Cohesin-mediated loop extrusion limits sister-fork coupling and tethers nearby replication forks under replication stress, promoting fork reversal and slowing fork progression to safeguard genome...

Sequential peptidoglycan carboxylase activity of DacA and DacB generates a local peptidoglycan signature that recruits MapZ and establishes the division site at the Streptococcus pneumoniae cell equat...

Inside cells, DNA is intimately associated with proteins, forming chromatin. The protein constituents of chromatin vary across the tree of life: histones are the principal building blocks of chromatin...

Bacterial nanotubes are widespread intercellular membranous bridges mediating molecular exchange among neighboring cells, yet their formation and dynamics remain largely unexplored. By combining live-...

Transcription underpins the expression of genetic information and is viewed as a series of independent initiation and termination events. In bacteria, promoters and terminators of transcription are th...

Precise regulation of gene expression ensures gene products are produced at the right time and in the right amounts. Recent works uncovered a new mechanism of bacterial gene regulation based on a clamp sliding and locking in a multi-drug resistance plasmid, RK2. KorB functions as a CTP-dependent DNA-sliding clamp capable of traveling over a long genomic distance. Sliding KorB is captured and locked in place by a partner protein, KorA, forming a stable complex at target promoters to repress transcription. Here, we show that another RK2 regulator, TrbA, also uses this clamp sliding-locking mechanism, and identify an aromatic interface enabling TrbA-KorB-mediated transcriptional repression. Our findings show how a single sliding clamp integrates multiple partners to build a complex transcriptional regulatory network.

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes are conserved ATP-driven machines that organize, compact, and segregate genomes in all domains of life. Despite variation in subunit composition and regulation, all SMC complexes share a core structure and mechanism of action. Bacteria possess two major classes of SMC complexes, SMC-ScpAB and MukBEF, which function in chromosome compaction and segregation. In addition, some bacteria contain other SMC complexes or SMC-like systems such as MksBEF, Wadjet, RecN, and SbcC, each with specialized functions. Bacterial SMC complexes coordinate genome maintenance, DNA replication, DNA repair, plasmid defense, and cell physiology. In this review, we discuss the structure and function of these bacterial SMC complexes, highlighting the shared characteristics and unique strategies employed by each.

GOOSE enables the design and testing of thousands of disordered protein region sequences to reveal distinct sequence-to-function relationships.

Title: Research Fellow in Membrane Biophysics (111600-0526). Application Deadline: . Position Type: Fixed Term

In homologous recombination, DNA repair depends on recombinase filaments finding homologous templates on chromosomes whose topology is continually remodeled by replication and transcription. How dynam...

Fluorescent proteins and small-molecule dyes offer complementary advantages for biological imaging: proteins are amenable to genetic tagging, whereas dyes provide superior brightness and photostabilit...

Bacterial gene expression depends on the coordinated regulation of RNA synthesis, processing, and decay. The conserved RNA degradosome scaffold, Ribonuclease E (RNase E), assembles into phase-separate...

A synthetic cell can now grow and divide—but it’s still far from alive

Mitochondrial function depends on the maintenance of its genome, and disruptions in copy number and distribution are hallmarks of mitochondrial disorders. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication is spat...

Bacteria often proliferate within confined spaces imposed by host tissues, extracellular matrices, or their own biofilms where cells press against ...

The Department of Molecular Microbiology is organising a one and a half day Early- Career Microbiologists Mini-Symposium. The symposium will be held from Tuesday 22nd – Wednesday 23rd September 2026.

Bacteria tune transcription bursts through early termination, enabling switch-like and gradual adaptation to nutrients.

The mutation frequency decline (Mfd) enzyme mediates transcription-coupled repair in transcribed genes by directly interacting with RNA polymerase (RNAP) during transcription of coding sequences. Howe...

Bacterial competition drives the evolution of antibacterial mechanisms, yet how new activities arise remains poorly understood. A major route to innovation is the reuse of pre-existing genetic systems, whereby conserved protein modules are repurposed in new biological contexts to generate new capabilities. Here, we show that the ParB-CTPase fold, a conserved nucleotide-binding module best known for its role in chromosome segregation, can be functionally repurposed as an antibacterial toxin. We identify ToxB, a ParB-like domain embedded within the polymorphic toxin region of contact-dependent inhibition systems and show that it functions as a potent antibacterial effector. Structural and biochemical analyses reveal that ToxB retains the core architecture of the ParB-CTPase fold but lacks DNA-binding capability and preferentially binds ATP. This shift in nucleotide specificity underpins a distinct mode of action, in which ATP binding and hydrolysis trigger rapid nucleoid compaction, chromosome segregation defects, oxidative stress, cell chaining, and ultimately cell lysis. ToxB also exhibits toxic activity in plant cells, suggesting that it targets conserved cellular processes. Together, these findings provide direct experimental evidence that the ParB-NTPase fold is biologically versatile and can be repurposed for biological roles fundamentally distinct from its ancestral function in DNA segregation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Wellcome Trust, https://ror.org/029chgv08, 221776/Z/2/Z, 227755/Z/23/Z Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, https://ror.org/00cwqg982, BB/X01097X/1 Diamond Light Source, MX32728

DeepTRACE applies machine learning to analyse long single-molecule tracks that capture multistage biological processes, enabling researchers without technical expertise to rapidly train bespoke models...

DNA damage in the tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris elicits distinct cellular outcomes depending on replication status. While non-replicating cells tolerate genotoxic stress, constitutively replicating...

Faithful chromosome segregation during bacterial replication requires global reorganization of the nucleoid, where Structural Maintenance of Chromo...

Spatially regulated membrane constriction is an important milestone in reconstituting minimal cell division. Here the authors engineer a truncated system where the cytosolic domain of FtsN forms large...

The mechanisms underlying bacterial chromosome configuration are not fully understood. Here, Spahn et al. show that the Escherichia coli nucleoid adopts a condensed, membrane-proximal configuration during rapid growth, with transcription and translation acting as main drivers of nucleoid organization.