Megan Bergkessel

Tvp complexes support formation of the VgrG-PAAR spike during Type VI secretion system assembly https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707444v1

Congratulations to MD-PhD student, Amanda Velez and all co-authors on our new PNAS paper describing how the innate immune protein calprotectin incapacitates autolysins, inducing tolerance to B-lactam antibiotics. A fun collaboration with Thomas Kehl-Fie. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Experimental evolution in the cystic fibrosis chemical environment reveals early TCA cycle flux as a central regulator of Mycobacterium abscessus biofilm formation Mycobacterium abscessus (MAB) is an emerging opportunistic pathogen that can cause severe, recalcitrant pulmonary infections in susceptible groups, in…

Congratulations to Sean Yu-Hao Wang, Will DePas, @catarmbruster.bsky.social and colleagues on their use of experimental evolution to identify regulators of Mycobacterium abscessus biofilm production!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Regulatory Rewiring Drives Intraspecies Competition in Bacillus subtilis Intraspecies interactions shapes microbial community structure and evolution, yet the mechanisms determining competitive outcomes among closely related strains remain unclear. The soil bacterium Bacil...

Regulatory Rewiring Drives Intraspecies Competition in Bacillus subtilis

bioRxiv from @bacteriacities.bsky.social

#competition #rapP #comP

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

Schematic overview of the process of DNA-affinity / pull down identification of unknown nucleic acid-binding proteins

Identification of Previously Unknown DNA-Binding Proteins Using DNA Affinity/Pull-Down Methods Followed by Mass Spectrometry

Jutras, Babb, Jusufovic, Krusenstjerna, Saylor, Verma, and Stevenson

Current Protocols 2025, 5:e70264
doi: 10.1002/cpz1.70264

#MicroSky

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.

Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.

A thread 1/8

Congratulations Alastair and Prerna! Exciting times :)

Congratulations, Jay! Looking forward to learning about your discoveries :)

An Rhs effector uses distinct target cell functions to intoxicate bacterial and fungal competitors https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.28.685041v1

Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions at the John Innes Centre.

Repost = nice. Thank you very much!!!

Cool!

Analyses of protein expression and genetic fitness determinants reveal dynamic pathways active in starved Pseudomonas aeruginosa Heterotrophic bacteria rapidly deplete essential macronutrients during growth and must navigate subsequent periods of growth arrest imposed by starvation. Nutrient limitations can be dynamic in nature...

New preprint from the lab! @findunmun1.bsky.social @chemsley.bsky.social We looked at new protein synthesis and genetic fitness during starvation in P. aeruginosa. Resources are dynamically redistributed to support ongoing activity, even over days of total starvation: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congrats, Lev!

They will survive much better if you let them grow into stationary phase in rich media first, and then transfer them to a minimal medium with no carbon source. Transferring to carbon starvation directly from exponential growth causes faster death. See for example PMID: 32500952 and PMID: 34058747.

yes, the MMBs studied by george schaible and roland hatzenpichler are fascinating 𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 bacteria 🤩

STC had mentioned them first in 2007 > schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
and recently in > schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...

#MicroSky

Future Directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field In September 2023, the Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes meeting ran at the Lorentz Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. As part of the workshop, those in attendance developed a series of ....

In @molecularmicro.bsky.social: two special issues on Prokaryotic Chromosome Organization. Many excellent contributions, including a vision article: 'Future directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field', outcome of BioPhyChrom 2023 @biophychrom.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Polyphosphate: The “Dark Matter” of Bacterial Chromatin Structure Polyphosphate condensates and their contributions to nucleoid structure. Polyphosphate condensates form in the ribosome-depleted nucleoid region of bacterial cells, particularly under stress (in this...

Polyphosphate: The “Dark Matter” of Bacterial Chromatin Structure onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #jcampubs

The taxonomy & lifestyle of Salmonella Typhimurium

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

Congrats to Findlay and many thanks to examiners Dan Neill and Martin Welch for their work on a successful viva today! Findlay has worked so hard and accomplished so much while blazing the trail as the first PhD student in the lab :)

Together with @frimanscience.bsky.social and our Chinese colleagues, we have worked out how to predict

(i) siderophore molecular structures
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

and

(ii) siderophore interaction networks in communities
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

from sequence data!

Thanks for the introduction!