Top: (Top row) Sensitivity of S. coelicolor mutants to GlcNAc. Spores (5 × 105 CFU) of S. coelicolor M145 and its mutant derivatives ∆nagB, SMA11, ∆nagB∆nagS, ∆nagB∆nagSC (∆nagB∆nagS expressing nagS) and ∆nagB∆nagSE (∆nagB∆nagS with empty plasmid pSET152) were streaked on MM agar plates with 1% mannitol (Mann) and 1% mannitol plus 10 mM GlcNAc (GlcNAc). (Bottom row) NagS and its role in GlcNAc sensing. Spores of M145 and ∆nagS were plated on MM and R5 with 0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM GlcNAc. Note that nagS mutants hardly respond to GlcNAc. Bottom: Model for the metabolic control of development by GlcNAc and NagS. During late vegetative growth of streptomycetes, the old vegetative or substrate hyphae are degraded in a process of programmed cell death (PCD), to produce the nutrients required to build the aerial mycelium (see mycelial drawings on the right). Mycelial lysis results in breakdown of the cell-wall, leading to the accumulation of GlcNAc-6P, which is a major nutritional signal for the onset of development and antibiotic production. NagS converts GlcNAc-6P into 6P-chromogen I (denoted as X-Ac-6P), which in turn is deacetylated by NagA into a toxic metabolite (denoted as X-6P) that resembles ribose. The toxic metabolite promotes cell lysis, thus releasing more GlcNAc-6P that serves as substrate for NagS and NagA. A salvage pathway then switches off the toxic pathway again. For this, GlcNAc-6P is converted by NagA and NagB into Fructose-6P (Fru-6P), which enters the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), thereby producing 6-phosphogluconate (6-PG), a metabolic inhibitor of NagS. Thus, production of toxic metabolites ceases and the transition to aerial growth can be initiated. Arrows with round ends represent inhibition, dashed arrow shows proposed activity.
GlcNAc build-up acts as a key metabolic signal in #Streptomyces, but how does it triggers developmental responses? @gillesvanwezel.bsky.social &co show that the enzyme NagS dehydrates GlcNAc-6P into a reactive intermediate, triggering a toxicity-based checkpoint @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/44pE08I
28.11.2025 14:00 — 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
20.11.2025 21:42 — 👍 427 🔁 200 💬 11 📌 18
YouTube video by Fungal-Worm Lab IMB Academia Sinica
The predation process of the nematode trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora.
Did you know that some fungi are CARNIVOROUS? There are lots of species that do this, but I think Arthrobotrys oligospora is especially bonkers. These fungi sense when their prey (nematodes) are nearby by eavesdropping on the chemical signals that the nematodes use to communicate with each other 🧪🪲🍄
19.11.2025 01:59 — 👍 54 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 2
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI
The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.
Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows
18.11.2025 14:44 — 👍 64 🔁 79 💬 0 📌 11
Join the Micro PI Slack if you haven't already! Microbiologists unite 🔬
13.11.2025 20:39 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
A Two-Component Regulatory System Mediates Quorum Sensing-Dependent Morphology and Motility Transitions in the Archaeon Haloferax volcanii https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687552v1
11.11.2025 04:16 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Pictures of a pink sea anemone sitting on top of a hermit crab shell.
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
10.11.2025 21:57 — 👍 5443 🔁 991 💬 133 📌 101
M. smegmatis uses new types of biofilm to enclose a liquid core and expand outwards in a weird new way.
30.10.2025 20:30 — 👍 20 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 2
note, gliding is not comparable to sliding
the here described spreading is very similar to sliding (=spreading by growth and facilitating compounds, like polysaccharides), which was known for Salmonella - the authors are not fully correct stating that sliding always depends on surfactant
04.11.2025 14:41 — 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0
bacteria move by swimming, twitching, gliding/sliding, ...and now by 'swashing'
go figure!
#MicroSky
04.11.2025 14:14 — 👍 17 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Job ad for Quantitative Microbe-Plant-Environment interactions position
Job ad for microbial drivers of chronic disease position
Come join us in Knoxville!
The Dept. of Microbiology 🧫🦠 at the University of Tennessee is hiring 2 Assistant Professors (tenure track, 9-month appt.).
