to synthesize archaeal ether lipids pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
🥈 CNRS Silver Medal 2026 → Romain Koszul For his interdisciplinary contributions to chromosome biology and pioneering genomic methodologies (HiC-scaffolding, metaHiC), decoding how genomes organize in 3D across all domains of life. @rkoszul.bsky.social @cnrs.fr
Dear Nanopore folks, could you give an advice about an issue that my lab has with direct RNA sequencing on MinION. We're doing RNA004 sequencing of various samples and again and again, there's a staggering amount of reads with just repetitive AAG triplet. This happens for weird IVT RNA and […]
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