Publications related to DNA-uptake pili of Vibrio cholerae are required for chitin colonization and capable of kin recognition via sequence-specific self-interaction

Dangerous acquaintances: the interplay between type IV pili and the type VI secretion system during Vibrio cholerae's environmental lifestyle

Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, has affected humanity throughout history and still impacts millions of people every year. Apart from being a human pathogen, V. cholerae is a common member of the aquatic environment. Due to this natural re ...

EPFL2024

Interactions between pili affect the outcome of bacterial competition driven by the type VI secretion system

Melanie Blokesch, Anne-Florence Raphaëlle Bitbol, Alexandre Lemopoulos, Simon Bernhard Otto, Richard Marie Servajean

The bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a widespread, kin-discriminatory weapon capable of shaping microbial communities. Due to the system’s dependency on contact, cellular interactions can lead to either competition or kin protection. Cell-to-ce ...

2024

Machine learning method for the classification of the state of living organisms' oscillations

Sandor Kasas, María Inés Villalba

The World Health Organization highlights the urgent need to address the global threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Efficient and rapid detection of bacterial response to antibiotics and their virulence state is crucial for the effective treatmen ...

Frontiers Media Sa2024

Stability of influenza A virus in droplets and aerosols is heightened by the presence of commensal respiratory bacteria

Tamar Kohn, Athanasios Nenes, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Htet Kyi Wynn, Kalliopi Violaki, Céline Terrettaz, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Walter Hugentobler, Shannon Christa David, Laura José Costa Henriques

Aerosol transmission remains a major challenge for control of respiratory viruses, particularly those causing recurrent epidemics, like influenza A virus (IAV). These viruses are rarely expelled alone, but instead are embedded in a consortium of microorgan ...

American Society for Microbiology2024

Sporadic type VI secretion in seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Nicolas René Chiaruttini, Alexis Joseph Proutière, Loriane Bader, Lisa Christina Metzger, Natalia Carolina Drebes Dorr, Sandrine Natacha Isaac

Vibrio cholerae is a pathogen that causes disease in millions of people every year by colonizing the small intestine and then secreting the potent cholera toxin. How the pathogen overcomes the colonization barrier created by the host’s natural microbiota i ...

2023

Biofilm morphogenesis on soft hydrogels

Alice Cont

Bacteria often colonize their environment in the form of surface attached multicellular communities called biofilms. Biofilms grow from surface-attached cells that undergo division while self-embedding in a viscoelastic matrix. Biofilms grow at the surface ...

EPFL2023

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

DNA modifications impact natural transformation of Acinetobacter baumannii

Melanie Blokesch, Nicolas Jean Philippe Guex, Christian Iseli, Alexandre Lemopoulos, Nina Vesel

Acinetobacter baumannii is a dangerous nosocomial pathogen, especially due to its ability to rapidly acquire new genetic traits, including antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). In A. baumannii, natural competence for transformation, one of the primary modes o ...

2023