Please RT. Post-doc opportunity alert! 💥 closing soon 10th December.. Come join our team (www.thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems.

For more details and to apply please see

www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Phage resistance mutations in a marine bacterium impact biogeochemically relevant cellular processes - Nature Microbiology Evading infection in Cellulophaga baltica comes with cellular changes that alter carbon cycling, metabolite secretion and sedimentation rates.

Phage resistance mutations in a marine bacterium impact biogeochemically relevant cellular processes | Nature Microbiology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02202-5

Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem across the planet.

Now, researchers have released VIRE – a comprehensive viral genome database covering diverse ecosystems to advance understanding of viral evolution and ecosystem functions.

Learn more: www.embl.org/news/science...

Microbial Christmas 🎄 — Superbugs - The microbial world in, on and around us Festive agar plates from across the internet The diversity in microbes is breath-taking. Individual cells may not look like much under the microscope - they are just too tiny. But when they form visi...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Microbial Christmas!

🦠🧫🔬🎄🎅🏻🛷🦌☃️

A sketched inference for the dilution at the complexity threshold and potential compositions of sub-communities after cultivation.

Microbiology Monday: Who becomes dominant in a microbial community? Competitive traits nominate species, but rare microbes “vote” the winner through complex interactions. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2Ib

want to see a chemotaxis array (G) and a post-discharge T6SS (I) ? inside 𝘝𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪 inside a 𝘌𝘱𝘳𝘺𝘮𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴 crypt ? go no further...

#CryoET #CryoEM #teamtomo #MicroSky

On the left, the wild-type bacterium Salmonella enterica strain forms an initial, unstructured biofilm that looks like a shade of blue. As genetic changes ripple through the population, we see a more structured, resilient, and visually distinct biofilm pattern on the right that looks like a web of blue on a white background.

What does a biofilm look like? 🧫

Dr Eleftheria Trampari's photo, titled "Making waves", recently won 3rd prize at the Biofilm Create! Competition 🥉

📸 Zeiss AxioZoom V16 with support from the Advanced Microscopy team

buff.ly/ZuyytCo

Registration is open for the SJINML Public Lecture with Dr Margaret McFall-Ngai: The Power of Symbiosis in Shaping Our Biosphere. If you’ve wondered about sustainability or if probiotics really work, this talk may have the answer.
3 Dec, SMU. Light refreshments available.

JB Editor's Choice: Panich, Wadhwa et al. describe a new type of motility in Salmonella they refer to as "swashing", which does not appear to require active propulsion.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology

Our final issue of 2025 has gone live!

🫁pertussis prevention
🏭pollutants and gut bacteria
🕳️porins and resistance in E. coli
🧬many flavours of CRISPR
🦟fatal fungal attraction

...and more 👇
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

This day, November 30th 2025, it is official, 40th anniversary. Had to celebrate in style

Gut Microbiota Imbalance Linked to Rapid Global Rise in IBD Global research finds that gut microbiota dysbiosis strongly correlates with rising inflammatory bowel disease rates worldwide.

Gut Microbiota Imbalance Linked to Rapid Global Rise in IBD
#Gastrosky #gastroenterology
www.emjreviews.com/gastroentero...

The host range of generalist and specialist phages in capsule-diverse Klebsiella hosts is driven by the evolvability of receptor-binding proteins Capsule diversity limits phage host range by affecting RBP interactions in capsulated bacteria. This study shows that generalist phages evolve host range through RBP mutations and recombination, while...

The host range of generalist and specialist phages in capsule-diverse Klebsiella hosts is driven by the evolvability of receptor-binding proteins

@plosbiology.org from @pilardomingoc.bsky.social

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Cheers

Incredibly insightful talk this afternoon by @matthewjshepherd.bsky.social speaking about within-patient ciprofloxacin resistance in P. aeruginosa #MicroEvo25

Structural characterization of the YbbAP-TesA ABC transporter identifies it as a lipid hydrolase complex that extracts hydrophobic compounds from the bacterial inner membrane In E.coli, three of the four Type VII ABC transporter systems have been structurally characterized. This study solves cryo-EM structures of the fourth Type VII ABC system, YbbAP-TesA, and suggests tha...

Type VII ABC transporters underpin many core activities in the bacterial cell envelope - including efflux, cell division and lipoprotein trafficking.

A new paper in PLOS Biology reveals YbbAP-TesA as a novel Type VII system in E. coli.

