Delighted that our review on resistance to last-resort antibiotics in Enterococci has been published in FEMS Microbiology Reviews academic.oup.com/femsre/advan... (accepted manuscript version) TL;DR: the Enterococci are really good at evolving resistance to antibiotics in new and creative ways.

Resistance to last-resort antibiotics in enterococci

Abstract. The genus Enterococcus comprises a diverse group of species, many of which are commensal members of the gut microbiota of humans and animals. The

academic.oup.com

Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides. Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Love the idea of the "deletion test" posed by @needhibhalla.bsky.social & coauthors in their commentary about costs of cutting DEI efforts in science. What if that student were "deleted?" What will the costs be? Screenshots attached to enhance access. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The 2025 state of the climate report: a planet on the brink https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf149 #ClimateChange #ClimateScience

Interesting paper 'Antimicrobial resistance among Gram-positive agents of bacteraemia in the UK and Ireland: trends from 2001 to 2019' TL;DR: - dramatic falls in MRSA - pneumococcal resistance rates low - E. faecium more prevalent (and more vanR) than E. faecalis pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41140273/

Antimicrobial resistance among Gram-positive agents of bacteraemia in the UK and Ireland: trends from 2001 to 2019 - PubMed

Gram-positive pathogens were the dominant historical pathogens of bacteraemia. The trends seen here-with many near-universally active antibiotics-indicate little hazard of this situation returning. Nevertheless, few treatments exist in some settings, notably multi-resistant E. faecium endocarditis.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Interesting paper on bacteriophage genomics and bioinformatics 'Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world' by @sebwielgoss.bsky.social and colleagues academic.oup.com/bib/article/...

Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world

Abstract. The increasing interest in finding new viruses within (meta)genomic datasets has fueled the development of computational tools for virus detectio

academic.oup.com

Professor (full) or Associate Professor (tenure track) in Microbial Genetics of Health (U. Turku Finland). Competitive starting package included! Please share. duunitori.fi/tyopaikat/ty...

Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto - Työpaikat - Duunitori

Avoin työpaikka: Professor or Associate professor (Tenure Track/Full) in Microbial Genetics of Health - Turun yliopisto, Turku. Duunitorilla lisäksi yli 30 000 muuta avointa työpaikkaa. Lue lisää nyt!

duunitori.fi

Cool PNAS paper by @jordivangestel.bsky.social and colleagues Contributed by Carol Gross [reviewed by @polzlab.bsky.social and @wcratcliff.bsky.social] Bacillus subtilis in defense mode: Switch-like adaptations to protistan predation www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

New paper alert! We suggest caution in the analyses of viral auxiliary metabolic genes and propose a new overarching term - 'auxiliary viral genes' (AVGs) to describe different types of such genes. @simrouxvirus.bsky.social #phagesky #Microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A call for caution in the biological interpretation of viral auxiliary metabolic genes - Nature Microbiology

This Perspective discusses virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes and provides a framework for the biological interpretation of these genes.

nature.com

Longstanding collaboration with Scott Manalis where we have developed technology to measure single cell growth rates of bacteria in native seawater with some very surprising results. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Genome evolution of Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 during laboratory domestication: acquired mutations impact competence and metabolism #ApplEnvironMicrobiol from Jeff Barrick journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Genome evolution of Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 during laboratory domestication: acquired mutations impact competence and metabolism | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 is a bacterial chassis of interest to microbiologists in academia and industry due to its extreme natural competence and wide metabolic range. Its ability to take up DNA from...

journals.asm.org

very cool work and a milestone in synthetic biology. how impressive are the new phage genomes? with generative bioML, i'm always looking at how similar the generated sequences are to known sequences. let's take a look

Samuel King@samuelhking.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Many of the most complex and useful functions in biology emerge at the scale of whole genomes. Today, we share our preprint “Generative design of novel bacteriophages with genome language models”, where we validate the first, functional AI-generated genomes 🧵

Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes. @nfrk92.bsky.social @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes

Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena

academic.oup.com

Mittwoch! Passend zur Sommerszeit: eine kleine Geschichte der Sonnenbrille. Wir sprechen nicht nur über ihre Anfänge, sondern vor allem über die Bedeutung, die sie im Laufe ihrer Geschichte erhalten hat. https://www.geschichte.fm/archiv/gag512/

GAG512: Eine kleine Geschichte der Sonnenbrille - Geschichten aus der Geschichte

Eine Geschichte über Sonnenschutz, Identität und Rebellion

geschichte.fm

@eseb Distinguished Fellow Talk Dieter Ebert 🇨🇭, has been an ESEB member since his PhD and played a key role in the society all of his career. #ESEB2025

"Overall, the message from this survey is positive– #evolutionary #biologists are readily employable outside of #academia, generally well-prepared for those jobs, and report high levels of satisfaction in their non-academic #careers" https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.671061v1

Need advice on which of the many virus 🦠 prediction tools to apply for your phage research🔎? This guide equips you for your bioinformatic analyses in your "quest to explore the genetic diversity and biology of the smallest and most abundant replicators on Earth." ⬇️ doi.org/10.1093/bib/...

Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world

Abstract. The increasing interest in finding new viruses within (meta)genomic datasets has fueled the development of computational tools for virus detectio

doi.org

Excited to share new #program, STEPS, which can simulate #dynamics of the E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment (#LTEE) or other microbes in serial transfer regime. telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/s... STEPS developed by @devinmlake.bsky.social, Zachary Matson, Minako Izutsu, and me.

STEPS To It

Announcing a new program, called STEPS, to simulate the dynamics of evolving microbial populations.

telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com

Interested in exploring prophages in your (meta)genomes, but don't know how and where to start? We've put together a beginners guide to exploring viral diversity in prokaryotes @marievasse.bsky.social @sebwielgoss.bsky.social @oxunipress.bsky.social

Séb Wielgoss@sebwielgoss.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Our new review is out in Briefings in Bioinformatics Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world @ccwendling.bsky.social @marievasse.bsky.social @sebwielgoss.bsky.social @oxunipress.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/bib/...

Our new review is out in Briefings in Bioinformatics Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world @ccwendling.bsky.social @marievasse.bsky.social @sebwielgoss.bsky.social @oxunipress.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/bib/...

Phage quest: a beginner’s guide to explore viral diversity in the prokaryotic world

Abstract. The increasing interest in finding new viruses within (meta)genomic datasets has fueled the development of computational tools for virus detectio

doi.org