We've come full circle! I began my postdoctoral career by identifying the peptidyl deformylase gene. Today, we show that half of bacterial species harbor multiple PDF genes (up to 7, for always a single Met-tRNA transformylase), and while the role of these PDFs ... academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
New preprint out on bioRxiv!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Can conjugative plasmids be used to control plasmid and pathogen spread?
Follow me down the rabbit hole that led to this story đź§µ
Here, we reveal an alternative route for cassette shuffling: natural transformation. Incoming cassettes from isogenic cells can be excised and integrated into integrons, mimicking cassette shuffling without deleting endogenous cassettes. 3/5
Abstract. Peptide deformylases (PDFs) are enzymes that are essential for bacterial viability and attractive targets for antibiotic development. Yet, despit
Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.
Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Integrons are genetic “biobanks” that bacteria use to adapt on demand. They store cassettes that provide functions from antibiotic resistance to phage defense. Our lab showed that cassette shuffling in SCIs is limited because toxin–antitoxin cassettes keep cassette excision rate low. 2/5
Many thanks to all co-authors! @manon-b.bsky.social @baptistedarracq.bsky.social @EliaBandini @eloilittner.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @celineloot.bsky.social
And don't miss the upcoming paper from @mblokesch.bsky.social lab on the same topic! 5/5
Our new paper is out in @narjournal.bsky.social We show that natural transformation enables bacteria to shuffle integron cassettes, boosting their phenotypic diversity.
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... 1/5
Mechanistically, incoming ssDNA is a game changer: it promotes attC site folding, triggers integrase expression via SOS, and allows cassette excision without the need for replicative resolution. This suggests both intra- and inter-bacterial shuffling shape integron recombination dynamics. 4/5
Didier Mazel
Kevin Debatisse
Kevin Debatisse
Kevin Debatisse
Kevin Debatisse
Kevin Debatisse
Pedro Dorado-Morales
Pedro Dorado-Morales
Manuel Ares-Arroyo
www.biorxiv.org
npj Biofilms and Microbiomes - Targeted elimination of Staphylococcus aureus mastitis infections with synthetic phage-based CRISPR-Cas delivery systems