NEW paper 🚨! We engineered TNT sensors in soil bacteria for long-term detection of explosive in natural soil, enabling geospatial detection of contaminated soil. This work (led by Erin Essington) included new sensors, circuits, modeling, & a 28-day testing workflow. 1/ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An autonomous microbial sensor enables long-term detection of TNT explosive in natural soil - Nature Communications

Engineered microbes can detect harmful chemicals, but may not work well in complex environments. Here, the authors built microbial sensors for detection of TNT explosive and tested their response over...

nature.com

Going viral: The role of mobile genetic elements in bacterial immunity www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Going viral: The role of mobile genetic elements in bacterial immunity

Bacteria deploy a broad range of defense systems to protect themselves against viruses and other mobile genetic elements. Here, we review recent work that reveals how most defense systems are carried ...

cell.com

Genetic encoding and expression of RNA origami cytoskeletons in synthetic cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.12.598448v1

Genetic encoding and expression of RNA origami cytoskeletons in synthetic cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.12.598448v1

The central dogma at the core of molecular biology states that information flows from DNA to RNA and

biorxiv.org

PyCoMo: a python package for community metabolic model creation and analysis academic.oup.com/bioinformati... #jcampubs

PyCoMo: a python package for community metabolic model creation and analysis

AbstractSummary. PyCoMo is a python package for quick and easy generation of genome-scale compartmentalized community metabolic models that are compliant w

academic.oup.com

Very happy to share our latest preprint DMF UNIL: Jung and Gábor controlled the ring patterns in E. coli colonies generated by a synthetic oscillator with optogenetics. We observed synchronisation, resonance, entrainment, undertone, period doubling and even chaos! Feedback welcome.

bioRxiv Synthetic Biology@biorxiv-synthbio.bsky.social · 3y ago

From resonance to chaos: modulating spatiotemporal patterns through a synthetic optogenetic oscillator https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.28.586779v1

www.advancedsciencenews.com/a-living-bio... Nice news article in “Advanced Science News” covering our recent publication (result of a collaboration with @pengellab.bsky.social as part of the NCCR Microbiomes).

A living biosensor helps track honeybee health - Advanced Science News

First living biosensor developed to study honeybee gut microbiome, providing insights into health and conservation.

advancedsciencenews.com

Filamentous Phage Shields by Roberto — Elaborate mechanisms that protect bacteria against phage are well known, with CRISPR leading the way. Less familiar but equally fascinating is the fact that, somewhat unexpectedly, phages themselves sometimes offer... Read more > tinyurl.com/yktjj3z7 #MicroSky

Bottlenecks in the Implementation of Genome Scale Metabolic Model Based Designs for Bioproduction from Aromatic Carbon Sources https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.15.585139v1

Bottlenecks in the Implementation of Genome Scale Metabolic Model Based Designs for Bioproduction from Aromatic Carbon Sources https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.15.585139v1

Genome scale metabolic models (GSMM) are commonly used to identify gene deletion sets that result in

biorxiv.org

Amazing to see this finally out!!From competition to collaboration: we show how 2 bacterial species that compete for a carbon source can interact positively in a toxic environment, with one species removing ROS to the benefit of the other plos.io/3SOvRnZ congrats Aurore Picot & Rita Di Martino

Our paper engineering yeast to be phototrophic (gaining energy from light) by chucking a rhodopsin into the vacuole is out in Current Biology. www.cell.com/current-biol...

How stable are bacterial genomes as they adapt to an environment? My collaboration with Anurag Limdi, Alex Couce, @relenski.bsky.social, and Olivier Tenaillon exploring this over 50,000 generations of evolution is out today! 1/ (cross-post from the other place) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Changing fitness effects of mutations through long-term bacterial evolution

Predictable and parallel changes occur in the fitness effects of mutations in Escherichia coli over 50,000 generations.

science.org

why most of my scientific papers aren't really all that exciting - and why that's perfectly OK and a normal part of how science advances. With bonus architecture analogy... scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2024/01/23/w...

Why most of my papers just aren’t that exciting

I’ve published about 95* papers in my career so far, and most of them aren’t very exciting. I don’t mean that they’re boring to read, as written texts. Well, most of them are boring to read, t...

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

And its out! New paper for #integron aficionados. We found gene-less cassettes in superintegrons that express/silence other cassettes in the array. Here is a 🧵(if I know how to do this in Bluesky...😆) academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

Identification of promoter activity in gene-less cassettes from Vibrionaceae superintegrons

Abstract. Integrons are genetic platforms that acquire new genes encoded in integron cassettes (ICs), building arrays of adaptive functions. ICs generally encod

academic.oup.com

Application deadline has been extended until Feb 5th!

Teppo Hiltunen@teppo-h.bsky.social · 3y ago

PhD project with me and @frimanscience.bsky.social (MSCA Horizon 2022 UTU-GreDiT). Project #11: “Understanding ecology and evolution of antimicrobial resistance in microbiomes”. Please share with potential candidates. How to apply: sites.utu.fi/utugredit/

Finally published! We show that host metabolites facilitate gutcolonization of a symbiont of social bees. Huge congrats to co-lead authors @andrewhq9.bsky.social & Yassine El Chazli. Super collabo with NanoSIMS expert Anders Meibom EPFL and our Electron Microscopy Facility FBM_UNIL 🐝 🧪

Host-derived organic acids enable gut colonization of the honey bee symbiont Snodgrassella alvi - Na...

Comparative metabolomics and NanoSIMs reveal that the honey bee symbiont Snodgrassella alvi uses host-derived metabolites to colonize the gut, indicating adaptation to a specific metabolic niche in it...

nature.com

#Pseudomonas enthusiasts! Join us at the international #conference Sept 1-5 · Dive into the latest research on #microbiology, clinical #infection & #biotechnology · Abstract submission opens later this week · #Pseudomonas2024 · Please spread the word! microbiologysociety.org/event/full-e...

When researchers tried to evolve a yeast population to stick to plastic, they accidentally increased it’s ability to cause infection. What more can we learn about ‘accidental virulence’? elifesciences.org/articles/945...

Integron cassettes integrate into bacterial genomes via widespread non-classical attG sites www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Integron cassettes integrate into bacterial genomes via widespread non-classical attG sites - Nature...

Computational analyses and molecular genetics reveal that integron cassettes integrate into bacterial genomes at widespread non-classical attG sites, enabling acquisition of genetic material and disru...

nature.com