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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Please have a look at our review on a very interesting and underappreciated group of proteins... Getting a grip on StAR-related lipid-transfer (START) domain proteins in bacteria academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...

academic.oup.com

Getting a grip on StAR-related lipid-transfer (START) domain proteins in bacteria

Bacterial START domain proteins have a conserved helix-grip fold, but diverge from mammalian lipid transporters by utilizing a more versatile array of proc

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/s... And after the human genome he reinvented himself as a microbiologists! See also the picture. He received the Leeuwenhoek award for this work.

nytimes.com

J. Craig Venter, Scientist Who Decoded the Human Genome, Dies at 79

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bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A Type VII-secreted toxin enables inter-mycobacterial competition www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

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AliciaDWright @aliciadwright.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

🧐”Study reveals how #tuberculosis exploits immune defenses to promote infection.” 🔗to study published in Science Immunology ⬇️ Mycobacterial α-glucans hijack dectin-1 to facilitate intracellular bacterial survival www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Mycobacterial α-glucans hijack dectin-1 to facilitate intracellular bacterial survival

Mycobacterial α-glucans target dectin-1, altering phagosomal maturation and enhancing intracellular bacterial survival.

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Catalin Bunduc @catalinbunduc.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

🚨PhD position alert🚨 🔬Cryo-EM? ✅ 🧫Membrane proteins? - we've got 165 TMs for you! ✅ Join me and the team👥 in beautiful Amsterdam🚴 to untangle the amazing mycobacterial protein secretion machinery! 📝Apply here: tinyurl.com/mmxnfpnw 📆Deadline: 23 January #PhDstudent #T7SS #cryoEM #newPI

tinyurl.com

Vacature — PhD candidate; Mechanism and assembly of type VII secretion system machineries

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated PhD candidate to join Dr. Catalin Bunduc’s team in the Molecular Microbiology Section of the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE).

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

The exact role of LpqZ and FecB in functioning or these two arabinosyltransfreases still has to be elucidated.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Frameshift mutations in these genes have a major effect on antibiotic sensitivity, indicating cell envelope alterations. Pulldown experiments indicated that these two proteins in fact do something completely different, they interact with AftA and AftB involved in arabinogalactan biosynthesis.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

FecB and LpqZ, are two proteins belonging to periplasmic substrate binding protein family and FecB was implicated in iron transport. However.... they are not in operon with the rest of genes coding for the transporter system.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Of course I like all the papers that we publish, but this is actually a very cool story, a great example of 'bush mechanics' in mycobacteria. A new role for lipoproteins LpqZ and FecB in orchestrating mycobacterial cell envelope biogenesis | mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

journals.asm.org

A new role for lipoproteins LpqZ and FecB in orchestrating mycobacterial cell envelope biogenesis | mBio

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains the world’s deadliest bacterial infection, in part because the bacterium’s unique cell envelope makes it highly resistant to antibioti...

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Rémi Fronzes @fronzeslab.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Our latest T7SS study is now out in Science Advances! We solved the cryoEM structure of the T7SSb core unit (T7bCU) composed of YukB, YukC, and YukD from Bacillus subtilis, revealing how these components assemble within the secretion machinery. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

A ubiquitin-like protein controls assembly of a bacterial type VIIb secretion system

Cryo-EM structure reveals how a ubiquitin-like protein orchestrates assembly of a bacterial weapon system.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

in fact, people with Sg bacteremia are usually screened for a missed colon cancer. If this would be true for other cancer, you would expect similar associations and they are mostly just not there.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Point in case is S. gallolyticus that is associated with colon cancer (a cancer type where microbes do get a foothold, for obvious reasons). People with colon cancer often get bacteriemia with this bacterium.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

still skeptical.... The crucial point is that, if bacteria get a foothold, like in a privileged site in a tumor, they will grow out and cause local and systemic problems.

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SFM Microbial Pathogenesis @sfmpathogenesis.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Two M. tuberculosis RelE toxins don’t cut mRNA, they slice 16S rRNA itself, shutting down translation in a totally unexpected way, new study reveals. A big leap in understanding TB’s survival tricks and new angles for therapies. 📖 shorturl.at/Z8MVX ✍️ @genevauxpierre.bsky.social & coll. #MicroSky

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Joe Neilands, that brings back very old memories.. one of my first (wonderful) foreign lab visits. I left the siderophore field some time ago… good luck finding someone

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

PPE51 is one of the best candidates to form a MOM transport channel. However, our data indicate that it is not that simple. PPE51 mutations in Mmarinum (4 close homologs) indeed reduce the growth on glycerol & glucose, but also highly increase permeability.. and no, we do not fully understand this

journals.asm.org

PPE51 modulates membrane integrity in Mycobacterium marinum | mBio

The impermeable outer membrane of pathogenic mycobacteria presents a major obstacle to nutrient acquisition and antibiotic penetration. PPE51, a substrate of the ESX-5 secretion system, has previously...

