Raphael Laurenceau

Raphael Laurenceau

@raphael-microb.bsky.social

Microbiologist

166 followers113 following77 posts

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Pavel Payne
@pavelpayne.bsky.social

Finally, my paper is out! It shows how bacteria can utilize their CRISPR immunity against transducing phages to turn them into "pollinators". This way bacteria can speed up their own adaptation through recombination by two orders of magnitude compared to mutations, and they do so when starving!

Molecular Biology and Evolution@molbioevol.bsky.social

@pavelpayne.bsky.social et al. show that bacterial herd immunity can promote homologous recombination, suggesting bacterial immune systems can shape molecular evolution not only by blocking infection but also by regulating genetic exchange 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #societyjournal #evobio

academic.oup.comHerd immunity underlies homologous recombination in stationary phase bacteriaAbstract. Homologous recombination is ubiquitous across evolution, generating variation through genetic reshuffling. Although bacteria lack meiotic recombi

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Eric Topol
@erictopol.bsky.social

New @science.org A breakthrough in understanding why do we get fever and an inflammation response to vaccines. The gut microbiome chronic production of flagellin Paves the way to potentially prevent these acute phase side-effects in the future www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgThe human gut microbiome primes fever after vaccinationFever is a common adverse reaction to vaccination, contributing to vaccine hesitancy and reduced uptake. To understand variation in fever risk, we longitudinally profiled fecal microbiota, oral temper...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Vincent Burrus 🇨🇦💙💛
@vincentburrus.bsky.social

#plasmidbiology #plasmid Just out! 🚀 Thrilled by our discovery: the function of the C-terminal domain of MOBH1 relaxases! We uncovered this thanks to a fertility inhibitor encoded by a parasitic mobile genetic element. Congrats to Florence on a great piece of work! 👏 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

academic.oup.comConjugative transfer inhibition of IncA and IncC plasmids by SGI1-like elements via relaxosome assembly interferenceAbstract. Broad-host-range IncA and IncC (A/C) conjugative plasmids propagate multidrug resistance in bacteria and mobilize chromosomal resistance islands,

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Seth Shipman
@seth-shipman.bsky.social

@jihoon-han.bsky.social's new detectron technology -- out now in Nature Biotechnology. Toehold RNA sensing controls a retron-derived DNA barcode generator. Check it out!

Jihoon Han@jihoon-han.bsky.social

Detectrons are now published in Nature Biotechnology! Programmable RNA sensing meets DNA barcode production in living bacteria. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comDetectrons convert transient RNA sequences into stable DNA barcodes for high-throughput analysis of RNA-dependent processes - Nature BiotechnologyRNA sequences are detected and converted directly into DNA barcodes.

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Saria McKeithen-Mead, PhD
@sciria.bsky.social

Pleased to share my first preprint from my postdoc, where I ask what drives mobile DNA movement between bacterial cells in complex communities like the gut microbiome. To answer this, we built a way to capture mobile DNA in the act of moving between cells, using short-read metagenomics. 🧵

doi.orgdoi.org

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Rasmus Jensen
@rasmusjensen.bsky.social

🎉 Out today in Cell: the paper I've been looking forward to sharing for a long time 🎉 We used cryo-ET to find a molecular machine nobody knew existed on the surface of a minimal bacterium, and worked out what it does. 🧵(1/7) #TeamTomo #cryoET

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Vivek Mutalik
@vivekmutalik.bsky.social

Some of the smallest 😎 viruses on Earth are all around us. Three or four genes 😍 each, in nearly every environment. We keep finding thousands by sequencing, yet don't know who they infect, can't easily isolate them, or even how the few we have infect a cell. Our new preprint takes this on 🧵👇

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Ben Parker
@ben-parker.bsky.social

Excited that our new paper with @henrylabsymbio.bsky.social and Kerry Oliver is out @pnas.org! We show that mobile genetic elements can spread adaptive host-benefiting traits across heritable insect symbionts on eco-evolutionary timescales.🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.orgPhenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont | PNASHeritable microbes profoundly influence insect biology, yet the traits they confer often evolve rapidly and differ among closely related symbiont s...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Jan-Willem Veening
@veeninglab.com

Clonal does not mean uniform. #MicroSky Our new review explores how genetically identical bacteria adopt different cell states, and how that diversity shapes survival, cooperation, antibiotic responses and gene transfer. 🧵 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

doi.orgDecoding Bistability and Drivers of Phenotypic Variation in BacteriaIn a process known as phenotypic heterogeneity or phenotypic variation, bacteria can produce distinct phenotypes within an isogenic population in response to shifting environmental conditions. Noise i...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Axel Visel
@axelvisel.bsky.social

