Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab
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bstevensonlab.bsky.social
Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab
@bstevensonlab.bsky.social
Mostly about bacterial gene/protein regulation & function, esp. with Borrelia burgdorferi and Lyme disease. Professor at U Kentucky, views are my own. He/him
Lab= http://microscopist.net/Stevenson_Lab.html
UK= https://medicine.uky.edu/users/bstev0
Pinned
Recently interviewed by Mark Martin for his “Matters Microbial” podcast!

m.youtube.com/watch?si=O6w...
Matters Microbial #31: Spirochetes do things...differently
Today, Dr. Brian Stevenson of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss a twisty twirling form of life, spirochetes,...
m.youtube.com
Borrelia mayonii induces carditis but not arthritis in Lyme-susceptible mice

from Cleveland, Wijetunga, Casselli, Tourand, Pecoraro, and Brissette
@brissettelab.bsky.social

www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...

#MicroSky
February 9, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Starvation-independent alarmone production inhibits translation through GTP depletion in Bacillus

#MicroSky
Starvation-independent alarmone production inhibits translation through GTP depletion https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.12.699007v1
February 7, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Seema Mattoo on Bordetella pertussis and whooping cough!

Matters Microbial,
@mattoolab.bsky.social
@markowenmartin.bsky.social

#MicroSky
New from Matters Microbial— episode 123: What Whooping Cough Can Teach Us

Dr. Seema Mattoo joins @markowenmartin.bsky.social to discuss the fascinating molecular genetics of the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which can cause the human disease whooping cough. 🔗⬇️
Matters Microbial #123: What Whooping Cough Can Teach US
YouTube video by MicrobeTV
youtu.be
February 6, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Postdoc memories (sort of)

"Green Light", 1937, is partially set in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, deals with tick-borne disease. It includes shots of my old lab home at Rocky Mountain Labs, Hamilton. The lab itself looks almost identical to when I was there, 1994-1998. The film stars Errol Flynn.
February 6, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Comparative genomics of Borrelia lusitaniae

Complete genome sequences of three isolates. Each has very few plasmids. A most unusual feature is that their important cp26 plasmids are partially degraded dimers, carrying multiple, distinct ospC genes.

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

#MicroSky
Comparative genomics of Borrelia lusitaniae
Abstract. Human Lyme disease is a frequent tick-borne human disease that is caused by several species in the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (BBSL) clade o
academic.oup.com
February 5, 2026 at 4:22 PM
The new US budget includes funding for the Tick-Borne Disease Research Program of the CDMRP.
Details on the program and requests for applications to be announced soon.

cdmrp.health.mil/pubs/press/2...

#MicroSky
February 5, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Leptospira interrogans produces effectors, structurally related to toxin-like proteins, that modulate calcium homeostasis and disrupt cell-cell junctions, thereby allowing translocation across epithelium barriers, tissue colonization and pathogenicity.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41634022/

#MicroSky
February 4, 2026 at 3:43 PM
A 5500-year-old Treponema pallidum genome from Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia

"This genome falls outside of known T. pallidum lineages today, but it has many genetic hallmarks associated with virulence in modern pathogens of these subspecies"

Science
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41570125/

#MicroSky
February 3, 2026 at 5:21 PM
On restriction systems among Lyme spirochetes:

"Comparative analysis of Borrelia's Defence mechanisms and their impact on genetic manipulation of low-passage isolates of Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii"

by Ruivo and colleagues
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41551585/

#Microsky
February 2, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Peptidoglycan architecture dictates protein interactions, tissue tropism, and arthritis in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

