Maxence Lejars
@mlejars.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Aix Marseille Université / Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne (LCB) working on bacterial gene regulation
Sequential reading of a stepwise-shortened peptide immobilized on nanopore doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Sequential reading of a stepwise-shortened peptide immobilized on nanopore - Nature
A nanopore-based ‘chop and measure’ method sequences peptides at single-amino-acid resolution by using enzymatic digestion to progressively shorten the N terminus one residue at a time,...
doi.org
A multivalent RNA affinity tag enables selective purification of tagged RNAs and bound proteins doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
A multivalent RNA affinity tag enables selective purification of tagged RNAs and bound proteins
Abstract. Efficient purification of specific RNAs from lysates remains a major challenge. Existing methods, such as MS2 tagging or oligonucleotide hybridiz
doi.org
SamT, a novel peptide modulator of a two-component system revealed by the specific activation of a small RNA in Enterobacteriaceae academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
SamT, a novel peptide modulator of a two-component system revealed by the specific activation of a small RNA in Enterobacteriaceae
Abstract. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are major post-transcriptional regulators in bacteria and, together with transcriptional regulators such as the two
academic.oup.com
The Small RNA MicC is a Multifunctional Regulator of Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Fitness across Multiple Host Niches https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.27.741068v1
RNA quality control enables antibiotic tolerance! Evolution experiments in mice reveal convergent mutations of rny aka the main component of the RNA degradosome in S. pneumoniae. doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
Redirecting
doi.org
Some bacteria use the CRISPR/Cas systems as transcriptional repressors of other anti-phage systems, such that when CRISPR interfered with, gene expression of repressed anti-phage systems goes up www.nature.com/articles/s41...
CRISPR–Cas regulates expression of embedded anti-phage defence systems - Nature
CRISPR–Cas systems transcriptionally tune diverse innate defences using CRISPR RNA-like guides to balance antiviral protection with fitness, and hyperactivate these defences when compromised, establis...
nature.com
A nitrite-responsive regulatory RNA locus sustains commensal resilience against nitrosative stress https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.09.736866v1
New preprint! We show that the bacterial predator B. bacteriovorus deploys a unipolar Tad nanomachine for irreversible attachment to prey and invasion. @coralietesseur.bsky.social used CRISPRi+microfluidics to overcome barriers associated with essential systems in an obligate predatory lifestyle 🦠
A polarity-controlled Tad nanomachine enables prey invasion in a bacterial predator
Type IV pili are dynamic surface appendages assembled by envelope-spanning nanomachines that mediate diverse bacterial interactions, yet how these systems are adapted to predatory lifestyles remains p...
biorxiv.org
👉 Sustained ppGpp production underpins months-long survival of a bacterium in growth arrest: | mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Sustained ppGpp production underpins months-long survival of a bacterium in growth arrest | mBio
The molecular basis for long-term survival of starved bacteria is not well understood. The bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris has a metabolism in which it survives in growth arrest for months, as lo...
journals.asm.org
A dual-function regulatory element couples ParB expression and DNA substrate specificity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.07.737113v1
A connection between two ancient and essential cellular processes, iron-sulfur protein biogenesis and fatty acid synthesis, in Escherichia coli journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... #jcampubs
SifrARN took place in Rennes this year, and it was great 🤩 Many thanks to Reynald Gillet and all organizers at @igdrennes.bsky.social for the warm welcome. Very happy to join with many members of @egmresearch.bsky.social & reconnect with the RNA community! And congrats to Ramy Kazan for his award👏
RNA can build. A short RNA self-assembles into a 60-subunit icosahedral cage like a viral capsid, but made entirely of RNA. The striking preprint also reveals a 57-nt RNA filament at ~2.7 Å. Congratulations, Lin Huang and colleagues! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excited to share our new preprint led by Fred and me in collaboration with the archaeal community! We found that the molecular foundation of histone-based chromatin has pre-eukaryotic roots in Asgard archaea. (1/4) #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Emergence of histone-based chromatin complexity in Asgard archaea
The emergence of the eukaryotes coincided with the diversification of histone proteins and their post-translational modifications by enzymes that constitute the core of eukaryotic chromatin. Yet the e...
biorxiv.org
Bacterial and human exonucleases mediate interkingdom antiviral immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.30.735675v1
👉 A Single-Nucleotide Substitution Generates a de Novo Promoter That Activates a Latent Metabolic Bypass in Escherichia coli: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A technique that supersizes cells to reveal minute details has gone big — really big go.nature.com/4xUP2jG
Making samples one billion times bigger lets simple microscopes pinpoint amino acids
Nature - Stretching protein samples in all directions pulls molecules farther apart, allowing them to be visualized using only light microscopy.
go.nature.com
#microsky #phagesky #phage 440K tail-fibre mutants… 440K… Mind-boggling doesn’t even start describing this
Vivek Mutalik@vivekmutalik.bsky.social · last mo.New preprint!! 🎉 A cool collaborative work with @copabio.bsky.social and Chase Beisel teams on the phage editing technology. @sarshad.bsky.social led the work from our side to validate & characterize the lib. #phage #phagesky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Work supported by: phagefoundry.org
A great opportunity! www.linkedin.com/pulse/join-u...
Join us in Paris: Systems and Synthetic Biology x AI and health - Inserm Tenuring Position and Starting Package
I'm delighted to announce that we - ELiS Lab / Inserm U1338 at the nascent Paris Biofoundry and the Computational, Quantitative, Synthetic Biology Dept. at the Sorbonne Université - are recruiting an ...
linkedin.com
Temporal tuning of switch-like virulence expression resolves environmental uncertainty through phenotypic heterogeneity Salmonellaenterica serovar Typhimurium pathogenicity island 2 @currentbiology.bsky.social by Madison Spratt and Keara Lane www.cell.com/current-biol...
Temporal tuning of switch-like virulence expression resolves environmental uncertainty through phenotypic heterogeneity
Spratt et al. evaluate the transcriptional regulation of Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 (SPI-2) at the single-cell level, revealing temporally tunable phenotypic heterogeneity that allows for proba...
cell.com
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
CRISPR interference functional genomics of coding and non-coding determinants of Bacillus subtilis biofilms
The architecture of Bacillus subtilis biofilms is influenced by the coordinated regulation of cellular specialization, matrix assembly, and metabolism. B. subtilis can form different types of biofilm ...
biorxiv.org
A representative of a ubiquitous bacterial lineage parasitically feeds on host RNA https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.21.733656v1
This article in Le Monde about French research in general and the CNRS in particular has a few depressing graphs www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
NAR Breakthrough Article: Antisense RNA controls the degradation of phycobilisomes in heterocyst-forming cyanobacteria by a transcriptional interference mechanism: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
1/ Out today in Science (@science.org): a result a decade in the making, and one that changed how I think about what cells are doing when they grow. We found a bacterium that grows slower than it could. And we found the molecular switch that lets us reverse it.
Out Now! Purine bias in bacterial genes is driven by runaway transcription #MicroSky
Purine bias in bacterial genes is driven by runaway transcription
Nature Microbiology, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02389-1Purine bias is critical for gene expression in bacteria, preventing premature transcription in species that exhibit runaway transcription.
go.nature.com
