Eastbio: Efficacy and Mechanisms of Novel Treatments for Antibiotic-Tolerant Infections at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Eastbio: Efficacy and Mechanisms of Novel Treatments for Antibiotic-Tolerant Infections at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

Loss of restriction-modification methyltransferases drives persistence to fluoroquinolones in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The resurgence of phage therapy has renewed interest in the interplay between phage resistance and antibiotic susceptibility and has stimulated research in the emergent field of non-canonical cellular functions carried out by defence systems. Yet it remains largely unknown whether intracellular antiphage defence systems influence bacterial physiology, resistance or persistence to antibiotics. Here we discovered that besides its canonical antiphage defence function, the type I restriction modification (RM) system profoundly affects the physiology of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Deletion of the type I RM methyltransferase HsdM reduces the size of the bacterial nucleoid and delays DNA replication initiation and exit from lag phase in P. aeruginosa PAO1. Crucially, P. aeruginosa strains isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and lacking the RM type I system also display slower growth compared to strains isolated from other sites of infections and encoding this system. Deletion of HsdM selectively increases the levels of persisters that survive treatment with fluoroquinolones by displaying enhanced SOS response but without acquiring resistance. Importantly, we measured elevated persistence to fluoroquinolones also in P. aeruginosa CF isolates lacking the type I RM system, providing a functional link between RM systems, slow growth and persistence to fluoroquinolones. Together these findings open a new way of approaching bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, bringing antiphage defence systems in a forward-facing position in this field. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BB/V008021/1, BB/X003051/1 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EP/Y023528/1 Medical Research Council, MR/Y033892/1 Novo Nordisk Foundation, NNF 18OC0033946 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 390874280

biorxiv.org

Systematic mapping of bacteriophage gene essentiality with HIDEN-SEQ

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 25 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02455-8HIDEN-SEQ (hidden Acr-enabled transposon-insertion sequencing) is a transposon-insertion sequencing method for phages that systematically links their genes to selectable phenotypes.

go.nature.com

Dual ATPase-activated DNA hemimethylation and cleavage by the MANTIS defence system

Bacterial defence systems are diverse and form major barriers to horizontal gene transfer and bacteriophage (phage) infection. Though restriction-modification systems were the first such defences disc...

biorxiv.org

Engineering the Pseudomonas aeruginosa virus-isolation host viPAO1 reveals how host genetic barriers shape recoverable phage diversity

Cultured phage collections provide essential access to viral biology, but they capture only a small and biased fraction of natural phage diversity. Key barriers to diverse phage isolation are likely t...

biorxiv.org

‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn

New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms

theguardian.com

Trump claims triumphal arch will serve as a ‘top grade military complex’ to store weapons

US president on Truth Social claims his new plan for the 250ft arch comes at the ‘strong request’ of the US military

theguardian.com

Research Assistant/ Associate in Bacteria-Host Interactions at Newcastle University

Explore an exciting academic career as a Research Assistant/ Associate in Bacteria-Host Interactions. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

jobs.ac.uk

Hazel O'Connor - Eighth Day HQ

Hazel O'Connor - Eighth Day 1980 Check Out Hazel O'Connor - Eighth Day (Unknown Version - Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe9EYV6SJR8 Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

google.com

Cyclase-generated 3',5'-cGMP activates PucsarTIR antiphage defense through a stepwise zig-zag aligned filament assembly

Bacteria use nucleotide second messengers to couple phage recognition to antiviral effector activation. Here, we identify Pucsar, an ofshoot of the Pycsar-related antiphage family, whose cyclases gene...

biorxiv.org

Phage-encoded contingency loci enable bet-hedging against host defence mechanisms - Nature Microbiology

Diverse E. coli phage genomes have hypermutable DNA regions that promote reversible frameshift mutations through DNA polymerase slippage, generating population heterogeneity that enables host exploita...

nature.com

Shared principles of human and bacterial antiviral immunity - Nature

The Review describes shared ancient, conserved mechanisms between human antiviral immunity and bacterial anti-phage systems, outlining universal principles of pathogen sensing, signalling and effector...

nature.com

Approaching the post-antibiotic era: phage therapy current practices and future horizons | mBio

Phages are the naturally occurring viruses of bacteria (see Table 1 for key definitions). They have co-evolved with their bacterial prey across billions of years, resulting in highly specific phage-ho...

journals.asm.org