Lackner Lab

Endofungal Bacteria as Hidden Facilitators of Biotic Interactions Abstract. Fungi play pivotal roles in ecology and human health, driving nutrient cycling, supporting antibiotic production, and posing threats through toxi

Great #ISMEJournal review by Ingrid Richter, Hannah Büttner, Christian Hertweck @leibniz-hki.de @microverse.bsky.social

Endofungal Bacteria as Hidden Facilitators of Biotic Interactions

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

How can we make genetically engineered microbes safer for medical or environmental use? 🧬 💊
Our PhD student Carla Maneira tackled this challenge and developed efficient safety strategies for both lab and probiotic yeast. 💡🧪Check out the solutions in our latest publication! 📄 doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...

Illustration featuring colourful dots and dashes, with the heading: “The eLife assessment. A new output of peer review to replace publishing decisions.”

At the top of each article in eLife is an eLife Assessment.

They summarise the reviews using consistent assessment terms in bold to help you quickly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the research.
🔗 buff.ly/6HxRbhC

Recent insights into the biosynthesis and biological activities of the peptide-derived redox cofactor mycofactocin Covering: 2011 to 2025The importance of redox cofactors like nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or flavin adenine dinucleotide as cofactors for enzymatic reactions in living organisms is widely known. ...

What the f* is mycofactocin?
If you’ve ever wondered about the unusual cofactor – wonder no more. We’ve written up a review article for NPR covering its discovery, biosynthesis, and biological roles. Huge thanks to all co-authors who made this happen!
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

UPDATE: Mehr als 7200 aus der deutschen Wissenschaftscommunity haben in acht Tagen der Klima-Appell der Bayreuther Scientists for Future unterschrieben.

Wir öffnen die Mitzeichnungsmöglichkeit für den Appell nun erneut bis zur konstituierenden Sitzung des neuen Deutschen Bundestags am 25.03.2025.

Cellular Energy Production: Mycofactocin and the mycobacterial electron transport chain In the bacterium M. smegmatis, an enzyme called MftG allows the the cofactor mycofactocin to transfers electrons released during ethanol metabolism to the electron transport chain.

Great to see our article about the role of MftG in mycobacterial respiration highlighted in eLife: doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Die Mobile Opferberatung in Magdeburg berichtet, dass nach dem Anschlag von Magdeburg die Zahl rechtsextremer Gewalttaten deutlich zugenommen hat. Mehr als die Hälfte war rassistisch motiviert. Rechte Gewalt eskaliert und es kriegt nicht mal irgendjemand mit, wenn die "Ausländer" die Opfer sind.

The image shows a Petri dish containing microbial colonies of yellowish color growing on an agar medium. A gloved hand is holding the dish, likely in a laboratory setting. The different colors and shapes of the colonies suggest the presence of multiple microbial species, possibly being cultured for research, diagnostics, or pharmaceutical purposes.

🧐 Research in focus, part 2: Infection Biology

At #LeibnizHKI, we are studying microbial infections, especially fungal pathogens, to understand host-pathogen interactions and develop new treatment strategies.

Stay tuned for all updates on our #InfectionBiology research! 🔔

The device shown in the image is a rotary evaporator, commonly known as a rotovap. It is used in laboratories for the gentle removal of solvents from samples by evaporation, typically under reduced pressure.

🧐 Research in focus, part 1: Natural Products

At #LeibnizHKI, we are investigating microbial natural products to discover new bioactive compounds, in particular antiinfectives.

Stay tuned for all updates on our #NaturalProducts research! 🔔

Photo collage with researchers from the Leibniz-HKI and a photo of the institute's grounds

Hello #Bluesky community! 👋 Welcome to the Leibniz-HKI!

We’re researching microbial #NaturalProducts and #FungalPathogens to develop new diagnostics and treatments for #InfectiousDiseases, particularly against rising antimicrobial resistance.

💡 Follow us for the latest updates on our research!

Nice to see you here on Bluesky!

Fascinating indeed to see so many factors involved in bacterial-fungal antagonism in dynamic action! Great work!

The offensive role of the Bacillus extracellular matrix in driving metabolite-mediated dialogue and adaptive strategies with pathogenic fungi Bacterial□fungal interactions have traditionally been attributed to secondary metabolites, but the role of the bacterial extracellular matrix (ECM) in shaping these relationships has remained unclear....

