Augustinas Silale

Our study on Bacteroides iron piracy is now out in @pnas.org. We show how surface-exposed lipoproteins bind xenosiderophores with different iron-chelating chemistries and propose a mechanism for xenosiderophore import across the outer membrane. Lots of structures (mostly X-ray this time)!

Are you a motivated researcher interested in bacteria-host interactions? We have postdoc position available in my lab to join our Wellcome Trust funded collaborative team. We will study the role and regulation of the enigmatic sphingolipids in E. coli. Please share. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSX115/r...

Interested in #archaea, #methane, #cell-envelopes? New paper out @nature.com ! We discovered an enzyme that specifically cleaves the cell wall of methanogens, revealing a new chemical structure of archaeal peptidoglycan, 50 yrs after its first description www.nature.com/articles/s41... #MicroSky 🧵👇

Really pleased to share our latest preprint, the result of a fantastic Anglo-Scots collaboration www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We uncover how the bacterial Rhesus protein NeRh50 diverges from canonical ammonium transporters 👇🧵 #CryoEM #MembraneProteins #MassSpectrometry #AmmoniumTransport

Heading home after a great EMBO TB meeting in Paris. Always such an exciting meeting giving a great overview of what is happening in the field @hrryflwr.bsky.social did a great job presenting his poster as well :D #embocomplexinfections @embo.org @lkremer1.bsky.social @figlegend.bsky.social

Characterizing the interaction of a type VII-secreted antimycobacterial toxin with its small helical partner proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.24.746431v1

Out Now! Quinone-transporting filaments expand bioenergetic capacity in Gram-positive Bacillota #MicroSky

Also #glycotime of course! The enzymes are GH172 arabinofuranosidases that break down mycobacterial cell wall glycans. They multimerise into dimers/trimers/hexamers/dodecamers and they are (I admit I’m biased) beautiful enzymes!

New preprint out - Jenn’s hard work over the last few years collaborating with @jnb-lab.bsky.social, Overkleeft Lab in Leiden, Spencer Williams, Hannah Bridges at Cryosparc and @pmoyniha.bsky.social. Feat. her beautiful 1.5A cryo structure with a covalent inhibitor 😍. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Permanent academic position as a Lecturer in cryo-ET open at York. We are looking for someone to lead a research program making the most of the stunning advances occurring in cryo-ET. It's a research and teaching post but with a focus on research in the early years. jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

Happy to share our latest review on the "Structure and function of the #T9SS for protein secretion and cellular motility" to be published in the incoming volume 80 of Annual Review in Microbiology. Kudos to Yaelle Aouizerate and @thicoz.bsky.social ! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Happy to share our recent story on the Type VII secretion system. Here were present new insights into the regulation of secretion mediated by the central pore. Thanks to all authors involved in the work. 🙂

Delighted to have this collaborative work out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com on how A. muciniphila deploys its sulfatases, both their localisation and substrate specificity, to metabolise colonic mucin www.nature.com/articles/s41... #glycotime.

Read our new paper! We show how the protease BepA binds the BAM complex and undergoes striking conformational changes, embedding its water-soluble lid into the membrane to cleave outer membrane proteins. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #cryoEM #astburycentre

This has been such a fun collaboration and a great example of team science

Out after a lot of hard work from many people. When we first found arabinanase enzymes in mycobacteria we started looking into their roles in cell remodelling & pathogenesis. Did not expect to find that some species had weaponised them to kill competitors! Myco are endlessly surprising. #glycotime

Check out our latest T7SS toxin story. These reverse toxins aren’t as rare as we thought!

１）Call for Principal Investigator Positions at Quantum Computing (Q) core bio2q.keio.ac.jp/wp-content/u... ２）Call for Bio2Q Postdoctoral Fellows bio2q.keio.ac.jp/wp-content/u... ３）Call for Bio2Q Q Core Postdoctoral Internships bio2q.keio.ac.jp/wp-content/u...

Open Call for Structural Analysis Facility Staff bio2q.keio.ac.jp/wp-content/u...

Latest research from the lab out now. We examined the role and expression of fimbriae during UPEC bloodstream infection. A real team effort and brilliant collaboration with Mark Schembri’s lab in Brisbane. Thanks to the MRC and BBSRC for supporting our research @ukri.org

Excited to share this paper from @yiechanglin.bsky.social showing how lipids can move between bacterial membranes along the bridge like protein TamB. Also happy to be able to post the cool movie. 🎥🌟 #MDsimulations #StructuralBiology doi.org/10.1016/j.bp...

