Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur

Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...

📝New preprint! #MicroSky

🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.

🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.

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

Expanding the genetic toolbox of the obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus with inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference Inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference-mediated depletion in the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4

When predators meet the matrix: Natural resistance via amyloid fibers How do bacteria protect themselves against predators? In a recent issue of Nature, Ledvina et al. reveal curli fibers as a genetically encoded defense against Bdellovibrio predation in wild E. coli st...

I wrote a Preview in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social !
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.

Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

🤩 Exciting Summer! 🤩 Two of my former postdocs in Switzerland🇨🇭 obtained Lecturer positions (Maîtres de Conférences) in French universities 🇨🇵 : congrats to Antonio Frandi and Florian Fournès !!!! 👏 La relève est assurée! All the best to both of you for this new start. 🤩

If the fossil fuel industry didn’t have our president and corporate America by the throat, we could have nice things like this too.

How Israel's policies created famine in Gaza Israel has systematically obstructed food entering Gaza, aid agencies say, as a UN-backed body confirms a famine.

How Israel's policies created famine in Gaza

bbc.com/news/article...

According to Alphafold3 predictions and homology modeling, the Mpc complex is composed of an octameric lipoprotein MpcA anchored at the outer membrane, interacting with a hexameric tunnel-like MpcD, itself associated with an inner membrane complex comprising MpcE and MpcF ATPase. Absence of the Mpc complex modifies the lipid composition of outer membrane vesicles, suggesting that Mpc could be involved in lipid transport between inner and outer membrane.

Great work by Adélie Lannoy on Brucella abortus, just published in The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10..... Thanks to fantastic collaborators! An enigmatic, perhaps ancestral, protein complex predicted as a tunnel-like structure between membranes. Crucial for survival in macrophages

Xavier DeBolle @namurxa.bsky.social and collaborators identify and characterize a novel conserved complex mediating lipid-transport between inner and outer membrane in gram-negative Brucella abortus bacteria
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing - Nature Communications tRNA modifications are essential for function, yet their timing relative to processing is unclear. Here, the authors show that queuosine and derivative modifications occur before splicing of pre-tRNA^...

Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing 💫 intron-containing precursors of tRNATyr are modified with Q or with galQ before being spliced #rnasky from @francescatuorto.bsky.social lab with @sebastianglatt.bsky.social and Helm labs www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Identification of In Vivo Protein Networks Using miniTurbo Proximity Labeling in Bacteria Protein–protein interactions play a crucial role in many bacterial cell processes. miniTurbo-based proximity labeling has emerged as a powerful tool for the identification of in vivo protein net...

Excited to share our newly book chapter on using #miniTurbo proximity labeling in #bacteria
We wrote it as a hands-on guide for anyone looking to get started with this approach.
Congrats to @coralietesseur.bsky.social and Ophélie Remy 👏 @lalouxlab.bsky.social
link.springer.com/protocol/10....

Strategies and mechanisms of contact-dependent predation in bacteria Predatory bacteria kill other bacteria to acquire nutrients. Among diverse strategies to kill and feed on prey, contact-dependent predation stands out…

#MicroSky Summer read!

Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛

How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social

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

Human endothelial cell infected with Acinetobacter baumannii strain ABC141. Bacteria are visible with Dapi in white along with the nucleus of the cell. Bacteria are mostly organized in a large cluster with a few scattered ones. Mitochondria are visible in red.

Charline studied how some clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii create a transient intracellular niche before infecting neighboring cells.
Great collaboration with @kroegerlab.bsky.social

If you are interested, check out her preprint!

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

Transposon insertion sequencing reveals novel hypermutator genes in Acinetobacter baumannii | mBio All organisms have the capacity for evolution through mutation. Bacteria with high mutation rates have a survival advantage in some stressful environments because they generate beneficial mutations mo...

Cool result: Transposon insertion sequencing reveals novel hypermutator genes in Acinetobacter baumannii

"Exposure of a transposon insertion mutant library to extended weak antibiotic selection ... revealed genes that indirectly increased fitness due to elevated general mutation rates"

Fellow bacterial cell biologists, message me if you use @thermofishersci.bsky.social Gene Frames for microscopy!
Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further.
If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product
Please RT🔬🦠

The new open access policy of NIH will take effect next week (July 1st). All NIH funded research 🔬🧪🧬accepted after July 1st must be open access upon publication. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology

Just part of the Caulo crew at BCBD GRC. We would’ve gotten all the alphaphiles but it was too many people to herd into a pic!

Marie Curie fellowship, post-doc hosting oppotunity in my lab. MSCA Post-doctoral Fellowship at IBPC Paris on RNA modifications in bacteria (FRANCE) 🦠💫 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hosting...

🚨 Big news! Infection and Immunity is now open access! 🌍🔬 That means wider visibility & impact for your research. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology

AlphaFold is running out of data — so drug firms are building their own version Nature - Thousands of 3D protein structures locked up in big-pharma vaults will be used to create a new AI tool that won’t be open to academics.

Thousands of 3D protein structures locked up in big-pharma vaults will be used to create a new AI tool that won’t be open to academics.
www.nature.com/artic...

Vue sur la Cité, le lac , les Alpes, Lausanne -- Fotograf: Regis Colombo 2014

For my first official post on here I have some news to share: the lab is moving! After ~12 wonderful years in the US, Muller lab 2.0 will reopen this summer at the Institute of Microbiology in Lausanne🇨🇭Switzerland🇨🇭! We'll be recruiting at all levels so keep us in mind for your future adventures!

Phage satellites are now known to be very diverse, numerous and ancient. They pose many evolutionary, ecological and mechanistic questions. Lots of fun in perspective!
Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.

We showed that iron import by a TonB-dependent receptor is important to tolerate copper excess, and this protein requires the activity of its oxygenase partner.

Check to have the whole story ;)

Role of a TonB-dependent receptor and an oxygenase in iron-dependent copper resistance in Caulobacter crescentus | Journal of Bacteriology Copper is an essential metal for many living organisms, as it helps to drive crucial chemical reactions. However, when present in excess, copper turns toxic due to its high reactivity with biological ...

Hi everyone!

I am thrilled to finally share with you the result of my Ph.D. thesis.

In this study, we used genetics and metal quantifications to study the link between iron and copper homeostasis in Caulobacter crescentus.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Vaccines save lives. Leaders must champion them Attacks on vaccines and the cancellation of research into what causes vaccine hesitancy puts people in harm’s way.

We urge all leaders, for the good of their nations’ health, not to ignore or contradict advice that is supported by a consensus of evidence from research.

https://go.nature.com/43Rfr5a

Lipopolysaccharide lateral mobility in the Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane is confined and governed by interactions within the conserved Lipid A anchor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.10.642448v1

I just wrote to ERC-PRESIDENT@ec.europa.eu to ask for a solution to welcome US scientists in Europe 🇺🇸🇪🇺 You can do the same if you wish...

Great talk on RNA modifications in bacteria by Zeynep Baharoglu @zeynepbaharoglu.bsky.social at the weekly IMM seminar today !

First PhD student finishing since I started my lab as a PI… Emotional moment 🥲 Fingers crossed for your public defense next week and already congrats @shiqiang.bsky.social 😎🍾👏🏻

Great idea. To add to this list, my institute @biozentrum.unibas.ch has a wonderful international PhD fellowship program: www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/phd/internat...
Students do rotations and choose their PhD lab.
Also great for students with quantitative background.

We are experiencing an assault on science unparalleled by anything I’ve seen in my life. It’s not one issue or another anymore, the entire institution is under attack by the most powerful individuals in the country.

This Friday, where will you be?

standupforscience2025.org