New paper with @kelbrick.bsky.social and @jpjhall.bsky.social - we show that fungicides select for multidrug resistant bacteria in soil via shared resistance mechanisms (efflux) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fungicide Drives <fi>De Novo</fi> Evolution of Multidrug Resistance in the Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterium, <fi>Pseudomonas fluorescens</fi>

Soil microbial communities underpin key ecosystem processes, including plant health, nutrient cycling and primary productivity. In agricultural soils, beneficial soil bacteria are often exposed to mu...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Fungicide Drives De Novo Evolution of Multidrug Resistance in the Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens Evolutionary Applications by @kelbrick.bsky.social, @jpjhall.bsky.social and @siderophile.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fungicide Drives <fi>De Novo</fi> Evolution of Multidrug Resistance in the Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterium, <fi>Pseudomonas fluorescens</fi>

Soil microbial communities underpin key ecosystem processes, including plant health, nutrient cycling and primary productivity. In agricultural soils, beneficial soil bacteria are often exposed to mu...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

This was a mammoth team effort with @kelbrick.bsky.social, Jake McEntagart, James McCartney, Ed Cairns, @scottishwormboy.bsky.social @szytynska.bsky.social and @jpjhall.bsky.social

Our pQBR plasmid paper is out! A model environmental plasmid collection that contains no known AMR genes and worldwide relatives! @jpjhall.bsky.social @ellieevolves.bsky.social @dwrivett.bsky.social and Rosanna Wright @microbiologysociety.org microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099

The pQBR mercury resistance plasmids: a model set of sympatric environmental mobile genetic elements

Plasmids are extrachromosomal mobile genetic elements that can facilitate rapid bacterial adaptation by transferring genes between individuals. Whilst plasmids are known to exist in diverse habitats a...

microbiologyresearch.org

A massive (if a little delayed) thank you to everyone who attended this year's @mgeworkshop.bsky.social in York. Awesome talks and a wonderful atmosphere made hosting the event a pleasure! Already looking forward to next year in vibrant Liverpool with @jpjhall.bsky.social.

Made it onto bluesky at long last! And with a new review to boot with Solomon Garland, @vickiorr.bsky.social and @jpjhall.bsky.social. Invasive plasmids as ecosystem engineers—from mechanism to application portlandpress.com/essaysbioche... #plasmids

Just over two weeks left to register for MENI 2026! A !!free!! microbial evolution meeting in Ireland with some fantastic keynote speakers @jpjhall.bsky.social @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @tweethinking.bsky.social #Evolution #microbes www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-microb...

3rd Microbial Evolution Network Ireland meeting

2026 Microbial Evolution Network Ireland meeting, at Trinity College Dublin

eventbrite.com

I also decided to give it a go to write this up in a way that's accessible without a strict scientific background: davvi36.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...

Plasmid Competition!

This blog post describes my recently published PLOS Biology paper – hopefully in an accessible format. It’s finally out and published in PLOS Biology: CRISPR-Cas is beneficial in plasmi…

davvi36.wordpress.com

David Sünderhauf@davvi36.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Out now in @plosbiology.org : our big joint effort on the role of #CRISPR in plasmid competition. Read on for a really fun (I’m biased ok) analysis of how a defence system has new selective pressures when it’s mobile journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... 1/6

MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social and @tweethinking.bsky.social join us as keynote speakers this year. miniurl.com/MENI

Conferences like #microevo25 are possible because of the community publishing with @microbiologysociety.org

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics

From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

science.org

🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟‍♂️ Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Liverpool on Fin...

PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Li...

findaphd.com

Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

academic.oup.com

New preprint with my HFSP collaborators. Network structures for bacterial and plasmid interactions determine community structure and evolvability: doi.org/10.32942/X21...

It was great fun writing this review with @gemccallum.bsky.social , even if our conclusions are rather scary. Lots of important pathogen evolution must be occurring outside of the infection context...

Greg McCallum@gemccallum.bsky.social · last yr.

Delighted to have this review out with @jpjhall.bsky.social! We discuss the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance in the hospital sink drain microbiome, highlight studies providing evidence of transfer, and consider strategies to mitigate these risks 🪠🦠 doi.org/10.1038/s442...

🚨 Reminder! You have just over two weeks to submit an abstract, if you want to present at the @microbiologysociety.org meeting "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" in Liverpool in November! #microsky 🦠🧫🔬

Jamie Hall@jpjhall.bsky.social · last yr.

