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Postdoc applying to MSCA fellowships :

New pub. from the lab ! We discovered that potato tubers exert intense selective pressure during Dickeya solani infection, driving the rapid emergence of mutations in the sRNA ArcZ. These mutations lead to the appearance of "social cheaters" that sweep through the pop. in as few as 30 generations.

#microsky Massive update of preprint with @polardlab.bsky.social! Bacteria have evolved two systems to recombine extracellular DNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Kudos to lead authors Léo Hardy, Violette Morales and Clothilde Rousseau, and to outstanding Dalia's lab and @epcrocha.bsky.social 🧵⬇️

Biofilm architecture determines the dissemination of conjugative plasmids: We measured the spatiotemporal spread of plasmids in biofilms and found that plasmids only spread in some biofilm regions! Collab with lab of @sbigot.bsky.social & Christian Lesterlin www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

academic.oup.com/nar/article/... Collaboration with Y. Yamaichi. Killing donor bacteria in conjugation mixes using water enables transcriptomic profiling of early plasmid genes ! Superb tool for studying zygotic induction of these early genes, which include anti-SOS and anti-RM factors. #microsky

Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes. @nfrk92.bsky.social @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Natural transformation is a widespread mechanism driving genetic exchanges in bacteria. It proceeds by the capture and internalization of exogenous DNA in linear single strands, ultimately integrated in the genome by homologous recombination. It is unknown how the RecA-directed D-loop intermediate of this dedicated recombination pathway is processed. We report that resolution of the transformation D-loop depends on two endonucleases of opposing phylogenetic distribution in bacteria. One is YraN, which has co-evolved and interacts with the ComM helicase, known to extend DNA recombination at the transformation D-loop. The other is CoiA, which is restricted to the Bacillota. CoiA is shown to be a resolvase of the transformation D-loop, extended by the RadA helicase in these species. We demonstrate that both YraN and CoiA act synergistically with their cognate helicases. These findings reveal that bacteria have evolved two helicase/nuclease pairs for the maturation and recombination extension of the transformation D-loop. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Agence Nationale de la Recherche, https://ror.org/00rbzpz17, ANR-20-CE12-0004, ANR-10-BLAN-1331, ANR-17-CE13-0031, ANR-22-CE44-0044, ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID, PIA/ANR-16-CONV-0005 Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, https://ror.org/04w6kn183, FDT202001010890 European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships, 101208987 National Institute of Health, USA, R35GM128674

ALT: a man stands in front of a board that says 30 85 50 95 55 75 and 40

We propose immuno-centric view of secreted polymorphic toxin diversification and involvement of novel XPC systems in this process! Fantastic work of @jmartinkus.bsky.social with lab of @cascaleslab.bsky.social ! www.cell.com/current-biol...

New bioRxiv preprint from our Lesterlin lab How early gene expression coupled to DNA processing boosts resistance plasmid spread. With @nfrk92.bsky.social in collab with Y. Yamaichi lab 👉 doi.org/10.64898/202...

Plasmid conjugation is a contact-dependent horizontal gene transfer mechanism that significantly contributes to the dissemination of antibiotic res...

Abstract. Conjugative plasmids are a major driving force for the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. During conjugation, plasmid DNA is transferred

Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena

The rapid global spread of antibiotic resistance is mediated by conjugative plasmids, yet how these elements establish immediately after entering new bacterial hosts remains poorly understood. Here we...

Martinkus et al. show that Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus species encode arrays of immunity genes whose protein products neutralize toxins secreted by competitors. These arrays, often linked to Xer pass...

🚨New paper out! #MicroSky Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival. We expanded its genetic toolbox: 🧬promoters to fine-tune expression 🧬IPTG-inducible system 🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown bit.ly/46GUn2c 1/4

Host infection selects for sRNA variants that drive bacterial social cheating https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.19.695336v1