Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán

Oxygen levels can affect how resistance genes work, impacting antibiotic efficacy. This can be relevant for the most used ones: for example, resistance to fosfomycin varies with oxygen.

Learn more in our latest paper 👉 bit.ly/3T8sdpp a work led by @jaescudero.bsky.social

#AntibioticResistance

The combination of active partitioning and toxin-antitoxin systems is most advantageous for low-copy plasmid fitness - Nature Communications Effe et al. evaluate how specific plasmid traits influence plasmid fitness; they provide mechanistic insight into the persistence of large conjugative plasmids, including those that disseminate antibi...

Happy to finally share this! Read here about the best strategy the the persistence of low-copy plasmids. @mariosanter.bsky.social @iwangtoknow.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Group Leader - Genome Biology Unit Are you ready to lead groundbreaking research in Genome Biology? Join us at EMBL! We are seeking a motivated scientist to lead an independent research group addressing exciting and original biological...

To all post-docs: The Genome Biology dept ‪@embl.org
has an Independent faculty position. Fantastic place to set up your lab –great package: core funding, fantastic Ph.D. students, cutting edge core facilities & great colleagues. Closing date Sept 19th
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

The hospital sink drain microbiome as a melting pot for AMR transmission to nosocomial pathogens - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - The hospital sink drain microbiome as a melting pot for AMR transmission to nosocomial pathogens

Delighted to have this review out with @jpjhall.bsky.social!

We discuss the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance in the hospital sink drain microbiome, highlight studies providing evidence of transfer, and consider strategies to mitigate these risks 🪠🦠

doi.org/10.1038/s442...

Plasmids link antibiotic resistance genes and phage defense systems in E. coli Phage therapy has been proposed as an alternative to antibiotics to treat resistant infections. However, we have a limited understanding of how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associate with bacter...

New pre-print from my lab!
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense.

E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!!
#microsky#AMR#phage

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

The Respiratory Tract Microbiome and Human Health The respiratory tract microbiome (RTM) trains the immune system and protects against infections. Changes in the RTM are linked to various respiratory diseases. High-throughput methodologies and compu...

New mini-review on the respiratory microbiome and its contribution to human health from biotechnology 🫁🦠
@tmcoque.bsky.social @microbiotech.bsky.social
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

📢 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!

Plasmids link antibiotic resistance genes and phage defense systems in E. coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666796v1

The Rare Plasmid Biosphere: A Hidden Reservoir of Genetic Diversity Bacterial communities typically display highly uneven abundance patterns, with a few dominant taxa and many low-abundance ones contributing to extensive genetic diversity (1-4). Notably, this rare bio...

The Rare Plasmid Biosphere: A Hidden Reservoir of Genetic Diversity
by João Rebelo, Célia Domingues & Francisco Dionisio and co
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The fitness landscape of the E.coli lac operator is highly rugged in two different environments https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.23.666252v1

Call for 20 Assistant Professor positions Karolinska Institutet is a world-leading medical university with a long and proud history of ground-breaking research. We are now recruiting outstanding early-career researchers with particularly exce...

Wow

Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 outstanding early-career researchers for assistant professor positions

ki.se/en/about-ki/...

ExcludonFinder: mapping transcriptional overlaps between neighboring genes Abstract. Bacteria regulate neighboring genes via overlapping transcription in untranslated regions (UTRs), forming excludons. This overlap leads to transc

🚨🚨 New paper in @narjournal.bsky.social! 🍾

Excludons are pairs of overlapping genes that block each other’s expression (basically, reverse operons).

We built a tool to identify them in bacterial genomes using transcriptomic data, in an awesome collab led by Iñigo Lasa and Álvaro San Martín.

👇

POSTDOC🚨
With the excellent @anshika22.bsky.social moving to UCI 🥲Anna Zemke and I are again recruiting a postdoc on the HOST-PATHOGEN BIOLOGY of TRACHEOBRONCHITIS. This is a microbiome-device-host immunity problem of broad significance.

Contact Dr. Zemke (zemkea at upmc dot edu) if interested! 👇🏻

A 2 yr postdoc position at the Bacterial
Genome Plasticity Unit of the Institut Pasteur (Paris) led by @amazeld.bsky.social in collaboration with Pierre-Alexandre Kaminski, funded by the French National Research Agency 👇

graphical abstract of the article the extended mobility of plasmids

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

M O I L A B - Join us! Join us! Our lab is based at the University of California, Berkeley, embedded in the vibrant and multicultural San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by astonishing nature!

Network, we are looking for PhD students and Postdocs on evolutionary and ecological genomics in 2025/2026

Join our diverse and welcoming lab at UC Berkeley & HHMINEWS!

Check job ads-> www.moilab.science/team/join-us

I am seeking a postdoc for my group at UCLA. We work at the intersection of population genetics x microbiome (garud.eeb.ucla.edu). If interested, please message me!

#MicroSky #mevoSky

We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome.

See thread for more information and reach out!

A true team effort led by the brilliant @paularamiro.bsky.social, with @nachodequinto.bsky.social, Laura Jaraba-Soto, Val F. Lanza & @crisherencias.bsky.social.

Plus an amazing collab with our mathemagicians 🪄 Adrián G. Casanovas & the one and only @penamiller.bsky.social!

Do plasmids evolve faster 🐇, slower 🐢, or just like chromosomes 🧬?

In our new paper, we tackled this question using theory, simulations, bioinformatics, and experiments!

👇 Check out all the details in Paula’s thread!

Hint: 🐇 (most of the time)

In summary, plasmids are not just gene delivery platforms.

They significantly boost the availability of mutations, enabling rapid evolution of traits like resistance, metabolism, and virulence, highlighting their role as evolutionary powerhouses of bacterial cells.

PCN is key to evolvability 🫧🤩

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

New paper alert! 🚨

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate.

We combine theory, simulations, experimental evolution, and bioinformatics to demonstrate that mutation rates scale with plasmid copy number.

Let's dive in! 🧵👇

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.21.665944v1

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation - Nature Reviews Genetics In this Review, Ascensao and Desai discuss how methodological advances in genotype and phenotype manipulation are transforming experimental evolution approaches and providing new insights into the und...

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation
#ExperimentalEvolution #evolution #evoSky

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

The Genetic Basis of Bacterial Adaptation to Hosts Microbes colonize and interact with diverse multicellular hosts using specialized genes, many of which remain unidentified. Better understanding of host-associated gene functions is a key aspect of mi...

📢 New preprint alert!
We used comparative genomics on 72,000+ bacterial genomes to uncover the genetic basis of microbial adaptation to multicellular hosts—plants and animals alike.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Genetic Basis of Bacterial Adaptation to Hosts Microbes colonize and interact with diverse multicellular hosts using specialized genes, many of which remain unidentified. Better understanding of host-associated gene functions is a key aspect of mi...

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

Controlled colonization of the human gut with a genetically engineered microbial therapeutic Precision microbiome programming for therapeutic applications is limited by challenges in achieving reproducible colonic colonization. Previously, we created an exclusive niche that we used to engraft...

Controlled colonization of the human gut with a genetically engineered microbial therapeutic | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is a legitimately incredible result that hints at something fundamental about plasmids that we don’t yet understand

I love when science gives more questions than answers. That’s the fun part of the job!