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

A nice example of evolutionary ‘bush mechanics’ we ran into, two periplasmic substrate binding proteins have been reused for a completely different role in mycobacteria

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Heran Darwin, PhD @heran.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The #GRCMyco2025 group photo is now in everyone's mygrc folder! It was VERY sunny....

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ᐯIᑕTOᖇ ᑎIᘔET, ᗰᗪ @nizet.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Krista Freeman et al 𝘊𝘌𝘓𝘓 stunning atomic-level imaging (Cryo-EM, cryo-ET) reveals how 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐞 Bxb1 reshapes its tail tip to breach the mycobacterial cell wall and deliver DNA to the cytoplasm can inform precise targeted phage therapies for TB and NTM infections www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Congratulations Cornelia and enjoy this very special occasion!

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Especially the coiled-coil domain is intriguing…

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ASM @asm.org · 20/02/2025

For all its prominence in research, E. coli is a blip in a rich microbial world. Scientists are rethinking our infatuation with microbiology’s superstar and considering what can—and should—constitute a model organism going forward. Read the article: asm.org/Articles/202...

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Tom Scriba @tomscriba.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Stopping clinical trials with such haste is unethical and potentially dangerous and violates the very principles that all who conduct interventional studies must adhere to. It is sad and exposes ignorance and a complete lack of respect for people!

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Augustinas Silale @augustsilale.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

New preprint 🚨: with @madejmar.bsky.social we found that the Bacteroidetes beta-barrel assembly machinery is quite different to E. coli. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #cryo-EM

Comparison of B. theta and E. coli BAM machineries. Only BamAD components are shared, and B. theta BAM has five novel components, BamF-I.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Last ever lecture in the infamous W&N building at the VU Amsterdam…apparently it had one of the longest hallways in the Netherlands, 250 meter.

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Hassan Salem @hassansalem.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

How do animals compensate for trait loss? In beetles, symbiosis is a consistent strategy. Where the repeated loss of endogenous digestive enzymes is offset by functionally convergent symbioses: www.cell.com/current-biol... Excited to share our latest, out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social!

Symbiotic leaf beetles and the organs that allow them to stably maintain beneficial microbes.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I can also ask around in our university if you are interested, cool research

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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 04/10/2024

Researchers have engineered symbiotic associations between fungal cells and introduced organelles in an effort to explore how endosymbiosis might have given rise to eukaryotic cells. 🌱🐋🧪🦫🧠 #Evolbio

nature.com

Is this how complex life evolved? Experiment that put bacteria inside fungi offers clues

Biologists created a symbiotic system that hints at how cell features such as mitochondria and chloroplasts might have emerged a billion years ago.

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

great work, is this part already published?

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Megan Sorensen @messorensen.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Out today! Our review on the current evidence of protein import into endosymbionts/early organelles. We cover protists, insects and plant systems, so something for everybody! With Mygg Stiller, Lena Kröninger and Eva Nowack. #protistsonsky #SymbioSky febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

FEBS Press

The acquisition of bacterial endosymbionts by ancient host cells followed by massive adaptation of the partners gave rise to mitochondria and plastids. Today, various systems with younger and less in...

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I would like to propose our methane-eating mycobacterium that lives in a cave biofilm of pH 1 dwelling on volcanic gasses. Other methanotrophs apparently can not survive here (just like most other life forms). But surely hundreds of other microbes also have insane lifestyles.

vu.nl

Methane-eating relative of tuberculosis bacteria found in cave - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

An international team of scientists discovered new unique bacteria living on the walls of a cave in Romania, using methane as their only source of food.

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Heran Darwin, PhD @heran.bsky.social · 17/05/2024

If you're interested in learning about the latest of fundamental mycobacteriology, sign up for #GRCMyco2025! Acceptances will start in September, check out the full program and please RT!

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Olivier Neyrolles @oneyrolles.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

I made a Starter Pack for the Myco & TB community. Hope to find more good friends here on Bluesky to keep in touch about mycobacterial infections. Please join and repost! go.bsky.app/3nwpcVV

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Together with Abdallah and Qingtian we just published this pan-genome analysis for M. marinum. I think it is a nice catalog, but standing out for me was the variation in the cpnT gene and the fact that ESX-2 is present in the majority of the M. marinum strains, just not in the type strain M...

nature.com

Comprehensive pan-genome analysis of Mycobacterium marinum: insights into genomic diversity, evolution, and pathogenicity - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Comprehensive pan-genome analysis of Mycobacterium marinum: insights into genomic diversity, evolution, and pathogenicity

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Wilbert Bitter @wilbertbitter.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Hello, I also switched to Blue and already was welcomed by some friends, thank you! Let's hope this platform will stay safe......

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