Happy to have this collaborative work with Zach Armstrong now out in Angewandte chemie doi.org/10.1002/anie... . We use a linked assay, coupled with fluorescent probes, to analyse mucin active carbohydrate sulfatase kinetics, cellular location, and inhibition.

First paper for PhD student in the Bolam / Lowe labs Natalia Łoś on a the characterisation of a new CBM family that binds (beta) mannan! #glycotime @natalia-los.bsky.social 🥳🥳 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Now online. Great collaboration with the Tidow lab @seegerlab and the @embl SAXS beamline. Capturing transient states of heterodimeric ABC transporter TM287/288 by time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering: Biophysical Journal www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...

ComEC structure is out!! 😍 Congratulations to the authors! That’s not an easy one. We have been trying for years to get that structure… We failed and gave up.

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

65 years after Peter Mitchell’s chemiosmotic theory, we report an association between ATP synthase and the electron transport chain. In the preprint led by @longzhou88.bsky.social, we describe a large supercomplex and show how the supramolecular organization contribute to oxidative phosphorylation 🧵

2D classes of the 58 kDa sample collected on the 100 keV Tundra TEM with a Falcon C detector at @nusbf.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social. Still much work to do to optimise the sample & data collection but its cool to see what a 100 keV TEM is capable of. #cryoEM @recon4imd.bsky.social

Unbelievably proud of the work that everyone has put into this paper. Really grateful for such fab colleagues! Mycobacteria continue to be (subjectively) the most interesting bacteria 🤭

A GH with an immunity protein that binds with nM affinity and looks like this 🤩. Bacteria are always surprising us

We’ve been sciencing! M abscessus makes a arabinanase toxin to chop up the cell wall of competitor mycobacteria! #glycotime 🦠 thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for the funding that makes this collaborative work possible! Also Sam’s structures are 😍 and Jean-Lou did some lovely biochem

🚨 A new piece of the preterm gut microbiome puzzle just fell into place! Bifidobacterium metabolise human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in early life — shaping immunity, supporting gut development, and protecting against diseases like necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Great to see Arnaud Basle, facility manager of our structural biology facility @nusbf.bsky.social there representing @newcastleuni.bsky.social 👏

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM: Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics: doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Structural and functional characterisation of the dextran utilisome from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706672v1 #cryoEM

I’ve officially started my lab at Monash University! 🎉 We’re diving into #cellgrowth and #lysosome biology, through the lens of molecular #structure and mechanism. I’m thrilled to say that PhD student scholarships are available—so please share widely and get in touch if you’re interested. 🤩

My latest preprint on the LolB in Bacteroides! Can't delete it, but you can deplete it to basically nothing and cells grow fine, plus lipoproteins still get to the cell surface 🤯 There is still SO much to understand about lipoproteins in Bacteroides!

A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends. www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Still lots of time to apply for this exciting project with us. Please share and encourage interested students to get in touch.

BBSSRC (NEEDL) funded PhD studentship in my lab co-supervised by @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social If you're interested in structural biology and membrane transport processes, check out www.findaphd.com/phds/project... deadline 27th of Feb! Get in touch for more info

Fully funded four-year PhD position available in my lab! Combining structural and synthetic biology to understand iron transport. Deadline 27th of Feb, get in touch for more details! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

💊 We are excited to share our preprint that describes an inhibitor of the widespread and highly conserved Two-Partner Secretion (TPS) system that is critical for Gram-negative pathogens to export a multitude of diverse virulence factors. (1/6) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Hi fellow membrane protein #StructuralBiology people! Do you use maltoside detergents / model them in your stuctures? Watch out! ⚠️ Most PDB models of LMNG and GDN are wrong ❌, yet continue to be re-used. Spread the word! See more: doi.org/10.1021/acsc... (w. @sebvidalchem.bsky.social ) #cryoEM

Good news! Erasmus is a great scheme. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Fab afternoon at the MHD festive gathering 🎉 congratulations to the winning quiz team and @johncorrigall.bsky.social for most festive outfit.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structure and organization of AMPA receptor-TARP complexes in the mammalian cerebellum | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.

Type VII ABC transporters underpin many core activities in the bacterial cell envelope - including efflux, cell division and lipoprotein trafficking. A new paper in PLOS Biology reveals YbbAP-TesA as a novel Type VII system in E. coli. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...