Outer membrane remodeling via lipid-peptidoglycan crosstalk enables lipooligosaccharide-deficient colistin resistance

Outer membrane remodeling via lipid-peptidoglycan crosstalk enables lipooligosaccharide-deficient colistin resistance

Olea-Ozuna et al. show that outer membrane lipid asymmetry acts as a checkpoint controlling lipooligosaccharide-independent survival in Acinetobacter baumannii. Disrupting phospholipid homeostasis creates a permissive state enabling LOS loss under colistin selection, while reduced PBP1A activity stabilizes this transition, defining a three-state model of envelope remodeling and resistance.

dlvr.it

Intrafilament nucleotide exchange in a prokaryotic actin homolog https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.24.740542v1

Very proud to see this paper out. This is an incredible collaboration with the labs of Wes Sundquist and Adam Frost. @uofubiochem.bsky.social @kingslsm.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ESCRT-III assembles around mis-segregated DNA to protect genome stability - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

The authors show that persistent ultrafine DNA bridges become coated by membranes and the ESCRT-III proteins CHMP1B and IST1, which protect the genome within from damage.

nature.com

Job Opportunity: #CNRS Chemistry - #InstitutPasteur Mid-Career Group Leader (Chemistry for Health) is open in Paris, France. This is a fantastic opportunity for a standout chemist to establish themselves in a world-class environment. research.pasteur.fr/en/call/mid-...

Mid-career Group Leader position in Chemistry for Health at Institut Pasteur, Paris - Research

Institut Pasteur and the CNRS are launching a joint call for a mid-career group leader position in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemistry for Health. We are looking for an experienced researcher (typically...

research.pasteur.fr

We're hiring an enthusiastic and ambitious technician to unravel the mysteries of spirochetes (#Lyme #syphilis). Come be a part of a wonderful team and working enviro in beautiful Chicago! Looking for training micro, molec, cell, or glycobiology of pathogens?👇 myhr.northwestern.edu/psp/hrnu/EMP...

Most people have never heard of #apusomonads. Yet these tiny protists occupy an important position in the eukaryotic tree of life. And we know so little about them! We're looking for a Master's student to help uncover their hidden diversity. #ProtistsOnSky 🧵 @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @prbb.org

PhD opening in my lab @jagiellonskiuni.bsky.social: using AI to predict how phage enzymes break down bacterial capsules — joint work with ML group GMUM and Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa's phage lab (Wrocław), spanning genomics, AI & evolution. mostowylab.com/job-phd-ai-d... Deadline: 15 August 2026

Looks fantastic indeed and sorry I couldn't come! But check out for @babebe.bsky.social (talk tomorrow) and @annakurowska.bsky.social (poster) who are egregiously representing the lab ;-) #envelope #evolution #monoderm-diderm-transition

Fusion Conferences@fusionconf.bsky.social · 3w ago

Fantastic Prokaryotic Cell Biologists and where to find them! A truly lovely set of researchers, making huge progress and discoveries in their field. We hope you've all enjoyed the first 2 days, with plenty more to come. #ProkaryoticCellBio

🚨 We're hiring! My new lab at EMBL Hamburg is looking for a Research Technician. I'm looking for someone excited by phages, metabolism, enzymes, structural biology and bacterial immunity—if you know the right person, please share this post!🧵⬇️ Apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Research Technician (Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity)

EMBL Hamburg / CSSB The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organization, with more than 110 independent research groups across Heidelberg, Hamburg, Grenobl...

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com

Read our new paper! We show how the protease BepA binds the BAM complex and undergoes striking conformational changes, embedding its water-soluble lid into the membrane to cleave outer membrane proteins. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #cryoEM #astburycentre

Klebsiella phages often modify the bacterial capsule instead of degrading it, stripping acetyl groups. Nobody's traced how this evolves. I'm hiring a computational postdoc to find out — Kraków, apply by 21 July. mostowylab.com/job-postdoc-...

Some bacteria do not live as individuals. They build multicellular filaments and connect neighboring cells through tiny cell-cell junctions. Cyanobacteria are among the most beautiful examples 😍 In our new paper, we reveal first molecuar insights on the cyanobacterial septal junction architecture 🧵

Interested in joining our group in Oxford? We are looking for a PDRA with single particle Cryo-EM experience to help us figure out how sphingolipids are transported to the cell surface of Gram-negative bacteria. The deadline is 31st July. Informal enquires are welcome. Please share!

