Steven Shaw

This autonomous system ensures destruction of non-self DNA without harming self DNA—an elegant solution to phage infection and horizontal gene transfer threats.

20.10.2025 08:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

New preprint!
Using single-molecule and kinetic assays combined with nanopore, myself, @alex-hg.bsky.social, @oscart32.bsky.social & co showed that the SauUSI restriction enzyme from S. aureus recognizes methylated DNA and initiates a motor-driven shredding process.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

20.10.2025 08:53 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Happy that the final version of our Lamassu work @yli18smc.bsky.social is now out:

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

Thanks again to our awesome collaborators @mblokesch.bsky.social and David and co and Mark Szczelkun and @steven-shaw.bsky.social and the DCI Lausanne @fbm-unil.bsky.social

14.10.2025 09:28 — 👍 46    🔁 21    💬 3    📌 0

Alt : Structure of the apo Lamassu protein complex. Schematic model of the active LmuA tetramer nuclease (top right). Lamassu icon (top left).

Glad to share the work of @yli18smc.bsky.social and co on Lamassu, a bacterial defense system related to Rad50/Mre11 (RM). While RM carefully trims DNA ends for repair, Lamassu chops up the host chromosome. Our study reveals how it is regulated to minimize damage, activating only during infection.

16.03.2025 09:15 — 👍 63    🔁 31    💬 4    📌 3

I've been learning Welsh but I'm glad I'm only working with E coli

18.02.2025 21:30 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I got one of a woman in office clothes pitching Christianity to me for some reason

16.02.2025 12:47 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0