Excited to share our latest preprint! A fascinating story of chemical dialogue and microbial warfare: the Bacillus extracellular matrix acts as a key driver in the antagonistic interaction with Botrytis, while the fungus mounts a multi-layered defense.
🔗

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

Quinone extraction drives atmospheric carbon monoxide oxidation in bacteria - Nature Chemical Biology Here, Kropp et al. use cryo-electron microscopy and structural modeling to show that the enzyme [MoCu]-CO dehydrogenase interacts with its partner, the membrane-bound quinone-binding protein CoxG, to ...

In Nature Chemical Biology today, we reveal how microbes clean our atmospheres by consuming carbon monoxide (CO) gas. A methodological tour de force from Ashleigh Kropp, Rhys Grinter, and David Gillett with broad implications for the atmosphere and bioenergetics. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

MftG is crucial for ethanol metabolism of mycobacteria by linking mycofactocin oxidation to respiration The mftG gene, present in the majority of mycofactocin gene clusters, encodes an oxidoreductase that facilitates ethanol utilization by reoxidation of mycofactocins and channeling electrons towards th...

Curious how tuberculosis-related mycobacteria process alcohol? We have identified a novel enzyme that couples ethanol metabolism to respiration in these organisms. Many thanks to all authors, especially @patriciagraca.bsky.social, and our collaborators from the Papenfort and Vilotijevic labs!

Menaquinone-specific turnover by Mycobacterium tuberculosis cytochrome bd is redox regulated by the Q-loop disulfide bond Cytochrome bd from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtbd) is a menaquinol oxidase that has gained interest as an antibiotic target because of its importance in survival under infectious conditions. Mtbd co...

Great paper by the group of @larsjeuken.bsky.social in J. Biol. Chem. with first author Tijn van der Velden. Cytochrome bd of M. tuberculosis is RedOx-regulated through a disulfide with potential important implications for survival in the phagosome #chemsky #ChemBio (1/2)
www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Great. Welcome to Bluesky! Let's invite more members of our University...

Engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for medical applications - Microbial Cell Factories Background During the last decades, the advancements in synthetic biology opened the doors for a profusion of cost-effective, fast, and ecologically friendly medical applications priorly unimaginable....

Discover the remarkable potential of engineering #yeast in medical applications in our latest review article. Thanks to Carla Maneira and Alexandre Chamas for the great work!

Worrisome but important information for gas chromatography operators using helium as a carrier gas. Time to look for alternatives…

MIBiG 4.0: advancing biosynthetic gene cluster curation through global collaboration Abstract. Specialized or secondary metabolites are small molecules of biological origin, often showing potent biological activities with applications in ag

Are you working on natural products? We’ve just released version 4.0 of the MIBiG data standard and repository! It now includes 3059 biosynthetic gene clusters, thanks to the combined efforts of 288 expert contributors. A thread: (1/8) academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

Das bayerische Ziel der #Klimaneutralität 2040 ist richtig und wichtig. Die bayerischen Universitäten und Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften (HAWs) müssen und wollen hier vorangehen.

Heute ging unser Offener Brief mit über 1500 Unterschriften in die Post.

Unser Offener Brief "Klimaneutraler Hochschulbetrieb 2040" an die #bayerische Staatsregierung hat bereits über 800 Unterschriften. Darunter über 200 Professor:innen bayerischer Universitäten und HAWs.

www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/s4f/de/top/5...

KUestions: Darmmikrobiom Das Interview mit Prof. Gerald Lackner von der Universität Bayreuth beleuchtet die Bedeutung des Darmmikrobioms für unsere Gesundheit.

Das #Darmmikrobiom als Garant für Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden? Hier ist mein Interview mit dem Ernährungsradar, ein Gemeinschaftsprojekt des Kompetenzzentrum für Ernährung (KErn), der Universität Bayreuth und der Akademie für Neue Medien (Bildungswerk) e.V. www.ernaehrungsradar.de/kuestions-da...

Scientists, academics, researchers: We’re excited to share that @altmetric.com is now tracking mentions of your research on Bluesky! 🧪