Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils - Nature Microbiology
An 8-year soil meta-omic time series shows how mobile genetic elements shape permafrost microbial diversity and impact a range of functions, including carbon and nutrient cycling.
nature.com
Metabolic interactions control the transfer and spread of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance during surface-associated microbial growth www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Metabolic interactions control the transfer and spread of plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance during surface-associated microbial growth
Ma et al. show that metabolic interactions determine the extent of spatial intermixing and the spatial positionings of different microbial populations during surface-associated growth. This determines...
cell.com
PlasmidGPT: A generative framework for plasmid analysis and generation www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
PlasmidGPT: A generative framework for plasmid analysis and generation
A generative framework predicts plasmid features and enables controlled generation of functional DNA sequences.
science.org
Today Is the deadline for abstract submissions ‼️
Plasmid Society@plasmidsociety.bsky.social · 4mo agoPlease remember that the International Symposium on Plasmid Biology (ISPB 2026) will take place 7–11 September 2026 in Berlin, Germany! A great opportunity to meet, reconnect, and engage with the global plasmid biology community. 🤝 plasmid-biology-2026.de
We found that TIR domains in animal immune proteins, including the human TLR4, are enzymes that cleave NAD+ to produce the signaling molecule cADPR Read our new preprint by talented Bohdana Hurieva: “Conserved catalytic activity of immune TIR domains in animals” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
New benchmark by @tclavel.bsky.social & @treichelnicole.bsky.social reveals that while 0.5 Gb works for profiling, de novo MAG assembly requires >10 Gb. Crucially, they found that only 55-82% of high-quality MAGs accurately represented original strains. Full Article: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Benchmarking of shotgun sequencing depth reveals the potential and limitations of shallow metagenomics and strain-level analysis - Nature Microbiology
A comparison of sequencing of complex mock communities performed at multiple depths and analysed using different methods establishes minimum standards that can ensure the accuracy of metagenomic analy...
doi.org
Please remember that the International Symposium on Plasmid Biology (ISPB 2026) will take place 7–11 September 2026 in Berlin, Germany! A great opportunity to meet, reconnect, and engage with the global plasmid biology community. 🤝 plasmid-biology-2026.de
International Symposium on Plasmid Biology 2026
plasmid-biology-2026.de
We've come full circle! I began my postdoctoral career by identifying the peptidyl deformylase gene. Today, we show that half of bacterial species harbor multiple PDF genes (up to 7, for always a single Met-tRNA transformylase), and while the role of these PDFs ... academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
Unraveling the Prevalence and Multifaceted Roles of Accessory Peptide Deformylases in Bacterial Adaptation and Resistance
Abstract. Peptide deformylases (PDFs) are enzymes that are essential for bacterial viability and attractive targets for antibiotic development. Yet, despit
academic.oup.com
Conjugative plasmids help spread AMR genes. @andrewmatthews.bsky.social @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social & @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social show that #AMR loss in evolving populations involves streamlined #plasmids that gain a transmission advantage by deleting AMR genes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48NM0BL
Our story on plasmid streamlining is now published in PLoS Biology! With @andrewmatthews.bsky.social and @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social #MicroSky #Mevosky journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Plasmid streamlining drives the extinction of antibiotic resistance plasmids under selection for horizontal transmission
Conjugative plasmids play an important role in the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes among pathogenic bacteria. This study shows that AMR loss in evolving populations is associated with t...
journals.plos.org
🐓 Bacteria trade resistance genes in the chicken gut, but the host may influence this exchange. Small RNAs from chicken tissue modulate plasmid transfer between E. coli. 🧬 #Plasmid #Conjugation #miRNA doi.org/10.1038/s442...
Host genetics regulate bacterial plasmid conjugation differentially in avian ceca explant co-culture through secretory miRNA - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance
npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - Host genetics regulate bacterial plasmid conjugation differentially in avian ceca explant co-culture through secretory miRNA
doi.org
New online: Structure and activation mechanism of a Lamassu phage and plasmid defense system
Structure and activation mechanism of a Lamassu phage and plasmid defense system
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 14 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01677-4Li et al. show that a Lamassu defense system protects bacteria from phage infection by activating a lethal tetrameric DNA-cutting enzyme. In the absence of phages, a protein clamp holds the enzyme as an inactive monomer, preventing self-damage.
go.nature.com
Podcast with me and @turiking.bsky.social for the @milnerevolution.bsky.social series, on plasmid evolution over the last 100 years, talking about our ( @cazares-adr.bsky.social , Nick Thomson, @sarah1alexander.bsky.social & co) recent paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... youtu.be/Mzr3TD4ijs0?...
