We found that resistant strains of E. coli completely coat their outer membrane in curli fibers, effectively acting as a molecular suit-of-armor against invading Bdello. Attached TEM: E coli, green; Bdello, orange; curli, purple.
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
We found that resistant strains of E. coli completely coat their outer membrane in curli fibers, effectively acting as a molecular suit-of-armor against invading Bdello. Attached TEM: E coli, green; Bdello, orange; curli, purple.
bdello fans take note 👇
#MicroSky
#MicroSky
🛠️Toolbox 🛠️ out to modulate gene expression & protein secretion in a predatory bacterium.
📑Preprint from my group below.
Many thanks to L. Mihajlovic @ljmihajlovic.bsky.social, L. Hofacker, F. Lindner, P. Jayakumar & A. Diepold @diepold-lab.bsky.social! #MicroSky #SyntheticBiology #PredatoryBacteria
📑Preprint from my group below.
Many thanks to L. Mihajlovic @ljmihajlovic.bsky.social, L. Hofacker, F. Lindner, P. Jayakumar & A. Diepold @diepold-lab.bsky.social! #MicroSky #SyntheticBiology #PredatoryBacteria
May 19, 2025 at 8:05 AM
bdello fans take note 👇
#MicroSky
#MicroSky
To determine if diverse functional amyloids in bacteria can defend against Bdello, we test the amyloid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overexpression of this system in either E. coli of Pseudomonas resulted in reduced Bdello infection! So indeed this is a common features of these systems!
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
To determine if diverse functional amyloids in bacteria can defend against Bdello, we test the amyloid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Overexpression of this system in either E. coli of Pseudomonas resulted in reduced Bdello infection! So indeed this is a common features of these systems!
Bdello is a predatory bacteria that invades into Gram-negative organisms. It is within this host that Bdello replicates with the lifecycle sharing many similarities with phage! And so we asked the question, how do host bacteria defend themselves from this threat?
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Bdello is a predatory bacteria that invades into Gram-negative organisms. It is within this host that Bdello replicates with the lifecycle sharing many similarities with phage! And so we asked the question, how do host bacteria defend themselves from this threat?
To better understand how curli is providing defense from Bdello we simply looked at the interaction between Bdello and a resistant host through TEM. Nothing could have prepared my for the incredible images we were about to see.
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
To better understand how curli is providing defense from Bdello we simply looked at the interaction between Bdello and a resistant host through TEM. Nothing could have prepared my for the incredible images we were about to see.
Here is where things got really interesting: transposon mutagenesis of one the resistant strains uncovered that production of the functional amyloid curli was responsible for defense against Bdello! Production of curli was both necessary and sufficient for defense demonstrating a new role curli!
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Here is where things got really interesting: transposon mutagenesis of one the resistant strains uncovered that production of the functional amyloid curli was responsible for defense against Bdello! Production of curli was both necessary and sufficient for defense demonstrating a new role curli!
Predation resistance mechanisms operate at an individual level, adaptations are sometimes pleiotropic and compensatory. Thanks to all my co-authors who made this research possible Ove, Sarah, Saskia, Bernd, @rkmicrobes.bsky.social @simonahuwiler.bsky.social #AMR #Bdello #Evolution
tiny.cc/2qpa101
tiny.cc/2qpa101
September 18, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Predation resistance mechanisms operate at an individual level, adaptations are sometimes pleiotropic and compensatory. Thanks to all my co-authors who made this research possible Ove, Sarah, Saskia, Bernd, @rkmicrobes.bsky.social @simonahuwiler.bsky.social #AMR #Bdello #Evolution
tiny.cc/2qpa101
tiny.cc/2qpa101
Based on our model that curli acts like a suit-of-armor we hypothesized that it should also protect against other extracellular threats. We turned to another predatory bacteria, Myxococcus xanthus, which has a distinct lifecycle from Bdello. Amazingly curli also provides robust defense against Myxo!
