Ronan McCarthy

Now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very nice collaboration with Hoogenboom ( @ucl.ac.uk ) and Bonev ( @uniofnottingham.bsky.social ) labs.

Delighted to share that Lyuboslava Harkova passed her PhD viva today with only minor corrections. Her thesis focused on virulence regulation in Acinetobacter baumannii. Special thanks to Prof Jake Malone and Dr Ayca Sayi Yazgan for being fantastic examiners

Delighted to share that @evgeniamaslova.bsky.social passed her PhD viva today with only minor corrections. Her project focused on novel models to study wound infection. Thank you to the @nc3rs.bsky.social for funding her PhD and @flamycain.bsky.social and Anthony Tsolaki for being superb examiners.

Cyclic-di-GMP signalling mutants drive ecological succession and self-generated diversity in experimentally evolved biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms represent a discrete form of microbial life which are physiologically distinct from free-living planktonic cells. The altered phenotypic manifestations of the biofilm may also elicit lifestyl...

Cyclic-di-GMP signalling mutants drive ecological succession and self-generated diversity in experimentally evolved biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Microbiology from @webberma.bsky.social

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Massive congratulations!

Cyclic-di-GMP signalling mutants drive ecological succession and self-generated diversity in experimentally evolved biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms represent a discrete form of microbial life which are physiologically distinct from free-living planktonic cells. The altered phenotypic manifestations of the biofilm may also elicit lifestyl...

New paper alert! Serial selection for hyper-biofilm production identifies c-di-GMP as central to genetic control and phenotypic dynamics. @microbiologysociety.org @webberma.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Delighted to announce the launch of the BBSRC-funded UK-wide microbiome innovation network Microbiome-Net.

I'm looking forward to representing and furthering the East Midlands Microbiome Research Network's contributions to research, innovation and policy.

www.liverpool.ac.uk/microbiome-i...

Uridine as a potentiator of aminoglycosides through activation of carbohydrate transporters Uridine boosts aminoglycoside treatment efficiency against antibiotic-susceptible as well as antibiotic-resistant E. coli strains.

So excited our antibiotic potentiation story is out 🤩 Led by the extraordinary @manonlang.bsky.social with @fox-science.bsky.social & @amazeld.bsky.social +amazing collaborators @immunobladder.bsky.social @imaneelmeouche.bsky.social 🦠 We believe it can make a difference in #AMR infections!

Delighted with our new paper on a novel itaconate transporter in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, led by Javeria and Reyme. @ybri-uoy.bsky.social @javeriamehboob.bsky.social @bethkw.bsky.social A duplicated transporter on its way to itaconate selectivity
portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

Sub-cellular chemical mapping in bacteria using correlated cryogenic electron and mass spectrometry imaging

Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social

Small molecule inhibitors of the NorA multidrug efflux pump potentiate antibiotic activity by binding the outward-open conformation Antibiotic resistance is among the greatest threats of the modern era. Multidrug efflux pumps expel antibiotics from bacterial cells and present a particular challenge by conferring resistance to a br...

New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Ed Tate, Nate Traaseth and many others!

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

Check out the first preprint from our lab describing a direct molecular cross-talk between (p)ppGpp and c-di-GMP nucleotide messengers! Great work from first-author Corentin Jaboulay who was a postdoc in our lab, and great collaborations! @mmsb-lyon.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social

New paper out!

The evolutionary replacement of restriction-modification by Ssp antiviral systems is associated with the distribution of prophages in the major clonal group of Acinetobacter baumannii | mBio Acinetobacter baumannii is a bacterium of great concern in clinical contexts due to the plasticity of its genome and its resistance to antibiotics. Its cells are infected by a multitude of bacteriophages, and the bacterium defends itself with dozens of ...

Today, our UPOBioinfo group presents the defensome of Acinetobacter baumannii.
Do you know about its concerning Global Clone 2? Well, part of its success could be due to the replacement of restriction-modification systems by Ssp antiviral systems.

A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species Temperate phages oscillate between lysogeny, a genomic maintenance state within a bacterial host, and lytic replication, in which the host is killed, and newly made phage particles are released. Successful transmission to new hosts requires that temperate phages appropriately time their transitions from lysogeny to lysis. It is well understood that temperate phages trigger lysis upon detection of host cell stress. Understanding of the breadth of cues that induce lysis expanded with the discovery of phages carrying quorum-sensing receptor genes that promote lytic induction exclusively at high host cell density. Bacteria engage in a cell-cell communication process called quorum sensing, which relies on the production, release, accumulation, and group-wide detection of extracellular signal molecules called autoinducers. Bacteria use quorum sensing to monitor changes in population density and synchronize collective behaviors. The temperate phage VP882 (jVP882) encodes VqmAj – a homolog of its host’s quorum-sensing receptor/transcription factor VqmA. VqmAj allows jVP882 to detect the accumulation of the host autoinducer called DPO. Presumably, launching the lytic induction program at high host cell density maximizes jVP882 transmission to new hosts. Here, by mining sequence databases for linear plasmid phages, we identify VP882-like phages in multiple DPO-producing bacterial species isolated at diverse times and geographic locations. We show that the VqmAj homologs can indeed detect DPO and, in response, activate the lytic pathway. Our observation indicates that jVP882 is a member of a large family of globally-dispersed quorum-sensing-responsive temperate phages.

