How to search for unknown RNA-binding proteins? We did GradR in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803. And now our paper „RAPDOR: Using Jensen-Shannon Distance for the computational analysis of complex proteomics dataset“ is finally out in Nature Communications, here: rdcu.be/eImcr .

Congrats to Ann-Sophie Rüttiger who successfully defended her PhD this week! 🎓 She focused on global RNA-binding proteins in Bacteroides—bacteria lacking Hfq, ProQ, CsrA, Khp—culminating in the discovery of a post-transcriptional network governed by RbpB (www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55383-8).

Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Wenhan Zhu (U Vanderbilt): using dual RNA-seq during B. theta colonization of the host mucous layer, we identify IroR--an iron-response sRNA that tunes capsule expression and facilitates adaptation to iron limitation. doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.08.672848

Starting the meeting microbes and RNA- Gerhart on stage - lifetime achievement Lecture - congrats Gerhart!

A Salmonella T3SS-2 mutant grows fine in spleen macrophages, contradicting tissue culture dogma (PMID: 23236281). This observation was largely ignored, but adding certain carbon sources rescues growth in cultured macrophages, hinting that T3SS-2 may be doing something entirely different in vivo.

Latest preprint from the lab: doi.org/10.1101/2025... In this study lead by @lenaamend.bsky.social from the group, we explore carbon cross-feeding between a gut commensal and an enteropathogen. Can we counter infection by cutting sugar supply to pathogens?

Absolutely delighted to share the labs latest work. We identify and characterise two pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic EHEC and Citrobacter.

Finally online! Our latest research is out @nature.com: We show that non-antibiotic drugs can disrupt colonization resistance, raising the risk of enteric infections. rdcu.be/ewwrG

How are bacterial transport machineries regulated by external cues? @brochadolab.bsky.social &co identify environmental chemicals that regulate #transporter transcription, identifying the TF Rob as a key modulator of #EffluxPump expression in #Ecoli #AMR @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46pUM9Q

New preprint! We characterise the small, regulatory RNA Arp which controls DNA uptake and twitching motilty in A. baumannii. Led by our Dr Fergal Hamrock @hamrockfergal.bsky.social and in collaboration with @westermannlab.bsky.social and Mike Gebhardt's lab!

Congrats to Gianluca Prezza (@gprezza.bsky.social) for reveiving the 2025 PhD Award from the Friends of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)!👏 The award honours excellent PhD theses from the field of life sciences at HZI partner universities. His thesis focused Bacteroides' RNA biology.

Very honored that our recent study on Bacteroides morphotypes was spotlighted 🔦 in Trends in Microbiology by Eric Martens & Qinnan Yang: www.cell.com/trends/micro....

Thank you to all students and to the GSLS for this award! It means a lot to me! (-AW)

𝔟α𝐜𝐓𝕖Ř𝒾ⒶĹ ＳＨⓐ𝓹Ẹ 丂ħ𝓲ƒ𝓉ⒺⓇร 🦠 Ultra-sensitive RNA-seq and FISH show 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯 cells adopt different shapes reflecting distinct gene expression profiles and metabolic specializations A deliberate survival strategy for the ever-changing gut environment? www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Our latest: www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00615-1. Links Bacteroides cell size w/ gene expression. Protocol works even for single cells. 🦠 Shoutout to @elisebor.bsky.social, @emmanuel-saliba.bsky.social, @lbarquist.bsky.social, @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social, Till Strowig & KC Huang.

Very excited about our latest combining advanced cell culture, transposon-insertion sequencing, and statistical modeling to map Shigella virulence determinants in organoid models. Great collaboration w/ @mldm.bsky.social @sellinlab.bsky.social in @natgenet.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bacterial genomes still contain many hidden genes. This article reports a high-resolution map of translated proteins, incl. small ones, in the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @campy-bara.bsky.social @sharmalab.bsky.social

Erfolg auf ganzer Linie: zwei Exzellenzcluster für Würzburg! 🥂🚀 Im Rahmen der #ExStra wird nicht nur der Quantenphysik-Cluster ctd.qmat weiterhin gefördert. Mit NUCLEATE, einem Forschungsprojekt zu Nukleinsäuren, kommt noch ein zweiter Cluster hinzu! ➡️ go.uniwue.de/xstra25

And this only the beginning! I’m glad we did that collaboration with the Maric lab. ASOs for the people!

Here we share thoughts on next-gen cultivation: rdcu.be/ejPSb. Hope it helps 😄 Was fun to write with great colleagues @lisamaierlab.bsky.social @jselkrig.bsky.social @baerboletta.bsky.social @typaslab.bsky.social @mmmicrobiomelab.bsky.social @leibniz-dsmz.bsky.social @westermannlab.bsky.social

I'm happy to share the first publication from my lab @hoerlab.bsky.social, now out in @narjournal.bsky.social! I take a look at the biology of RNA phages, focusing on how meta-omics methods are discovering new RNA phage families and bacterial defense strategies. #PhageSky doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

If you want to do single-cell RNA-seq on your favourite bacterium, here‘s our detailed Nature Protocol for microbial MATQ-seq. It profiles up to 600 genes in a single bacterial cell! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Some say, important sRNAs can be recognized by having their own “sponge” 🧽. Well, here comes InvS: a sponge of PinT (and vice versa). Congrats to @kooshapour.bsky.social and @ginlaca.bsky.social on their great work! doi.org/10.1101/2025...

AlphaFold’s highly accurate structural models transformed protein biology, but RNA lags behind https://go.nature.com/41UEulj

📣Fully funded PhD position available in our lab at @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social, in collaboration with Dr. Connolly at Newcastle University (@ruamicro.bsky.social). "Dissecting the RNA-centric landscape of microbiota-pathogen interactions in the gut”. 🦠 Apply here: www.uni-wuerzburg.de/karriere/sin...

Interested in collecting, sharing, and interacting with large collections of bacterial functional genomics data (RNA-seq, Tn-seq/TraDIS, etc.)? Check out our new web platform, Micromix, with case studies for Salmonella and Bacteroides! 🧫🧬🖥️🧪 Thread 1/n academic.oup.com/gigascience/...

Tiny Protein, Big Impact! @elisa-venturini.bsky.social & colleagues reveal YjiS shapes #pathogen dissemination! Yjis a highly induced intracellular #Salmonella protein delays macrophage escape, rewires host responses & controls motility!🔬🦠 @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social https://buff.ly/4gjYvGY

Is it anything Hfq-like (RNA chaperone)? Or similar to CsrA (global translation modulator)? We don't know yet. But as it stands, Bacteroidota RRM proteins appear as excellent candidates to map post-transcriptional networks in a substantial fraction of the microbiota. www.nature.com/articles/s41...