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Based on our model that curli acts like a suit-of-armor we hypothesized that it should also protect against other extracellular threats. We turned to another predatory bacteria, Myxococcus xanthus, which has a distinct lifecycle from Bdello. Amazingly curli also provides robust defense against Myxo!
o hello new followers!
I'm Renske, and our very fresh lab in Groningen works on the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. We're interested in what tools Bdello uses to eat their prey, the knife & fork, tongue and saliva, so to say.
I occasionally post pictures of my knitting work too
I'm Renske, and our very fresh lab in Groningen works on the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. We're interested in what tools Bdello uses to eat their prey, the knife & fork, tongue and saliva, so to say.
I occasionally post pictures of my knitting work too
November 7, 2024 at 12:40 PM
o hello new followers!
I'm Renske, and our very fresh lab in Groningen works on the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. We're interested in what tools Bdello uses to eat their prey, the knife & fork, tongue and saliva, so to say.
I occasionally post pictures of my knitting work too
I'm Renske, and our very fresh lab in Groningen works on the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. We're interested in what tools Bdello uses to eat their prey, the knife & fork, tongue and saliva, so to say.
I occasionally post pictures of my knitting work too
Amazed by this finding we next asked if curli was responsible for defense in all the resistant E. coli. Indeed we found this to be true for the majority of strains (stay tuned for more on this!) demonstrating that curli is widely used by E. coli for defense against Bdello.
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Amazed by this finding we next asked if curli was responsible for defense in all the resistant E. coli. Indeed we found this to be true for the majority of strains (stay tuned for more on this!) demonstrating that curli is widely used by E. coli for defense against Bdello.
To ask this we decided to take a unique approach and screen wild bacteria for naturally resistant hosts. Amazingly this revealed that ~1/3 of E. coli strain are HIGHLY resistant to Bdello infection! This suggests that indeed, bacteria possess mechanisms to defend against predatory bacteria!
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
To ask this we decided to take a unique approach and screen wild bacteria for naturally resistant hosts. Amazingly this revealed that ~1/3 of E. coli strain are HIGHLY resistant to Bdello infection! This suggests that indeed, bacteria possess mechanisms to defend against predatory bacteria!
cell divisionists in #MicroSky take note👇
@lalouxlab.bsky.social on 𝕏:
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdello is now published in @JBacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@lalouxlab.bsky.social on 𝕏:
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdello is now published in @JBacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
March 12, 2024 at 10:10 PM
cell divisionists in #MicroSky take note👇
@lalouxlab.bsky.social on 𝕏:
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdello is now published in @JBacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@lalouxlab.bsky.social on 𝕏:
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdello is now published in @JBacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is now published in Journal of Bacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern, and 1st use of proximity labeling in Bdello!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
New preprint! We delved into how bacterial cells establish their polarity, a task that is even more challenging when they produce >2 daughter cells by non-binary division: how to distinguish the head and the tail in all these progenies? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #MicroSky
March 13, 2024 at 7:48 AM
Our last story on cell polarity in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is now published in Journal of Bacteriology! Feat. a protein that marks the "head" of future daughter cells before non-binary division, a new DivIVA pattern, and 1st use of proximity labeling in Bdello!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
This project started back in 2020 when I had first joined Aaron's lab and we were asking ourselves the question "do bacteria have immune pathways against things beyond phage"? This lead us to investigate my favorite organism Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus aka Bdello: a bacteria that eats other bacteria!
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 PM
This project started back in 2020 when I had first joined Aaron's lab and we were asking ourselves the question "do bacteria have immune pathways against things beyond phage"? This lead us to investigate my favorite organism Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus aka Bdello: a bacteria that eats other bacteria!
Busy spring semester in my new(ish) position. Among our various responsibilities, my small but hard-working team organizes the campus-wide undergraduate research symposium.
Now that the semester is winding down, I’m determined to get back to my Bdello genomics manuscript and respond to reviews!
Now that the semester is winding down, I’m determined to get back to my Bdello genomics manuscript and respond to reviews!
April 21, 2024 at 9:04 PM
Busy spring semester in my new(ish) position. Among our various responsibilities, my small but hard-working team organizes the campus-wide undergraduate research symposium.