A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.30.667625v1?rss=1

Kiwa is a membrane-embedded defense supercomplex activated at phage attachment sites Zhang, Todeschini, and Wu et al. show that the bacterial defense system Kiwa senses phage attachment at the membrane and assembles a transmembrane complex that halts infection by blocking phage DNA re...

Thrilled to see our Kiwa story out today! A membrane-associated supercomplex that senses infection and blocks replication and transcription.

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

Huge congratulations to Yi and Zhiying for bringing it home, to Thomas for starting us off, and to all the collaborators.

*JOB AD*: interested in doing a postdoc in microbial metabolomics? Passionate about natural products mass spec?

Come join the group! Informal enquires welcome!

Closing Date: 19 August 2025

jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl...

Human gut bacteria bioaccumulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - Nature Microbiology Human gut bacteria bioaccumulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, in intracellular aggregates. Colonization of gnotobiotic mice with bioaccumulating bac...

#NewResearch

🚨Out now!

Human gut bacteria bioaccumulate forever chemicals, in intracellular aggregates and colonization of gnotobiotic mice with these bioaccumulating bacteria increases faecal PFAS excretion. @kiranrpatil.bsky.social

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠

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

Phage therapy: I found a bacteria-eating virus in my loo It's hoped phages could give us new ways of treating infections which are immune to antibiotics.

We’re excited to bring the @phagecollection.bsky.social to #SummerScience at @royalsociety.org next week.

Big thanks to James Gallagher for covering the project in the BBC
Read more here: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Hope to see some of you there! #PhageTherapy #AMR #OpenScience

Reposting this advert. Only a few days left to apply to this position. Come join us!!

This is wild!
Engineering E. coli bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol (Tylenol)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exciting fundamental discovery!

Early embryos fight bacteria WITHOUT immune cells

Zebrafish, mouse, and human embryos use epithelial cells (trophoectoderm)—not immune cells—to engulf and destroy 𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 and 𝘚. 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴

Hoijman Lab Barcelona 🇪🇸
𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦

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

Combinatorial discovery of microtopographical landscapes that resist biofilm formation through quorum sensing mediated autolubrication - Nature Communications Bacterial attachment on implanted medical devices depends on surface topography. Here, the authors screen combinatorially generated shapes embossed into polymers to investigate topographical control o...

Combinatorial discovery of microtopographical landscapes that resist biofilm formation through quorum sensing mediated autolubrication
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Winston Churchill's race to secure penicillin before D-Day found in notes Handwritten notes show the wartime prime minister's frustration over slow penicillin production.

Some interesting history on the early use of antibiotics. #microsky

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Leveraging genomics for improved metagenomic surveillance of Streptococcus pneumoniae at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Leveraging genomics for improved metagenomic surveillance of Streptococcus pneumoniae at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com

Interested in pneumococci, genomics and metagenomics? Come and do a PhD with me, @alanmcn1.bsky.social and @meerac.bsky.social @ukhsa.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

#MicroSky: A new P. aeruginosa model strain! Martino et al knocked out all 32 diguanylate cyclases in PA14 using a multiplexed cytosine base editor, halting c-di-GMP synthesis. The strain, PA14Δ32, shows major behavioral shifts. doi.org/10.1111/1751...

Microbe that infests hospitals can digest medical-grade plastic ― a first Nature - The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces an enzyme that breaks down biodegradable plastics.

A strain of bacterium that often causes infections in hospital can break down plastic

https://go.nature.com/3SvsiTC

A tremendous effort by @rdedios.bsky.social and the rest of the team who are not on bluesky.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates can encode plastic-degrading enzymes that allow survival on plastic and augment biofilm formation Howard et al. demonstrate that clinical isolates of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can encode functional plastic-degrading enzymes and that these enzymes can influence bacterial bio...

So happy to be able to finally share this story:
Can pathogens degrade plastic? Yes (some!)
Does this impact virulence? Yes
Read the full story below:
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

#microsky

Yes! @manonjanet.bsky.social preprint is out! We show using BALF transfer that intracelular Acinetobacter baumannii can seed an infection in a susceptible mouse, suggesting that intracellular bacteria may be reservoir for recurrent infections
nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...