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...

Today's way back home from the lab 🥹

One of the big stories of my thesis is out! We identified HsbA as a novel regulator of the starvation-induced biofilm dispersal response in P. putida that inhibits c-di-GMP synthesis by CfcR. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

HsbA represses stationary phase biofilm formation in Pseudomonas putida

Pseudomonas putida biofilm growth is associated to nutrient-sufficient conditions and biofilm dispersal is induced by nutrient starvation, signaled by…

sciencedirect.com

Today I say goodbye to @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social after 8 wonderful years of science. Time for a new chapter! Thrilled to announce that I'm joining @thanbichlerlab.bsky.social at @unimarburg.bsky.social @synmikro.bsky.social as a postdoctoral @humboldt-foundation.de fellow. Exciting times ahead! 🥳

Words cannot describe how excited I am to share the findings from the second half of my postdoc in @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social's lab where we discover that bacteria use functional amyloids to defend themselves from predatory bacteria. rdcu.be/euu5Y. See thread for details on this epic adventure 1/.

Functional amyloid proteins confer defence against predatory bacteria

Nature - Escherichia coli uses curli fibres, oligomers of the functional amyloid CsgA, as a barrier to protect against the predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Myxococcus xanthus in a...

rdcu.be

Reading: How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-biofil... via @QuantaMagazine

How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry | Quanta Magazine

Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within simple cellular collectives can lead to emergent physical traits.

quantamagazine.org

Thrilled to share our new paper in @science.org describing our discovery that bacteria can switch from competitors to bonafide predators when resources run dry—arming nanoscale “spears” (T6SS) to stab & consume neighbours. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #MicroSKy #Microbiology

Antagonism as a foraging strategy in microbial communities

In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependen...

science.org

Seems like I can't escape the "is there a doctor in the room?" question anymore! Huge thanks to my thesis committee @thethormannden.bsky.social @type3lab.bsky.social @icanper.bsky.social. Science, when shared and discussed with such enthusiasm tastes much better ☺️

Nobody warns you about the true agony of the day before your thesis defense: having to clean and tidy up your entire place so your visiting family can get unrealistic expectations on how you live.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @synmikro.bsky.social @unimarburg.bsky.social

FlhG Cooperates With the Cell Cycle Regulator GpsB to Confine Peritrichous Flagella in B. subtilis

FlhG (orange, with activator helix in green) regulates peritrichous flagellation in Bacillus subtilis by interacting with the C-ring protein FliY (gray, N-terminus in red) and the cell wall regulator....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

New preprint led by @brunoluviano.bsky.social & Fernando Santos. We show that filamentation enhances bacterial survival under toxic stress — not as collateral damage, but as a regulated morphological response. TL;DR: Filamentation isn’t a symptom, it’s a strategy! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fascinating new PLoS Biology paper from George Schaible et al in the Hatzenpichler Lab at Montana State “𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘔𝘔𝘉 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦’𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩”

These Tiny Magnetic Bacteria Act Like a Single Body – And Could Explain the Origins of Complex Life

Tiny magnetic bacteria that live in tightly bound groups are showing scientists how life might have evolved complex, multicellular forms. These rare bacteria can’t survive alone – they depend on one a...

scitechdaily.com

🧪 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

A 5-year work, straight from the oven! #Microsky

How Bacteria Outsmart Plants—Then Flee the Scene! #MicroSky #PlantScience #Pseudomonas Our new research in Nature Microbiology uncovers the sophisticated teamwork of Pseudomonas syringae, a notorious plant pathogen. 🔗 rdcu.be/egczU

Pseudomonas syringae subpopulations cooperate by coordinating flagellar and type III secretion spatiotemporal dynamics to facilitate plant infection

Nature Microbiology - Single-cell gene expression analysis reveals phenotypic heterogeneity to enable bacterial specialization over the course of plant colonization.

rdcu.be

I’m very happy to share our latest work on the ParABS system. We investigated the dynamic interaction between the ATPase ParA and the CTPase ParB mediating chromosome segregation in Myxococcus xanthus. I would like to thank all the people involved.

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2y ago

Molecular basis of ParA ATPase activation by the CTPase ParB during bacterial chromosome segregation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.14.642875v1

New postdoc position available at IBVF!

Happy 37th birthday to the LTEE! the-ltee.org/history/

Excited to share our latest preprint! A fascinating story of chemical dialogue and microbial warfare: the Bacillus extracellular matrix acts as a key driver in the antagonistic interaction with Botrytis, while the fungus mounts a multi-layered defense. 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The offensive role of the Bacillus extracellular matrix in driving metabolite-mediated dialogue and adaptive strategies with pathogenic fungi

Bacterial□fungal interactions have traditionally been attributed to secondary metabolites, but the role of the bacterial extracellular matrix (ECM) in shaping these relationships has remained unclear....

biorxiv.org

Bacteria go to a lot of trouble to control their flagellation pattern 🦠 Late as always, but I just moved from the other side. Hope you enjoy our latest work describing how FimV, FlhF and FleN regulate the polar flagella assembly in Pseudomonas putida. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #MicroSky

Pablo de Olavide@pablodeolavide.upo.es · 2y ago

🦠🔬 Un equipo del @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social revela cómo la #bacteria #Pseudomonasputida fabrica sus flagelos, ‘motores biológicos’ clave para su movilidad. ☑️Podría mejorar el control de bacterias patógenas y optimizar otras beneficiosas en agricultura y biotecnología. www.upo.es/diario/cienc...