Wilbert Bitter

Vibrio pectenicida strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease - Nature Ecology & Evolution The causative agent of sea star wasting disease has been elusive. This study used genetic datasets and experimental exposures to demonstrate that a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida caused di...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
After 10 years they finally found the culprit… great work, although it is not so surprising that it turns out to be a Vibrio sp.

A nice example of evolutionary ‘bush mechanics’ we ran into, two periplasmic substrate binding proteins have been reused for a completely different role in mycobacteria

How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry | Quanta Magazine Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within simple cellular collectives can lead to emergent physical traits.

Reading:

How a Biofilm’s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-biofil... via @QuantaMagazine

This biologist aims to solve the cell’s biggest mystery. Could it help cancer patients, too? Four decades after his lab found odd, massive particles inside cells, Leonard Rome is still determined to figure out what “vaults” do

This biologist aims to solve the cell’s biggest mystery. Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Mycobacterium bovis infected domestic cats in an officially bovine tuberculosis free country resulting in human infection Although the Netherlands is an officially bovine tuberculosis (bTB) free (OTF) country, sporadic infections with Mycobacterium bovis still cause tuber…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The #GRCMyco2025 group photo is now in everyone's mygrc folder! It was VERY sunny....

Krista Freeman et al 𝘊𝘌𝘓𝘓

stunning atomic-level imaging (Cryo-EM, cryo-ET) reveals how 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐞 Bxb1 reshapes its tail tip to breach the mycobacterial cell wall and deliver DNA to the cytoplasm

can inform precise targeted phage therapies for TB and NTM infections

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Congratulations Cornelia and enjoy this very special occasion!

A central, shared role for disulfide bonds in Bacteroidota protein transport and gliding motility The gliding motility and Type 9 Secretion Systems (T9SSs) of Bacteroidota share a Power Chain that in current models uses a Hub complex to distribute energy to both the T9SS translocon and a moving gl...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... exciting new study on role of disulphide bond formation in secretion and motility in Bacteroidota

Especially the coiled-coil domain is intriguing…

Structural basis of siderophore export and drug efflux by Mycobacterium tuberculosis - Nature Communications Mycobacteria produce small molecules (mycobactins) to acquire the essential nutrient iron. Here, Earp et al determine the cryo-EM structures of the mycobactin exporter MmpL4, which also effluxes the T...

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

Agar plate covered in E. coli.

For all its prominence in research, E. coli is a blip in a rich microbial world. Scientists are rethinking our infatuation with microbiology’s superstar and considering what can—and should—constitute a model organism going forward. Read the article: asm.org/Articles/202...

Stopping clinical trials with such haste is unethical and potentially dangerous and violates the very principles that all who conduct interventional studies must adhere to. It is sad and exposes ignorance and a complete lack of respect for people!

Comparison of B. theta and E. coli BAM machineries. Only BamAD components are shared, and B. theta BAM has five novel components, BamF-I.

New preprint 🚨: with @madejmar.bsky.social we found that the Bacteroidetes beta-barrel assembly machinery is quite different to E. coli. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #cryo-EM

Last ever lecture in the infamous W&N building at the VU Amsterdam…apparently it had one of the longest hallways in the Netherlands, 250 meter.

How do animals compensate for trait loss?

In beetles, symbiosis is a consistent strategy. Where the repeated loss of endogenous digestive enzymes is offset by functionally convergent symbioses: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Excited to share our latest, out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social!

I can also ask around in our university if you are interested, cool research

Is this how complex life evolved? Experiment that put bacteria inside fungi offers clues Biologists created a symbiotic system that hints at how cell features such as mitochondria and chloroplasts might have emerged a billion years ago.

Researchers have engineered symbiotic associations between fungal cells and introduced organelles in an effort to explore how endosymbiosis might have given rise to eukaryotic cells.

🌱🐋🧪🦫🧠 #Evolbio

great work, is this part already published?

FEBS Press The acquisition of bacterial endosymbionts by ancient host cells followed by massive adaptation of the partners gave rise to mitochondria and plastids. Today, various systems with younger and less in...

Out today! Our review on the current evidence of protein import into endosymbionts/early organelles. We cover protists, insects and plant systems, so something for everybody!

With Mygg Stiller, Lena Kröninger and Eva Nowack.

#protistsonsky #SymbioSky

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Engineered Mycobacterium tuberculosis triple-kill-switch strain provides controlled tuberculosis infection in animal models - Nature Microbiology Engineered kill-switch-encoding Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects, elicits immune responses and is cleared from immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice, providing a model of controlled tuberculosi...

A BCG kill switch strain protects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice and non-human primates with improved safety and immunogenicity
@naturemicrobiol.bsky.social
@saehrt.bsky.social @joanneflynn19.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I would like to propose our methane-eating mycobacterium that lives in a cave biofilm of pH 1 dwelling on volcanic gasses. Other methanotrophs apparently can not survive here (just like most other life forms). But surely hundreds of other microbes also have insane lifestyles.

If you're interested in learning about the latest of fundamental mycobacteriology, sign up for #GRCMyco2025! Acceptances will start in September, check out the full program and please RT!

I made a Starter Pack for the Myco & TB community.
Hope to find more good friends here on Bluesky to keep in touch about mycobacterial infections. Please join and repost!

go.bsky.app/3nwpcVV

Comprehensive pan-genome analysis of Mycobacterium marinum: insights into genomic diversity, evolution, and pathogenicity - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Comprehensive pan-genome analysis of Mycobacterium marinum: insights into genomic diversity, evolution, and pathogenicity

Together with Abdallah and Qingtian we just published this pan-genome analysis for M. marinum. I think it is a nice catalog, but standing out for me was the variation in the cpnT gene and the fact that ESX-2 is present in the majority of the M. marinum strains, just not in the type strain M...

Hello, I also switched to Blue and already was welcomed by some friends, thank you! Let's hope this platform will stay safe......