A Global Catalog of Microbial Symbionts 🌍🦠🧬🫨 New resource from @jgi.doe.gov, led by @astrogenomics.bsky.social and @fmschu.bsky.social with contributions by @emileyeloe-fadrosh.bsky.social @miferg.bsky.social and many more 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @biosci.lbl.gov @berkeleylab.lbl.gov

nature.comA genomic catalog of Earth’s bacterial and archaeal symbionts - Nature BiotechnologySymbiotic relationships of microorganisms are predicted and cataloged with a machine learning tool.
Joint Genome Institute@jgi.doe.gov

New AI Tool Maps the Global Catalog of Microbial Symbionts 🖥️ 🧬 🦠 Today in @natbiotech.nature.com: The publicly available Symbiont Genomes catalog is one of the most comprehensive guides to bacteria and archaea living in partnership with other organisms. Learn more ⬇️

jgi.doe.govNew AI Tool Maps the Global Catalog of Microbial Symbionts | Joint Genome InstituteThe publicly available Symbiont Genomes catalog is one of the most comprehensive guides to bacteria and archaea living in partnership with other organisms.

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Tara Bartolec
@tarabartolec.bsky.social

So happy to share that this work is finally out, now in @nature.com! Lots of new goodies since preprint so plz check it out (old thread below). Giant thank you to everybody involved + all @savitski-lab.bsky.social and @typaslab.bsky.social lab members 🙏🙏🙏 @embl.org nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comPervasive phosphorylation by phage T7 kinase disarms bacterial defences - NatureThe T7 bacteriophage deactivates bacterial defence systems through T7K phosphorylation of nearly all host and phage proteins during infection.
Tara Bartolec@tarabartolec.bsky.social

1/11 - With Karin Mitosch and Clément Potel + colleagues in Savitski lab and @typaslab.bsky.social @embl.org, I’m very happy to share our discovery of a hyper-promiscuous phage protein kinase (T7K) which broadly deactivates bacterial defenses! 🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Raphael Laurenceau
@raphael-microb.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Wow. So complex, and yet so neat and simple at the same time. It feels like this type of regulatory efficiency could only be seen in bacterial genetics

nature.comCRISPR–Cas regulates expression of embedded anti-phage defence systems - NatureCRISPR–Cas systems transcriptionally tune diverse innate defences using CRISPR RNA-like guides to balance antiviral protection with fitness, and hyperactivate these defences when compromised, establis...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Vicki Orr
@vickiorr.bsky.social

Our pQBR plasmid paper is out! A model environmental plasmid collection that contains no known AMR genes and worldwide relatives! @jpjhall.bsky.social @ellieevolves.bsky.social @dwrivett.bsky.social and Rosanna Wright @microbiologysociety.org microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099

microbiologyresearch.orgThe pQBR mercury resistance plasmids: a model set of sympatric environmental mobile genetic elementsPlasmids are extrachromosomal mobile genetic elements that can facilitate rapid bacterial adaptation by transferring genes between individuals. Whilst plasmids are known to exist in diverse habitats a...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Vivek Mutalik
@vivekmutalik.bsky.social

Replying to @vivekmutalik.bsky.social

Surface architecture of the bacterial envelope determines phage adsorption route in pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgSurface architecture of the bacterial envelope determines phage adsorption route in pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7The outermost surface layers of Gram-negative bacteria determine phage access to terminal receptors, yet their genetic basis has been mapped almost exclusively in laboratory strains that lack them. He...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Aude Bernheim
@audeber.bsky.social

Out @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social, natural products meet bacterial immunity! We used genomics to identify lanthivirins: a family of >2,000 lanthipeptide BGCs that protect Actinobacteria against phages. Led by @hshomar.bsky.social & @mariegllm.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comA family of lanthipeptides with anti-phage functionBacteria produce natural products to adapt to their environments, with phage interactions as major ecological and evolutionary drivers. While some nat…

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Rafael Pinilla-Redondo (Rafa)
@rafomics.bsky.social

Replying to @rafomics.bsky.social

7/10 Our model 🧬👇 🔴OFF: RT-synthesized DNA scaffolds the ring and restrains the toxic RNase. 🟢ON: phage nucleases cut msDNA → ring collapses → RNase fires → host tRNAs shredded → infection blocked! 🛡️

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Manuel Kleiner
@manuelkleiner.bsky.social

The type and amount of bacterial DNA carried by virus-like particles in the gut microbiome is simply mind-boggling. Amazing work by PhD candidate Jessie Maier in my group and collaborators @duerkoplab.bsky.social and Ben Callahan www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgPerturbations shift the composition of bacterial DNA carried by virus-like particles in the murine gut microbiomeHorizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a driving force in microbial evolution that allows community members to rapidly evolve to cope with environmental stressors and competition. Despite the importance of...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Xavier Charpentier
@labxc.bsky.social

