Hubert Salvail (@hubertsalvail.bsky.social)

Check out our new review on guanidine biology! Stay tuned for more exciting findings on guanidine from our group. From lab reagent to metabolite: the riboswitch ligand guanidine as a relevant compound in bacterial physiology | Journal of Bacteriology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

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From lab reagent to metabolite: the riboswitch ligand guanidine as a relevant compound in bacterial physiology | Journal of Bacteriology More than two decades ago, the first naturally occurring mRNA elements regulating gene expression by directly binding target ligands, termed riboswitches, were discovered in bacteria (1–4). Since then, more than 55 classes of riboswitches have been characterized (5, 6), advancing our general knowledge of gene regulation and stress response, but also unveiling unexpected biological roles for compounds whose relevance had remained elusive. A notable example is the discovery of riboswitches recognizing c-di-AMP and c-AMP-GMP (7, 8), which hinted at important biological functions for the two molecules that were later revealed to act as second messengers in key cellular processes such as biofilm formation, chemotaxis, sporulation, and virulence (9–11). https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jb.00073-25