‼️Update! Abstract submission is now open for the 2025 Liverpool UK @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics”! Deadline July 7th #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

New preprint ex @bolinabug.bsky.social (+ @daisukekageyama.bsky.social & @scottishwormboy.bsky.social) on the pronounced secondary expansion of Spiroplasma and Rickettsia genomes in lacewings doi.org/10.1101/2025... #symbiosky 1/2

Concerted genome expansion of heritable symbionts in an insect host

Maternally transmitted symbionts represent important components of arthropod biology, acting as both beneficial partners and as reproductive parasites. Their strict vertical transmission greatly reduc...

doi.org

Happy to finally have this out! It has been a fun side-project that we’ve been slowly working on for a while 🍜 I think it has turned out as a nice story, and demonstrates some important issues with historic taxonomic classifications in genome databases. All from investigating a contaminant! ⤵️

Contamination Club@contamclub.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨 The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠 Check it out ➡️ doi.org/10.1101/2025... 1/15 🧵

🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨 The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠 Check it out ➡️ doi.org/10.1101/2025... 1/15 🧵

Congratulations to Vicki for successfully defending her thesis yesterday!

Vicki Orr@vickiorr.bsky.social · last yr.

PhD viva passed!!! 🥳 🍻 Thank you to Liam Shaw and Stephen Cornell for assessing and for a very enjoyable discussion! Thank you to @jpjhall.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison and Calvin Dytham for being an amazing supervisory team throughout my PhD 😁

PhD viva passed!!! 🥳 🍻 Thank you to Liam Shaw and Stephen Cornell for assessing and for a very enjoyable discussion! Thank you to @jpjhall.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison and Calvin Dytham for being an amazing supervisory team throughout my PhD 😁

🧪 Finally out after peer review, our work showing that "Mobile #Integrons carry Phage Defense Systems" is now published in Science 🎉 Short 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Mobile integrons encode phage defense systems

Integrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture, stockpile, and modulate the expression of genes encoded in integron cassettes. Mobile integrons (MIs) are borne on plasmids, acting as a vehicle ...

science.org

Our updated lab website is live! We’ve kicked off a new project and a new look with it. Take a look and let us know what you think! 👉 plasmidlab.es

‼️Update! Abstract submission is now open for the 2025 Liverpool UK @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics”! Deadline July 7th #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics - 2025 meeting

microbiologysociety.org

Jamie Hall@jpjhall.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm delighted to announce that the 2025 @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" will be held in Liverpool 26-27 November 2025! Abstract submission will open soon... #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Do restriction-modification systems shape plasmid sequence composition? A group of plasmid-aficionados, led by Liam Shaw, started to explore this during the 2023 @embo.org Workshop on Plasmids in Trieste. Happy to have contributed to this work and be part of such a great team!

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · last yr.

The leading region of many conjugative plasmids is depleted in restriction-modification targets https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.03.647016v1

Every time I have a conversation about AI in a journal publishing context and I mention indirect prompt injection, I'm met with blank expressions. People really need to read up on this. cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications...

Indirect Prompt Injection: Generative AI’s Greatest Security Flaw

cetas.turing.ac.uk

Prize Medal 2025 winner, Professor Richard Lenski, presents their lecture on "Dynamics and Repeatability in a Long-Term Experiment with Bacteria" at #Microbio25. It begins at 18:30 BST. Read more about their work: microb.io/PrizeWinner2...

Preprint below has been a long time coming, here just in time for #microbio25 ! (if the train wifi lets me) With @andrewmatthews.bsky.social #MicroSky 🧵

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · last yr.

Stealth plasmids: rapid evolution of deleted plasmids can displace antibiotic resistance plasmids under selection for horizontal transmission. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.30.646151v1

Thanks again for making Annual Conference 2025 such a success! Want to join us in 2026? Submit an article to our journals by June 30th for a chance to win your registration, whilst supporting us as a not-for-profit. Find out more here: microb.io/3o6DvhI

Congratulations to lab member @vickiorr.bsky.social for her #Microbio25 prize-winning poster on the evolutionary ecology of transposon-plasmid interactions! ✨💫🎉

Microbiology Society@microbiologysociety.org · last yr.

Congratulations to the Poster Prize Winners at #Microbio25 Poster Block B: - JMM poster prize winner: Jessica Lester - JMM poster prize winner: Sami-Jo Terry - JGV poster prize winner: Kelly Roper - Mic prize: Victoria Orr, University of Liverpool @vickiorr.bsky.social