#microsky New preprint from the lab! Widespread immune systems protect bacteria against conjugative plasmids www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Kudos to the extremely talented lead author Ludovic Poiré! Key contributions by @francoisrousset.bsky.social and also help from C. Lesterlin/TacC lab. 🧵⬇️

biorxiv.orgWidespread immune systems protect bacteria against conjugative plasmidsConjugative plasmids are a class of mobile genetic elements capable of efficient transfer between bacterial cells. Although they can introduce beneficial traits such as antibiotic resistance to recipi...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Simon Roux
@simrouxvirus.bsky.social

🚨New paper alert 🚨 Here we tried to leverage an (incredible) metagenome time-series to better understand MGE diversity and activity in soil across decade(s). @scbagby.bsky.social has an amazing thread about this work with all the details - bsky.app/profile/scba...

nature.comMobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils - Nature MicrobiologyAn 8-year soil meta-omic time series shows how mobile genetic elements shape permafrost microbial diversity and impact a range of functions, including carbon and nutrient cycling.
Sarah Bagby@scbagby.bsky.social

Out today in Nature Microbiology: a paper that started in 2021 with an email from @sullivan-lab.bsky.social. Subject line: "Crazy ideas". www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/23

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Tung Le
@tunglejic.bsky.social

Spotlight on our recent work by @emmajbanks.bsky.social @pavol.bsky.social and team!!! @johninnescentre.bsky.social Thank you very much, @fnobrega.bsky.social, for this great piece!!!

Cell Chemical Biology@cp-cellchembiol.bsky.social

A defense-like route to gene transfer agent release

dlvr.itA defense-like route to gene transfer agent releaseIn a paper recently published in Nature Microbiology, Banks et al. identify LypABC, a CARD-NLR-like module required for gene transfer agent (GTA) release in Caulobacter crescentus. The work uncovers an unexpected lysis pathway and suggests that modules resembling bacterial defense systems can be repurposed within domesticated phage-derived elements.

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Alex Crits-Christoph
@acritschristoph.bsky.social

This Visual-omics approach is kind of amazing: "We resolved each to sufficient resolution (2.8 and 3.6 Å) to predict the amino acid composition directly from the 3D electrostatic potential map"

Debnath Ghosal@debnathghosal.bsky.social

By using visual-omics, we managed to assign the molecular identity of these filaments directly from structure, without relying on sequence homology. It turned out to be a completely novel filament system, never before described in any bacteria.

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

STCmicrobeblog
@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social

new pili for the lilliputians (CPR/Patescibacteria) 👇 #MicroSky

Debnath Ghosal@debnathghosal.bsky.social

New paper alert!! We just discovered a new filament system that is widespread exclusively within CPR bacteria! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... Short thread below. 🦠🔬🚀

biorxiv.orgA Novel Pilus System in Candidate Phyla Radiation BacteriaThe Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) represents a bacterial superphylum estimated to include between 15–50% of all bacterial species, yet CPR bacteria remain challenging to culture and have been primar...

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Jesse Shapiro
@bjesseshapiro.bsky.social

Cheap and easy method for nanopore sequencing phage DNA directly from plaques. Proud of lab members Brenna and Patrick for doing this work *with absolutely no help from me* !! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comSame-day tagmentation PCR-based whole genome sequencing of bacteriophage genomes from a single plaque without DNA extraction - Scientific ReportsScientific Reports - Same-day tagmentation PCR-based whole genome sequencing of bacteriophage genomes from a single plaque without DNA extraction

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Nature
@nature.com

Catalogue entries for more than 100 antibodies sold by the research services and supply company Thermo Fisher Scientific contain images that have apparently been manipulated, according to a pair of science sleuths. go.nature.com/4wX4yej

go.nature.comScience sleuths uncover more than 100 suspicious images in Thermo Fisher antibody catalogueScientists have long worried about the reliability of commercial antibodies, and the latest findings have sparked fresh concerns.

Raphael Laurenceau reposted

Susie Grigson
@susiegriggo.bsky.social

Beyond thrilled that our paper ‘Co-migration of hundreds of microbial species over metres drives selection and promotes non-motile hitchhikers’ has been accepted in Nature Communications! 🎉🦠 (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comCo-migration of hundreds of microbial species over metres drives selection and promotes non-motile hitchhikers - Nature CommunicationsMigration of microbial communities is poorly understood. Here, the authors use a meso-tube assay to show that hundreds of microbial species co-migrate over metre scales via chemotaxis, which restructu...