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Industrial and agricultural chemicals exhibit antimicrobial activity against human gut bacteria in vitro - Nature Microbiology Screening of 1,076 compounds reveals 168 chemical pollutants with inhibitory effects on gut bacteria and genetic screens indicate commonality between pollutant and antibiotic resistance.

Excited to share our latest research in @natmicrobiol.nature.com . We uncover hundreds of inhibitory interactions between common chemical pollutants and human gut bacteria. A thread🧵 (1/10) #microbiomesky #microsky @kiranrpatil.bsky.social lab @mrc-tu.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Want to see something that will fry your brain? Disappearing reappearing plaques on P aeruginosa @dominickfaith.bsky.social
🧫🦠🧪

In Melbourne for a symposium organized by the ARC Biofilm Research and Innovation Centre. It was really nice to be welcomed by my colleague and friend @abdou-hachani.bsky.social

Woman standing in front of a slide describing why antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic access is an urgent threat to human sustainability

Fortuitous timing for my NTU-SBS seminar to land in World Antimicrobial Awareness Week #WAAW. I took the opportunity to showcase our research into alternate bacterial lifestyles and how we are leveraging this understanding to develop innovative approaches to combat AMR
🧫🧪
@scelse.bsky.social

Streptomyces formicae was isolated from Tetraponera penzigi plant-ants and has bioactivity against Gram-positive pathogens due to the production of formicamycins.

Read the latest Microbe Profile on Streptomyces formicae KY5: an ANT-ibiotic factory. Published Open Access and fee-free in Microbiology using a Publish and Read agreement: doi.org/10.1099/mic.... #MicrobioJ #PublishAndRead

A ubiquitin-like protein controls assembly of a bacterial type VIIb secretion system Cryo-EM structure reveals how a ubiquitin-like protein orchestrates assembly of a bacterial weapon system.

Our latest T7SS study is now out in Science Advances!
We solved the cryoEM structure of the T7SSb core unit (T7bCU) composed of YukB, YukC, and YukD from Bacillus subtilis, revealing how these components assemble within the secretion machinery.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Two intense days underscored SCELSE’s strength in true multi-disciplinarity — broad enough to collaborate, deep enough to push boundaries. A retreat filled with ideas across health, climate, and food. Kudos to Prof Whitchurch @cwhitch.bsky.social for organising a strong event.

Structural basis of bacteriophage Ur-lambda infection initiation In situ structures reveal molecular insights into infection initiation of bacteriophage Ur-lambda.

#microsky #phagesky

Structure of phage Ur-lambda

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Collage with headshots of ten individuals with a message announcing 'Prize Winners 2026 – Presenting at Annual Conference 2026.'

The Microbiology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our 2026 Prizes! The winners will be awarded and deliver Prize Lectures at Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast from 13–16 April. Find out more about it: microb.io/PrizeWinners.... Meet the winners below. #Microbio26

A man and a woman standing behind a table. On the table is a microscope showing an image of biofilm-infected tissue, a robotic ventilator and various items of lab equipment.

Here’s @tosinorababa.bsky.social & @nreddy.bsky.social showing the ways we grow bacteria in the lab to simulate conditions in an infected patient - we have models of #CysticFibrosis lung, endotracheal tube & chronic wound, all compliant with efforts to reduce & replace animals in research.

SCELSE’s annual Scientific Retreat begins tomorrow. Two days of presentations, posters, and breakout discussions will sharpen the next phase of our biofilm and microbiome research aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. @cwhitch.bsky.social @fillouxlab.bsky.social

Specialized shuttle proteins recognize Type IX secretion signals and target effectors to their final destinations in Flavobacterium johnsoniae Communications Biology - Bacteroidota use the Type IX secretion system to secrete proteins with a conserved C-terminal domain (CTD) secretion signal domain. Type B CTDs require specific shuttle...

Happy to share the last paper form the lab:
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize
T9SS signals and target
effectors to their final destinations. Great work by @maellepllt.bsky.social, led by @thicoz.bsky.social in collaboration with @audebertstephane.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...

Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers

Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.

S-layers are everywhere!

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

Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...

Very excited to share our latest work in Science on metagenomic editing (MetaEdit) of the gut microbiome in vivo & directly modifying unculturable immune-modulatory SFB bug in the small intestine. 🦠🧬🛠️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...