How the Vectors of Antibiotic Resistance Have Evolved - Professor Zamin Iqbal
YouTube video by Milner Centre for Evolution
youtu.be
Dissecting the fitness effects of a carbapenem resistance plasmid in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens @aliciapcv.bsky.social @jorgesastred.bsky.social @sanmillan.bsky.social @cnb-csic.bsky.social #bacteria #plasmids
Dissecting pOXA-48 fitness effects in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens - Nature Communications
This study investigates the effects of the carbapenem resistance plasmid pOXA-48 in clinical enterobacteria. Using CRISPRi screens, the authors revealed that the carbapenemase OXA-48 has a role in the plasmid-associated fitness costs.
bit.ly
New paper with my (amazing) friend and mentor @jrpenades.bsky.social Really looking forward to see what plasmid aficionados think of this one!! With @asantoslopez.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social Akshay Sabins and others www.cell.com/cell-reports...
Non-conjugative plasmids limit their mobility to persist in nature
Sabnis et al. explain why non-conjugative plasmids move at a low rate in nature. While increased mobility can easily evolve by incorporating phage DNA into plasmids, this is disadvantageous because it...
cell.com
📢 Postdoctoral research position A 2-year postdoctoral position on bacteriophages research is available at the Institut Pasteur in Paris in the Plasticity of the Genomes Unit. 🧐 Those interested can now send their applications!
Must-Read Paper 👀 Check out this latest review on plasmid mobility and how interactions between MGEs shape and affect plasmid stability and transfer: doi.org/10.1093/nar/... #Plasmid #MGE #Mobility
The extended mobility of plasmids
Abstract. Plasmids play key roles in the spreading of many traits, ranging from antibiotic resistance to varied secondary metabolism, from virulence to mut
doi.org
Heads up! 📢 The 5th Session of the ISPB Virtual Seminars is tomorrow, from 8:00 to 9:00 UTC. Hope to see you there virtually! #Plasmid #ISPB #VirtualSeminar
Kicking off the week with exciting news: 🧐 There is still time to register and submit your abstract until 30th May for the 2nd edition of "Secretion Days" (October 2-3, Marseille). 💻Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI… 📩 More info: secretion@imm.cnrs.fr
Heey! ✋ If you missed the live session of the ISPB Virtual Seminar Series, there's still time to catch up and enjoy the great work of Zhengqing Zhou and Alicia Calvo Villamañán. Huge thanks to the speakers and the organizers!! 🫂
Must-Read Paper 👀 Wrap up the week exploring how mobile genetic elements (MGEs) drive pangenome structure: Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... #Plasmid #MGEs #Salmonella
Mobile genetic elements define the non-random structure of the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi pangenome | mSystems
Given bacterial evolution occurs in both vertical and horizontal dimensions, inclusion of both core and accessory genetic material (i.e., the pangenome) is a logical step toward a more thorough unders...
journals.asm.org
The ISPB Virtual Seminars 2025 continue tomorrow with the second session: 📅 Tuesday, April 15 🕢 07:00–08:00 (UTC) (everytimezone.com) Make sure you don't miss it! 🤠 #Plasmid #ISPBVirtualSeries
Every Time Zone Converter
Easily find the exact time difference with the visual Time Zone Converter. Find meeting times for your contacts, locations and places around the world. Never warp your brain with time zone math again.
everytimezone.com
Imagine resistance genes as stickers, and plasmids as the sticker albums where they're collected and swapped. 🤔🧩 Now, You should check this amazing work from Wang et al.! 👇 doi.org/10.1093/isme... #Plasmid #MGEs #AntimicrobialResistance #ARGs
doi.org
Cigarettes: bad for your health… and for antibiotic resistance, too? 🚭🚭 Fang, Konyali and colleagues have demonstrated that smoking-derived compounds promote the conjugation rates in different environments (artificial lung sputum medium and environmental medium).
Updates are back! We’ll be sharing papers and reviews relevant to our community. Please, feel free to contact us if you’d like us to feature your work. Thanks!! 🧬