Plasmid copy number affects the DNA methylation-driven expression dynamics of the CfrBI restriction-modification system and impacts phage restriction https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.04.692298v1

Pleased to share our recent article in PNAS - a collaboration with @jessicaandreani.bsky.social & Pablo Radicella, with important roles played by many members of each team. A tripartite protein complex promotes DNA transport during natural transformation in Firmicutes www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Finally out from @daganlab.bsky.social! 🌱🦠🧬 Evolution of the Plant-Associated Pantoea was Accompanied by Plasmid Domestication Events url: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Fast assembly and in vivo coalescence of ParB biocondensates involved in bacterial DNA partition https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.27.684735v1

🦠🔬🤖🧑‍💻 #mAIcrobe is out! With @pinholab.bsky.social's lab, we launched an open-source framework for high-throughput bacterial image analysis. By rockstars A. Brito & B. Saraiva et al, making #DeepLearning for phenotyping accessible! Easy to use, plus model training 📜 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Chromosome replication and cell division cycles are not synchronized in Staphylococcus aureus, with cells exhibiting two segregated origins of replication at the start of the cell cycle #bacteria #microbiology

Delighted to announce our latest work on how Wadjet loads onto and establishes topological entrapment of plasmid DNA prior to initiating loop extrusion. At @gruberlab.bsky.social, Dubochet Center for Imaging and BSI @igbmc.bsky.social www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

🤩 Exciting Summer! 🤩 Two of my former postdocs in Switzerland🇨🇭 obtained Lecturer positions (Maîtres de Conférences) in French universities 🇨🇵 : congrats to Antonio Frandi and Florian Fournès !!!! 👏 La relève est assurée! All the best to both of you for this new start. 🤩

Our Wadjet-II paper by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social is out in polished form: www.cell.com/structure/fu... With a great preview by @kevincorbett.bsky.social & @amardeeep.bsky.social highlighting the potential of Wadjets: Wadjet—Keeping a watchful eye on circular DNA. www.cell.com/structure/fu...

I’m excited that the work by Diego Ramirez and Lei Yin is out, where they gained several key insights into what provides the force underlying bacterial cell division doi.org/10.1101/2025.... To divide, cells must first bend the membrane inward, a process that’s energetically expensive

The Escherichia coli replication initiator DnaA is titrated on the chromosome www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For those who love bacterial replicons, The ultimate review, from our lab, signed by the master of their evolution. ‪@val-meve.bsky.social‬ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Giant extrachromosomal element “Inocle” potentially expands the adaptive capacity of the human oral microbiome. #BacterialExtrachromosomalElements #OralMicrobiome @natcomms.nature.com 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share our paper published in @currentbiology.bsky.social that explores the consequences of having multiple genomes in a bacterial model system and it’s benefits in a multidrug environment ! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Excited to share another study from my lab @fordhamchem now out @narjournal.bsky.social‬: doi.org/10.1093/nar/.... Most bacterial DNA polymerases must interact with the sliding clamp DnaN for their function, but we show that it’s more complicated in B. subtilis DNA replication. (1/4)

One of the best places to conduct scientific research with a wonderfull project and a great PI!!

And the story is published now!🍾 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Open access link: rdcu.be/exnOc Many years in the making, great collaboration with @archaellum.bsky.social & @tunglejic.bsky.social Thanks @ukri.org BBSRC & @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding, reviewers & editor!! 🙏 #microsky #archaeasky

One of my favourite serendipitous results from the lab came about because we were long-read sequencing bacterial: Vibrio cholerae, which is "supposed to" have TWO circular chromosomes (3 + 1 million base pairs) often has just ONE fused chromosome (4 Mbp). www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/n)

Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...

After a PhD and two postdocs, I’m very proud to be joining the CNRS as a Chargé de recherche, this is a meaningful milestone. Huge thanks to Claude Bruand, @michaelglickman.bsky.social, and @oneyrolles.bsky.social for their guidance and support. Olivier, let’s turn this into exciting discoveries!

New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...

Marie Curie fellowship, post-doc hosting oppotunity in my lab. MSCA Post-doctoral Fellowship at IBPC Paris on RNA modifications in bacteria (FRANCE) 🦠💫 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hosting...

At least 10% of the V. cholerae integron cassettes have novel antiphage activities (see below). Considering that there are 25,000 distinct cassettes of unknown function, integrons constitute an extraordinary and almost inexhaustible reservoir of antiphage functions!

White smoke, we have a new pope and also 16 new anti-phages systems in sedentary integrons (SCIs) ! In collaboration with the Rocha lab, we show in our new paper that cassettes of these large platforms encode many known anti-phage defenses, and uncovered 16 new ones. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Biofilm architecture determines the dissemination of conjugative plasmids #PNAS from @sbigot.bsky.social, @knutdrescher.bsky.social labs www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Our set of new prokaryote-optimized fluorescent proteins is now published ! #microbiology #microsky #microscopy 🧫🦠🔬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Now online @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

OUT NOW! 👇🏼We built a make-or-break Prime editing tool—have a read to discover how it’s changing the way we do genomic engineering. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @JWVeening @AxelJans & all others authors! 👏🏻

Cytosine methylation by ScmA contributes to the fitness of Caulobacter crescentus cells naturally expressing a Vsr-like protein www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Another orphan cytosine methyltransferase in bacteria #microsky

Happy to share the beautiful structure of a Wadjet SMC complex by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social, with support from the DCI and @drhonsworth.bsky.social ! This is a type II Wadjet with unique characteristics including a tandem KITE subunit, distinct coiled coil architecture and a deviant hinge.

Linear dicentric chromosomes in bacterial natural isolates reveal common constraints for replicon fusion https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.23.639760v1

It's really nice to see the huge flow of new people coming here! Maybe it's time for a quick presentation. Hi 👋 I'm Noémie, I love science 🧬 and especially microbes 🔬 I do scientific illustrations for paper, cover or logo. And I'm the illustrator behind the Bacterial World blog: sarahs-world.blog

Interested in the plasmidverse? Then, don't think twice and join the International Society for Plasmid Biology Virtual Seminars Series. 👇

"The pathway to resolve dimeric forms distinguishes plasmids from megaplasmids in Enterobacteriaceae | Nucleic Acids Research | Oxford Academic" academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

1/ 🔬 Our work, "Dynamic transitions of initiator binding coordinate the replication of the two chromosomes in Vibrio cholerae", is now published in Nature Communications. Here's a thread on how we think Chr1 and Chr2 replication is coordinated in Vibrio. 🧵 Link : www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very happy to see our study "printed" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... We report how mechanics are related with DNA recombination efficiency. Great work by Kate @cmcb-tud.bsky.social @tudresden.bsky.social in collab with @celineloot.bsky.social and @amazeld.bsky.social @pasteur.fr . Synopsis 👇1/4