work with us at the evolutionary genomics lab

RNA modifications play an important role in biological processes. Mapping the diversity of RNA chemistry and studying the biological function of in...

Applications are invited for an Assistant or Associate Professorship in Pathogen Genetics to be held in the Department of Genetics. We are searching for a talented individual with a track record of fu...

Job Description The Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech seeks applicants for two (2) tenure-track research and teaching positions at the Assistant/Associate ...

Plasmids drive bacterial adaptation, but how their diversity arises has remained unclear. Here, they show that in Staphylococcus aureus, mobile genetic elements repeatedly fuse and delete plasmids, re...

In the nervous system, aging causes deterioration of cellular and molecular processes that are associated with declines in cognition, sensory perception, and motor coordination. Aging is also the strongest risk factor for neurodegenerative disease, yet the mechanisms by which aging predisposes neurons to dysfunction remain incompletely understood. While genomic instability, proteostasis decline, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic inflammation have dominated prevailing models, recent evidence highlights RNA dysregulation as a central component of age-associated decline. In this review, we summarize recent findings suggesting that aging progressively erodes RNA regulatory fidelity through alterations in RNA-binding protein abundance, localization, biophysical behavior, and RNA interactions. We argue that age-dependent RNA dysregulation represents an important mechanism that converges with genetic risk to drive neuronal vulnerability and neurodegeneration.

University of California, San Francisco Online Faculty Recruitment

Title: Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Biology Work Location: Amherst Schedule: Full Time Work A...

Clostridioides difficile is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. This pathogen produces toxins essential for disease and flagella that promote intestinal colonization. Flagella and toxins ...

The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

How do bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics? Drawing on evidence from experimental evolution, pathogen genomics, and molecular microbiology, this Essay argues that the evolution of antibiotic res...

EMBL Hamburg / CSSB The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organization, with more than 110 independent research groups across Heidelberg, Hamburg, Grenobl...

The Department of Biology at ETH Zurich invites applications for the above-mentioned tenured professorship at the Institute of Biochemistry

Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are key players in bacterial adaptation to stress. They often occupy central positions in regulatory networks and control the expression of multiple targets. In a strikin...

npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - Increased temperature selects for antibiotic resistance genes in a model aquatic ecosystem

A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.

Although fungi and bacteria commonly co-exist within polymicrobial communities, the molecular mechanisms underlying their interactions are still not well understood. Here, we show that the fungus Cand...

H-NS is an abundant nucleoid-associated protein found in Enterobacterales species. Some conjugative plasmids encode H-NS homologues, which are thought to facilitate plasmid maintenance and reduce the ...

npj Science of Food - Riboswitch-targeted improvement of lysine production in Bacillus and Priestia species

The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…

npj Biofilms and Microbiomes - Decoding phage communication: molecular networks, evolutionary dynamics, and therapeutic applications

npj Biofilms and Microbiomes - MeeY and YybP, two proteins regulated by manganese-sensing riboswitches, are required for Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation

Copper is a critical micronutrient for bacteria; however, it is toxic in excess. This leads to the cell having tightly regulated import and export systems to prevent intoxication while having sufficient copper for cellular needs. Copper export has been well studied, but copper import and the effects of copper starvation are less defined. In this article, we characterize the Bacillus subtilis high-affinity copper importer YcnJ. We show that under copper limitation, the cell is deficient in copper-containing oxidases, which leads to respiratory defects. Copper imported by YcnJ is proposed to function in a pathway with other proteins implicated in the assembly of respiratory oxidases. More generally, this work contributes to the underexplored area of copper import and trafficking in bacteria.