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

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

🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇

The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology

A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.

doi.org

A step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

doi.org

Jeremy Hollis’ detective story on centromeric histone chaperones (HJURP/Cal1) is now published after peer review with a few extra goodies. @jeremyahollis.bsky.social @nlehrbach.bsky.social @cbmoens.bsky.social @irinakitop.bsky.social @basicsci.fredhutch.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Remote homology and functional genetics unmask deeply preserved Scm3/HJURP orthologs in metazoans

Animals encode a rapidly evolving, essential cell cycle gene previously thought to be absent.

science.org

Jeremy Hollis@jeremyahollis.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We have some genetic sleuth work to share with you! What started as a rotation project turned into nothing short of an amazing collaboration between 4 labs in the zoo that is @basicsci.fredhutch.org. We found an essential histone chaperone long thought to be missing in most animals 🕵️‍♂️ bit.ly/4uf8sxz

1/ Deep-time phylogenetics is hard: overly simplistic substitution models can mislead tree estimation at the billion year timescale. Our new preprint introduces GTRspmix, a protein modeling framework designed to more realistically model site-to-site heterogeneity in amino acid replacement. 🧵

Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Open postdoc position in the Imaging and Modeling Unit at Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with Mickaël Cohen of IBPC (Paris, France). High-throughput imaging and deep learning to analyze mitochondrial morphology and understand genetic bases of cellular respiration. Please spread the word.

How do human cells defend against viruses? @sgfern.bsky.social discovers that human immune proteins named ISGs target ancient features of replication shared between animal and bacterial viruses – opening analysis of human immunity to the power of bacterial genetics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New paper alert!! We just discovered a new filament system that is widespread exclusively within CPR bacteria! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... Short thread below. 🦠🔬🚀

A Novel Pilus System in Candidate Phyla Radiation Bacteria

The Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) represents a bacterial superphylum estimated to include between 15–50% of all bacterial species, yet CPR bacteria remain challenging to culture and have been primar...

biorxiv.org

Archaea the hornets of the microbial world. Discuss. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... TLDR: Archaeon kills bacterium with secreted phospholipase. Pretty nifty way to kill bacteria if you are a microbe with a very different lipid make-up, I reckon. No need to worry about accidentally killing yourself.

A Bactericidal Phospholipase from Archaea

Archaea kill bacteria, at least on occasion. The molecular underpinnings of these lethal interactions are barely understood. Here, we describe cinquedea, an α/β hydrolase secreted by the halophilic ar...

biorxiv.org

Today marks 30 years since we identified the apicoplast, a relict plastid in human and animal parasites (PMID 8632819). Apicoplasts are the target of the widely used antimalarial prophylactic doxycycline, which has saved many thousands of malaria infections.

There are two types of people in the world: those who discovered Persepolis and were richer for the experience, and those that still have to. RIP Marjane Satrapi. www.lemonde.fr/en/obituarie...

Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis,' dies at 56

The French-Iranian artist and film director 'died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,' people close to her said.

lemonde.fr

We are looking for candidates to fill a PhD position in Grenoble, France. Please share with anyone interested in microbial symbioses! #dinoflagellate #symbiosis www.linkedin.com/posts/johan-...

PhD position available in the team (Cell and Plant Physiology Lab) in Grenoble, in close collaboration with Prof Patrick Keeling from Univ. of British Columbia (Canada), Liz Cooney (Photosymbiosis… | ...

PhD position available in the team (Cell and Plant Physiology Lab) in Grenoble, in close collaboration with Prof Patrick Keeling from Univ. of British Columbia (Canada), Liz Cooney (Photosymbiosis tea...

linkedin.com

Great piece and cover @science.org about how our field is uncovering the evolutionary and mechanistic connections between bacterial and eukaryotic immunity ! www.science.org/content/article/ancient-wars-between-microbes-gave-us-key-immune-defenses

I'm looking for an enthusiastic student to join my team as a PhD candidate on archaeal genome evolution 🦠💻 Work in beautiful Utrecht, at @binfutrecht.bsky.social, an international group full of caring, amazing scientists, and with frequent cake breaks! www.uu.nl/en/organisat... Please share! 🙏

Excited to say that my new paper with @maxlechte.bsky.social (and others not on bluesky) has come out in @nature.com! Study of sediments, geochemistry and fossils from rocks 1.75 to 1.4 billion years old indicate that the oldest known #eukaryotes were aerobic and benthic! #protists rdcu.be/fjNgL

Early fossil eukaryotes were benthic aerobes

Nature - Integrated palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses of ancient rocks from Australia show that early eukaryotes were largely restricted to oxygenated benthic habitats,...

rdcu.be