Craig MacLean

This project is a team effort led by Weronika Slesak and the start of a new line of research in my group! Hopefully this will be a good summer read if you are looking for a short paper with a sense of foreboding.

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....

Universal rules govern plasmid copy number - Nature Communications Plasmids exhibit a broad range of sizes and copies per cell, and these two parameters appear to be negatively correlated. Here, Ramiro-Martínez et al. analyse the copy number of thousands of diverse b...

🚨🚨New paper out in @natcomms.nature.com!!

Come for the first large-scale analysis of plasmid copy number across species,
stay for one of the most intriguing results of my lab: universal scaling laws in plasmid biology! 📈🧬

👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks and an interesting analogy

The real question is whether or not I can increase my productivity. At a rate of 1 paper/16 years I will only have one article and a cheeky brief communication left on me.

Thanks Jose

This is my first 1st author paper since 2009, so an important milestone for me as a PI!!!

One final point : These findings suggest that high antibiotic use should drive AMR genes to move from plasmids to chromosome. Please reach out to me if you have examples of this.

These results support a model in which beneficial genes move from plasmids to the chromosome. This makes plasmids increasingly redundant from an ecological point of view.

3) "Ancient" Plasmids with a long history of association with Rhizobium carry fewer beneficial genes than more recently acquired plasmids. Very cool, these plasmids look just like the chromosome in terms of nucleotide composition etc., but they lack beneficial genes

Key findings
1) Plasmids carry very few beneficial genes compared to the chromosome
2) Beneficial genes on plasmids tend to increase fitness in only a small number of environments. Chromosomes carry better beneficial genes....

We measured the abundance of beneficial genes on Rhizobium plasmids + chromosomeusing a brilliant in vivo fitness data set generated by the Poole lab led by the brilliant @rwheatley8.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids toward ecological redundancy Abstract. Plasmids are a ubiquitous feature of bacterial genomes, but the forces driving genes and phenotypes to become associated with plasmids are poorly

New paper with @rwheatley8.bsky.social and Cedric Lood

Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy.

Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes

academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Felipe VI, king of Spain, greeting my grandma

Felipe VI and Jero

A selfie of some of the Prize Recipients

It was an honor and a joy to receive the National Research Prize for Young (!) Researchers. The highlight? My grandma greeting the King of Spain.

What a day!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQP...

Prevalent chromosome fusion in Vibrio cholerae O1 - Nature Communications The pathogenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae typically has two circular chromosomes. Here, Cuénod et al. analyse 467 clinical isolates and identify several independent chromosome fusion events that are li...

One of my favourite serendipitous results from the lab came about because we were long-read sequencing bacterial:

Vibrio cholerae, which is "supposed to" have TWO circular chromosomes (3 + 1 million base pairs) often has just ONE fused chromosome (4 Mbp).

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

(1/n)

Fluorescent microscopy image of donor cells (shown in green) and recipient cells (shown in dark blue). Light blue cells are transconjugants. Transconjugants are only next to donor cells.

Cool paper showing 🦠 recipient response to #plasmid conjugation

Capsule blocks conjugation, preventing MPF between donor:recipient. However, conjugation exploits recipient strain heterogeneity of capsule thickness, conjugating to cells with less capsule

#MicroSky 🧪

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

I want to echo @sheldonbirds.bsky.social important point. I give Oxford Biology top marks for how they have supported me through difficult times.

I think I have been fortunate to work in an institution (and a department) that has been led by people who saw the importance of enabling flexibility between work and personal life. It was crucial when we faced a major personal family challenge some years ago, and remains a core principle

Dear @sanmillan.bsky.social: I found some fermented sauerkraut at the back of my fridge today that I opened about 3 weeks ago. The package says to eat within 3 days of opening, but it doesn't smell like it has gone off. Is it safe to eat? Your advice on this dilemma would be much appreciated.

Mirror life

Mirror molecules have some amazing uses, but the prospect of mirror life quite frankly scares the shit out of me. www.gov.uk/government/p...

This article is a gift that keeps on giving. @sanmillan.bsky.social I have little to no respect for best before dates!

@drcraigmc.bsky.social
There is another one out there. I am R Craig MacLean, also a scientist.

Delighted for Tanmay. A @microbiologysociety.org Fleming prize winner and also a genuinely lovely person. Very well deserved.

Nine ways to avoid food poisoning: microbiologists’ tips for safe, healthy eating We all have questionable kitchen habits – experts break down how to avoid spreading pathogens at home

Tips for healthy eating from the notorious @sanmillan.bsky.social
“If food smells or tastes funny, that’s definitely a red flag”.

Alvaro: how did you end being interviewed for this article?

www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...

There has been lots of talk about this article. I agree that there are short term costs to shifting field, but this analysis does not capture the potential long term benefits. My advice: Follow your interests and instincts, not citation metrics!

I’m not sure. I guess it depends whether you consider 30 mins to submit a paper to be a win or a loss. It clearly beats your 120 minute mark, but I am open to the idea that 30 mins is still a loss.

@alanmcn1.bsky.social I managed to submit a paper today in under 30 minutes. And it hasn’t been bounced back by the editorial staff yet. Consider the guantlet thrown down.

A well deserved honour for Kevin Foster.

New Research Assistant position available in my lab to work on a project testing the efficacy of pills dependent #phage against clinical isolates of enteric bacteria . Part of a growing phage research theme in my lab my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Massive congratulation Jose! This looks AWESOME.