Now that the semester is winding down, I’m determined to get back to my Bdello genomics manuscript and respond to reviews!
Now that the semester is winding down, I’m determined to get back to my Bdello genomics manuscript and respond to reviews!
This made us wonder: What happens with the chromosome during the bdello life cycle? Together with Fares Osam, postdoc @rkoszul.bsky.social we set out to map the chromosome conformation during the full cell cycle using Hi-C combined with RNA-seq. This are the key take outs: 3/n
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
This made us wonder: What happens with the chromosome during the bdello life cycle? Together with Fares Osam, postdoc @rkoszul.bsky.social we set out to map the chromosome conformation during the full cell cycle using Hi-C combined with RNA-seq. This are the key take outs: 3/n
Attack phase chromosome? Highly compacted. But when replication starts, the Bdello chromosome adapts an arm/arm interconnected conformation, starting at the origin of replication. You can basically see SMC/ParB at work! 4/n
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Attack phase chromosome? Highly compacted. But when replication starts, the Bdello chromosome adapts an arm/arm interconnected conformation, starting at the origin of replication. You can basically see SMC/ParB at work! 4/n
For he’s a jolly good Bdello!
September 19, 2023 at 3:49 AM
For he’s a jolly good Bdello!
Jovana Kaljevic (now postdoc @tunglejic.bsky.social ) saw how extremely compact Bdello chromosomes are packed during the non-proliferative attack phase (see pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... ). GFP is excluded from the nucleoid area! 2/n
Chromosome choreography during the non-binary cell cycle of a predatory bacterium
In bacteria, the dynamics of chromosome replication and segregation are tightly coordinated with cell-cycle progression and largely rely on specific spatiotemporal arrangement of the chromosome. Where...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Jovana Kaljevic (now postdoc @tunglejic.bsky.social ) saw how extremely compact Bdello chromosomes are packed during the non-proliferative attack phase (see pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... ). GFP is excluded from the nucleoid area! 2/n
Bdello friends take note 👇 the new paper from the Laloux lab
'le bal des vampires' continues schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
'le bal des vampires' continues schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
April 29, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Bdello friends take note 👇 the new paper from the Laloux lab
'le bal des vampires' continues schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
'le bal des vampires' continues schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
That's a shame! I don't know if you'd want a Bdello/ bacterial interactions person from across the pond? I have time Thursday...
July 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
That's a shame! I don't know if you'd want a Bdello/ bacterial interactions person from across the pond? I have time Thursday...
Is this for Bdellovibrio work? We stopped being able to get this a number of years ago, and i know alternatives that work really well for each of HD and HI Bdello. I can send you product codes if you want?
May 19, 2026 at 2:41 AM
Is this for Bdellovibrio work? We stopped being able to get this a number of years ago, and i know alternatives that work really well for each of HD and HI Bdello. I can send you product codes if you want?
Very proud of PhD student number 3, Dr Rhian Ford, who graduated yesterday! Rhian was the first "fully Bdello" PhD in my group.
August 1, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Very proud of PhD student number 3, Dr Rhian Ford, who graduated yesterday! Rhian was the first "fully Bdello" PhD in my group.
Finally, this work gives the most time-resolved overview of transcription during the life cycle of Bdello. There is much data to delve into, but we already show that there are a lot of specific patterns going on between attack and exit. 6/n
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Finally, this work gives the most time-resolved overview of transcription during the life cycle of Bdello. There is much data to delve into, but we already show that there are a lot of specific patterns going on between attack and exit. 6/n
Yewande is isolating naturally occurring Bdellovibrio from soil and water samples then testing their ability to kill Salmonella, particularly serovars causing problems in human health and the poultry industry. Her Bdello can kill some nasty Salmonella, which is very encouraging!
March 21, 2024 at 10:14 PM
Yewande is isolating naturally occurring Bdellovibrio from soil and water samples then testing their ability to kill Salmonella, particularly serovars causing problems in human health and the poultry industry. Her Bdello can kill some nasty Salmonella, which is very encouraging!