Jason Wilson

🚨Exciting #Postdoc opportunity in the Fogg & Antson labs: 3-year post based @biologyatyork.bsky.social to explore the #StructuralBiology & mechanism of viral DNA-packaging motors using cutting-edge #Cryo-EM, biophysical and molecular approaches. Apply by 9th Oct at bit.ly/3Iz3bOu #ScienceJobs

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

Had a great time talking at @mgeworkshop.bsky.social last week and meeting some great people. Looking forward to cool science and collaborations to come.

Congrats to everyone involved, great insights and visually striking!

Global structural survey of the flagellotropic myophage φTE infecting agricultural pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum - Nature Communications The cryo-EM structure of phage φTE is presented, revealing a distinct neck topology, tail sheath baseplate organization and oligomeric state of the tape measure protein. These features suggest a mecha...

#phage

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fighting bacteria with viruses: Important step to treating antibiotic resistant infections New insights into a ‘friendly virus’ that could pave the way for cutting edge treatments for the potentially fatal superbug C.diff have been uncovered by University of Sheffield scientists.

www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...

We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!

@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social

Fighting bacteria with viruses: Important step to treating antibiotic resistant infections New insights into a ‘friendly virus’ that could pave the way for cutting edge treatments for the potentially fatal superbug C.diff have been uncovered by University of Sheffield scientists.

You can also read more here on the @sheffielduni.bsky.social webpage

www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...

Lots left to figure out, and very excited to see where @robfagan.bsky.social, @perbullough.bsky.social, and Louis-Charles Fortier take this next, whilst I take on a @ukri.org BBSRC Discovery Fellowship.

Finally, we found that phiCD508 lacks identifiable enzymatic domains in the tail spike, suggesting the #phage breaks through by contractile force alone.

We also found that S-layer penetrating phages tend to have smaller tail spikes, lacking a beta-helical domain.

Surprisingly, we found that phiCD508 only contracts by about 20%, which is quite unusual. It also seems a reduced contraction is conserved amongst S-layer penetrating #phages

We were able to determine the structure of the #phage in both the extended and contracted states, and model the majority of the proteins making up the ~23MDa assembly

New paper alert 🚨

We determined the structure of phiCD508, a 225 nm tailed myovirus #phage infecting clinical strains of C. difficile, using #cryoEM.

Thrilled to see this finally out at @lsajournal.org .

www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...

Molecular mechanism of bacteriophage contraction structure of an S-layer–penetrating bacteriophage The molecular details of phage tail contraction and bacterial cell envelope penetration remain poorly understood and are completely unknown for phages infecting bacteria enveloped by proteinaceous S-l...

New paper alert 🚨
We've solved the complete structure of a C. difficile-infecting phage using cryo-EM, in both extended and contracted conformations - published today in Life Science Alliance

www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...

It's been a really fun project, led by @jasonwils.bsky.social in collaboration with @perbullough.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier at the Université de Sherbrooke

I saw once posting the reply but couldn't find it to delete it 😅

Hi there, great idea, could I get an add please

🚨We are hiring! A MRC-funded PDRA position to study novel anti-phage systems & their evolutionary dynamics in P. aeruginosa, in collaboration with @friendlymicrobe. If you are passionate about phage-bacteria interactions & evolution, apply now ! tinyurl.com/bddz4z44

It’s often overlooked but TB remains the world’s worst single-agent infectious killer- drug resistance is growing and current drug regimens have awful side effects

Congrats Giusy! 🎉🎉

Great to be back on Ava the Arctica at @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social, with a passable first grid prep also!

Hi there, Could I request an add please!

Really missed the sense of daily discovery of new papers and tools you used to get on the other place. Moved over a few days ago and already finding so much, and exactly what I've been looking for!

Could I please get an add, I'm a new research fellow focused on cryoEM of phage proteins

Large scale capsid-mediated mobilisation of bacterial genomic DNA in the gut microbiome Here, we present a novel approach to study packaging and mobilisation of bacterial DNA in complex microbial communities, such as the human gut microbiome, by viral or virus-like capsids. Transducing b...

Very happy to have played a part in this study, great to see it out in preprint form.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...