Rare codons slowing down your protein expression? 🛑 pCODE plasmids are an elegant solution to rescue recombinant protein production by overexpressing tRNAs! ✨ Proudly, #SEVAplasmids⭕ were used to design this new system. Check out 👉 doi.org/q42c

In recombinant protein production, should we avoid rare codons—or rare tRNAs? In this new paper, I believe we make a compelling case that expressing rare tRNAs is a simple and efficient strategy to compensate for the use of rare codons. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

pCODE tRNA Expression Plasmids Compensate for Rare Codons in Recombinant Protein Production

The molecular mechanisms that constrain recombinant protein production and the importance of synonymous codon usage have not been fully elucidated. Codon frequency varies between different organisms, ...

pubs.acs.org

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Dissecting host stress responses for predictable heterologous gene expression in E. coli

Abstract. Predictable expression of heterologous genes remains a key challenge in biotechnology, largely due to cellular stresses imposed on the production

doi.org

A little Christmas gift for the molecular biology nerds! I love the simplicity of this idea: very useful (and small) plasmid selection system that alleviates the need for antibiotics in molbio and bioprocesses. Elegant work by my former PhD student, lab, and colleagues: doi.org/10.1021/acss...

tRNA-Mediated Plasmid Stabilization for Antibiotic-Free Applications in Escherichia coli

Plasmids are essential tools in molecular biology and biotechnology. In research laboratories, it is common to use antibiotic selection markers to ensure that plasmids are stably maintained in a cellu...

doi.org

A long standing goal in synthetic biology is ‘PURE makes PURE’ - effectively the start of self-replicating biology in a tube from just adding biochemicals and DNA instructions. This looks like a promising breakthrough from the Maerkl lab. 👀

bioRxiv Synthetic Biology@biorxiv-synthbio.bsky.social · 10mo ago

PURE makes PURE: reconstitution of the PURE cell-free system from self-synthesized non-ribosomal proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.17.694911v1

🚀 #SEVA proves its potential once again! @norholm.bsky.social's lab created a new plasmid recombination system in E. coli using SEVAplasmids. Compatible with any copy number, they expand the standardised toolbox for #SynBio 👉 doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Simple and robust in vivo engineering of plasmid DNA at any copy number in Escherichia coli

A robust in vivo method for engineering plasmid DNA in E. coli using a triple-selection system that works at any copy number, enabling fast, scalable construction of standardized plasmids for synthetic...

doi.org

We just opened the Bluesky account of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative (IMiLI) headed by Ken Timmis. Follow us to know more about the initiative or even better become one of our volunteers to bring Microbiology to kids all ages around the world 🦠 🏫

International Microbiology Literacy Initiative - IMiLI@imili-micro.bsky.social · last yr.

Welcome to the social media account of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative (IMiLI). Nearly 1,000 researchers freely contribute to the IMiLI project integrating microbiology into education providing downloadable resources for all. Explore at imili.org

Villum Sabbatical grant: For US-based researchers wishing to visit a Danish university for up to 12 months Deadline Aug. 15th 2025 villumfonden.dk/en/group/cha...

Meet Syn57, a living cell that only needs 57 codons, not the standard 64. Here's my story on how synthetic biology is tackling the mystery of our bloated genetic code. Gift link: nyti.ms/3Hf4f9v

Scientists are Learning to Rewrite the Code of Life

In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do.

nyti.ms

Iterative in vivo cut‘n’paste of chromosomal loci in Escherichia coli K-12 using synthetic DNA doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Maybe it is time to replace cloning with recombineering of plasmid DNA? rdcu.be/erl5C

Simple and robust in vivo engineering of plasmid DNA at any copy number in Escherichia coli

Communications Biology - A robust in vivo method for engineering plasmid DNA in E. coli using a triple-selection system that works at any copy number, enabling fast, scalable construction of...

rdcu.be

Introducing SAVEMONEY, AKA ‘Simple Algorithm for Very Efficient Multiplexing of Oxford Nanopore Experiments for You’ A new tool offering a faster, cheaper computational approach to democratise whole-plasmid sequencing. buff.ly/ov7YumB

Cool work from @klanglab.bsky.social group on identifying and engineering a novel bacterial transporter to import challenging noncanonical amino acids in E. coli, enabling improved incorporation efficiency proteinsproteinshttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.06.641855v1.abstract

Hijacking a bacterial membrane transporter for efficient genetic code expansion

The site-specific encoding of non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) provides a powerful tool for expanding the functional repertoire of proteins. Its widespread use for basic research and biotechnological...

biorxiv.org

40 years ago all of Genbank was published in print form by NAR. The same format today would require over 4 light seconds of shelf space. To a year of progress in 2025.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Restructuring a Complex Genetic Function on Episomal Vectors in Escherichia coli

Genetic functions have evolved over long timescales and can be encoded by multiple genes dispersed in different locations in genomes, and although contemporary molecular biology enables control over single genes, more complex genetic functions remain challenging. Here, we study the restructuring and mobilization of a complex genetic function encoded by 10 genes, originally expressed from four operons and two loci on the Escherichia coli genome. We observe subtle phenotypic differences and reduced fitness when expressed from episomal DNA and demonstrate that mutations in the transcriptional machinery are necessary for successful implementation in different bacteria. The work provides new approaches for advanced genome editing and constitutes a first step toward modularization and genome-level engineering of complex genetic functions.

pubs.acs.org

Our new efficient multi-purpose DNA polymerase - freely available via Addgene bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

SAVE THE DATES! We (@proteinmagnus.bsky.social, Alex Buell & I) have received funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to host a meeting on biomolecular condensates in Copenhagen in May 2025. Meeting will take place at the historical Carlsberg Academy. Great list of speakers (to be revealed later)

A little something for the E. coli aficionados on this platform: Mutations upstream from sdaC and malT in Escherichia coli uncover a complex interplay between the cAMP receptor protein and different sigma factors - journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 β-lactamase production in enterobacteria induces collateral sensitivity to other antibiotics!  We believe that these findings expose the Achilles’ heel of β-lactamase producing bacteria! With @sanmillan.bsky.social and many others (not on bsky).  Check it out! 👇 #MicroSky

β-lactamase expression induces collateral sensitivity in Escherichia coli

bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

biorxiv.org

E. coli genetics news from the lab: Mutations upstream from sdaC and malT in Escherichia coli uncover a complex interplay between the cAMP receptor protein and different sigma factors www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Unusual repetitive DNA sequence in the E. coli genome --> CRISPR ---> genome editing Ψ Pseudouridine ---> mRNA immunogenicity and potency ---> mRNA COVID vaccine #basicresearch Dear funders, dear governments please increase the basic research budget !

Immigrant Woman Non-tenured Unfunded Perseverance Basic research Unpredictable application and now #NobelPrize What a day to celebrate! 😍