Microbial Drivers of Chronic Disease: apply.interfolio.com/173153Quantitative Microbe-Plant-Environment Interactions: apply.interfolio.com/173345
24.10.2025 12:17 — 👍 24 🔁 33 💬 1 📌 1
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs
- Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75%
- Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60%
- Social Sciences by 50–70%
- History by 60%
- Biology by 75%
- The German department will lose all PhD seats
- Sociology from six PhD students to zero
21.10.2025 17:11 — 👍 2773 🔁 1523 💬 14 📌 514
De-DUFing the DUFs 🧩 @franznarberhaus.bsky.social lab uncovers how small DUF1127 proteins regulate #phosphate uptake by binding the sensor kinase PhoR. Their conserved role from Agrobacterium to E. coli highlights how even small DUFs can shape bacterial physiology 🦠
buff.ly/jJd9Eho
21.10.2025 07:01 — 👍 21 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 0
Exciting news! 🎉 In Jan 2026, I’ll be starting as an Assistant Professor at Mass General Hospital in Boston. The lab will study host–pathogen co-adaptation during chronic lung infections, and how it shapes treatment outcomes and disease progression.
🔗 Check out open positions: meirelleslab.org
15.10.2025 21:56 — 👍 45 🔁 4 💬 5 📌 2
NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers
Halted training programs, funding chaos, and hiring freezes jeopardize advancement options for early career researchers.
🧪An important read by @ianlmorgan.bsky.social about the plight of research. Reduction of force includes essential purchasing & communication staff. Cancelation of 35% in contract spending = hiring freezes & job insecurity.
Jay Bhattacharya is not interested in a solution.
This affects all of us.
12.10.2025 19:16 — 👍 17 🔁 12 💬 3 📌 0
They have fired the staff of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, who are disease detectives that respond to outbreaks around the world.
I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.
11.10.2025 17:21 — 👍 4544 🔁 2017 💬 154 📌 99
Bioinformatician & software engineer. Formerly CTO of Solu Genomics
Official Bluesky page for WMATA, aka Metro, the major public transit provider in the National Capital Region, serving Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.
wmata.com
Learning from bacteria. Huge fan of TV. Views are my own.
Assistant Prof of Biochemistry & Chemistry @ LMU | Metabolic enzymes of bioremediating bacteria. Making biochemistry fun & accessible #biochemsky #chemsky
http://thebumblingbiochemist.com/ & https://www.youtube.com/@thebumblingbiochemist
Mom of two ❤️
Early-career researcher in AMR, Mobile Genetic Elements, and One Health & Part-time lecturer.
In love with the intelligence of microbes, their evolutionary designs, and how they outthink every threat.
In my Bacteria Era 🦠
Painting a new Species daily until I die. Starting as a beginner, watch my art evolve over time.
instagram.com/smart.alyk
Post doctoral researcher at University of Illinois Chicago, Pharmaceutical science department.
Senior Scientist of Coastal and Marine Ecology Division at GUIDE. Oceanography and Marine biologist.
Interested in bacterial interactions in the skin microbiome, bioactive molecules, biofilms and polymicrobial infections.
Assistant Professor at University of Kansas since 2023.
"There are no answers; only choices."
– S. Lem
I choose one [o] or two-cell [8] organisms and dissonant music.
Professor of Biochemistry @ UW-Seattle. Any coincidence of my opinions with my employer's is coincidental.
Astrophysicist, cosmologist, Professor.
Astrophysicien, cosmologiste, VP université Paris-Saclay (art, culture, science et société), vulgarisateur, professeur des universités. #HelloESR
(a quitté Twitter le 20/1/25)
Ecology and evolution of microbes.
Or just “Li” |
Assist. Prof. @ Plant Bio Michigan State U. |
Also post data visualization |
Lab: https://cxli233.github.io/cxLi_lab/ |
GitHub: https://github.com/cxli233
How brain neural nets do computations; we aim to understand differences in brain wiring, using lasers and neuro-AI.
Lab head, NIH. Prev: media policy for democracypolicy.network.
linktr.ee/markhisted; Pers. views; neuro posts: 🧠 /🧪
We use high-throughput MS, bacterial genetics, gnotobiology & computational models to study metabolic interactions in microbial ecosystems
@EMBL
Homepage: https://www.embl.org/groups/zimmermann/
