Publications by Alexandre Louis André Persat

Antagonistic response regulators spatially regulate receptor methylation in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pil-Chp surface sensing system

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Marco Julian Kühn

Most bacterial chemosensory systems encode enzymes that are predicted to methylate and demethylate their chemoreceptors to control signaling activity. Here, we show that a predicted methyltransferase (PilK) and methylesterase (ChpB) methylate and demethyla ...

2025

Decoding host-microbe interactions with engineered human organoids

Alexandre Louis André Persat

As the antimicrobial resistance crisis becomes a reality, we are only now realizing we lack a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms by which major pathogens infect their human host. To address this, we must employ novel methodologies that allow us to ...

SPRINGERNATURE2025

Revitalizing antibiotic discovery and development through in vitro modelling of in-patient conditions

John McKinney, Alexandre Louis André Persat

In vitro models mimicking in-patient conditions have the potential to yield exciting opportunities for antibiotic research and revitalize future antibiotic discovery and development. ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Pseudomonas aeruginosa faces a fitness trade-off between mucosal colonization and antibiotic tolerance during airway infection

Vassily Hatzimanikatis, Alexandre Louis André Persat, Evangelia Vagena, Tamara Rossy

Pseudomonas aeruginosa frequently causes antibiotic-recalcitrant pneumonia, but the mechanisms driving its adaptation during human infections remain unclear. To reveal the selective pressures and adaptation strategies at the mucosal surface, here we invest ...

2024

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron metabolic activity decreases with polysaccharide molecular weight

Tom Ian Battin, Alexandre Louis André Persat, Jeremy Pak Hei Wong

The human colon hosts hundreds of commensal bacterial species, many of which ferment complex dietary carbohydrates. To transform these fibers into metabolically accessible compounds, microbes often express a series of dedicated enzymes homologous to the st ...

Amer Soc Microbiology2024

Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pili actively induce mucus contraction to form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways

Bart Deplancke, Alexandre Louis André Persat, Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà, Jörn Pezoldt, Tamara Rossy

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes antibiotic-recalcitrant pneumonia by forming biofilms in the respiratory tract. Despite extensive in vitro experimentation, how P. aeruginosa forms biofilms at the airway mucosa is unresolved. To inv ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2023

Fluid flow structures gut microbiota biofilm communities by distributing public goods

Tom Ian Battin, Alexandre Louis André Persat, Jeremy Pak Hei Wong

Bacterial gut commensals experience a biologically and physically complex mucosal environment. While many chemical factors mediate the composition and structure of these microbial communities, less is known about the role of mechanics. Here, we demonstrate ...

National Academy of Sciences2023

Biofilm formation on human immune cells is a multicellular predation strategy of Vibrio cholerae

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Sofya Mikhaleva

Biofilm formation is generally recognized as a bacterial defense mechanism against environmental threats, including antibiotics, bacteriophages, and leukocytes of the human immune system. Here, we show that for the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, biofilm f ...

CELL PRESS2023

Two antagonistic response regulators control Pseudomonas aeruginosa polarization during mechanotaxis

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà, Xavier Jean-Yves Pierrat, Joanne Netter Engel, Marco Julian Kühn

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts to solid surfaces to enhance virulence and infect its host. Type IV pili (T4P), long and thin filaments that power surface-specific twitching motility, allow single cells to sense surfaces and contro ...

WILEY2023

Material Substrate Physical Properties Control Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Architecture

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Alice Cont

The biofilm lifestyle is the most widespread survival strategy in the bacterial world. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms cause chronic infections and are highly recalcitrant to antimicrobials. The genetic requirements allowing P. aeruginosa to grow into biof ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2023