Exciting new research from @jutraslab.bsky.social

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

#MicroSky
Peptidoglycan architecture dictates protein interactions, tissue tropism, and arthritis in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi
Author summary Many of the pathogenic mechanisms by which Borrelia burgdorferi causes disease involve cell envelope interactions with host components. To further elucidate the role of peptidoglycan in...
journals.plos.org
January 29, 2026 at 8:25 PM
The Originals.
Attendees of last weeks Spirochete GRC who were also at the first edition in 1994 (noting at least 2 people who missed the photo)
@wolfzueckert.bsky.social
@therealjskare.bsky.social
January 29, 2026 at 5:58 PM
2026 Biology of Spirochetes Gordon Conference wrapped up. Photo of the 4 of us who have attended every Spirochete GRC, which began in 1994. A long, strange trip so far, and may we continue to solve many more mysteries!
Scott, Jon, me, and Wolf
@therealjskare.bsky.social
@wolfzueckert.bsky.social
January 23, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Temperate phage evolve to integrate host stress and quorum signals in lysis–lysogeny decisions
(In Bacillus spp)
#MicroSky
#PhageSky
Temperate phage evolve to integrate host stress and quorum signals in lysis–lysogeny decisions @PLOSBiology.org
Temperate phage evolve to integrate host stress and quorum signals in lysis–lysogeny decisions
by John B. Bruce, Robyn Manley, Elvina Smith, Philippe Carmona, Sylvain Gandon, Edze R. Westra Temperate phage can transmit both horizontally (lytic cycle) and vertically (lysogenic cycle). Many temperate phage have the ability to modify their lysis/lysogeny decisions based on various environmental cues. For instance, many prophage are known to reactivate when SOS stress responses of their host are triggered. Temperate phage infecting Bacilli can also use peptide signals (“arbitrium”) to control their lysis/lysogeny decisions. However, information from the arbitrium and SOS systems can be potentially conflicting, and it is unclear how phage integrate information carried by these two different signals when making lysis–lysogeny decisions. Here, we use evolutionary epidemiology theory to explore how phage could evolve to use both systems to modulate lysis/lysogeny decisions in a fluctuating environment. Our model predicts that it can be adaptive for phage to respond to both host SOS systems and arbitrium signaling, as they provide complementary information on the quality of the infected host and the availability of alternative hosts. Using the phage phi3T and its host Bacillus subtilis, we show that during lytic infection and as prophage, lysis–lysogeny decisions rely on the integration of information on host condition and arbitrium signal concentrations. For example, free-phage are more likely to lysogenise a stressed host, and prophage are less likely to abandon a stressed host, when high arbitrium concentrations suggest susceptible hosts are unavailable. These experimental results are consistent with our theoretical predictions and demonstrate that phage can evolve plastic life-history strategies to adjust their infection dynamics to account for both the within-host environment (host quality) and the external environment that exists outside of their host (availability of susceptible hosts in the population). More generally, our work yields a new theoretical framework to study the evolution of viral plasticity under the influence of multiple environmental cues.
dlvr.it
January 19, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Looking forward to seeing good friends and colleagues at the Biology of Spiochetes Gordon Conference, beginning this Sunday!
Sadly, not on the beach in Ventura, but inland in Pomona, California

www.grc.org/biology-of-s...

#MicroSky
January 16, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Lipid scavenging by the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

By Peter Gwynne and colleagues

#MicroSky
January 15, 2026 at 4:26 AM
Curious job application letter today, which included:
"I am particularly interested in your recent work on integrated proteogenomic and immunopeptidomic analyses to understand host–pathogen and tumor–immune interactions (e.g., Cell, 2020; Nature Communications, 2020)"

Not my research, not my papers
I Think You Have The Wrong Number Mike GIF
Alt: I Think You Have The Wrong Number Mike GIF
media.tenor.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Happy Holidays to all !

(Image source not known)
December 25, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Recent news brings back memories of friend and colleague Nate Nieto, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 44, in 2019. This disease has cut short many lives.
Nate was well known in the tick-borne disease community, particularly for his “citizen science” approaches.
#MicroSky
#TickSky
December 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Phage-encoded small RNA hijacks host replication machinery to support the phage lytic cycle

#MicroSky
December 19, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Received notice of new grant funding today!
The lab can continue to operate for another couple of years!
Thanks, GLA
#MicroSky
a man is dancing on a dance floor with the words " staying alive " below him
ALT: a man is dancing on a dance floor with the words " staying alive " below him
media.tenor.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
HLp, a bacterial "histone" from the spirochete Leptospira perolatii

#MicroSky
Happy to share that our work on HLp, a bacterial histone from Leptospira perolatii, is now published in Nature Communications 🎉

In this study, we show that HLp forms stable tetramers that wrap ~60 bp of DNA, revealing a distinct histone–DNA organization in bacteria.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Congratulations to Reddy Palli, Ph.D., Chair of the UK Dept. of Entomology (one of my depts), for being named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, in recognition of his studies on RNA interference to kill insect pests and fight insecticide resistance.

uknow.uky.edu/professional...
UK’s Palli named 2025 National Academy of Inventors Fellow
Subba Reddy Palli is internationally recognized for his research on RNA interference technology that kills insect pests and fights insecticide resistance.
uknow.uky.edu
December 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms

#MicroSky
Confused by all the histones that are cropping up in organisms that are decidedly NOT eukaryotes? check out our review - fantastic work by team NucEvo in the #Lugerlab
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
December 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Bacteriophage genome-wide transposon mutagenesis

#MicroSky
#PhageSky
Phages are full of genes of unknown function that are likely adaptive in specific conditions.
New preprint: Phage TnSeq identifies essential genes rapidly and knocks all non-essentials. We would like to send a pool of phiKZ mutants to anyone wanting it! Reach out
tinyurl.com/bdcfrejh
December 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM