(not) Imran Khan
@imrsankhan.bsky.social
UCC. Staph man. Insane for the membrane. He/Him.
Pinned
(not) Imran Khan
@imrsankhan.bsky.social
· Sep 30
Defined roles for the Staphylococcus aureus POT transporter DtpT in di/tripeptide uptake and glutathione utilisation inside human macrophages
Author summary The environments where bacterial pathogens thrive are often rich in proteins and their degradation products, including oligopeptides, which can be taken up by the bacterium and used as ...
journals.plos.org
Our work deciphering the substrate preferences of a di-/tripeptide transporter from S. aureus is now available as a proof at @plos.org Pathogens! Big thanks to the reviewers and to all the brilliant co-authors, particularly Callum who helped get those last few crucial experiments across the line
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
#ISMEJournal paper from Simon Heilbronner
Competitive fitness of Staphylococcus aureus against nasal commensals depends on biotin biosynthesis and acquisition
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Competitive fitness of Staphylococcus aureus against nasal commensals depends on biotin biosynthesis and acquisition
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Competitive fitness of Staphylococcus aureus against nasal commensals depends on biotin biosynthesis and acquisition
Abstract. The human nasal microbiome can serve as a reservoir for pathogens. In particular, the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus can be a membe
academic.oup.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 AM
#ISMEJournal paper from Simon Heilbronner
Competitive fitness of Staphylococcus aureus against nasal commensals depends on biotin biosynthesis and acquisition
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Competitive fitness of Staphylococcus aureus against nasal commensals depends on biotin biosynthesis and acquisition
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Both the UCC and Bristol based lab members getting together in person at the Irish Division @microbiologysociety.org meeting.
November 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Both the UCC and Bristol based lab members getting together in person at the Irish Division @microbiologysociety.org meeting.
New tricks for OppA! Very exciting work
🚨Our paper is out! 🥳
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion.
Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
it all started years ago with a failed experiment
🧵👇 1/9
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion.
Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
it all started years ago with a failed experiment
🧵👇 1/9
Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for genetic code expansion - Nature
Bacterial ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters can be utilized and engineered to transport non-canonical amino acids into Escherichia coli for highly efficient synthesis of proteins with novel func...
www.nature.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:15 PM
New tricks for OppA! Very exciting work
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
#microsky #microbiome from the @gavinhthomas.bsky.social lab in York in collab with Hull
#microsky #microbiome from the @gavinhthomas.bsky.social lab in York in collab with Hull
High-resolution Staphylococcus profiling reveals intra-species diversity in a single skin niche
The skin microbiome is dominated by a few key genera, among which Staphylococcus is one of the most well characterized. Recent studies have examined the roles of various Staphylococcus species such as...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
October 11, 2025 at 7:35 AM
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
#microsky #microbiome from the @gavinhthomas.bsky.social lab in York in collab with Hull
#microsky #microbiome from the @gavinhthomas.bsky.social lab in York in collab with Hull
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Very happy to share some more good news. Our collaboration with Jeffrey Boyd's lab is now published at J Inorganic Biochemistry! Here, Jeff found that iron limitation reprograms S. aureus metabolism towards fermentation. We're grateful to be part of this study.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Fermentative growth decreases the iron demand of Staphylococcus aureus
Iron (Fe) is an essential nutrient for S. aureus survivability and pathogenesis, but excess Fe can catalyze the formation of toxic oxygen radicals, em…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Very happy to share some more good news. Our collaboration with Jeffrey Boyd's lab is now published at J Inorganic Biochemistry! Here, Jeff found that iron limitation reprograms S. aureus metabolism towards fermentation. We're grateful to be part of this study.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our work deciphering the substrate preferences of a di-/tripeptide transporter from S. aureus is now available as a proof at @plos.org Pathogens! Big thanks to the reviewers and to all the brilliant co-authors, particularly Callum who helped get those last few crucial experiments across the line
Defined roles for the Staphylococcus aureus POT transporter DtpT in di/tripeptide uptake and glutathione utilisation inside human macrophages
Author summary The environments where bacterial pathogens thrive are often rich in proteins and their degradation products, including oligopeptides, which can be taken up by the bacterium and used as ...
journals.plos.org
September 30, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Our work deciphering the substrate preferences of a di-/tripeptide transporter from S. aureus is now available as a proof at @plos.org Pathogens! Big thanks to the reviewers and to all the brilliant co-authors, particularly Callum who helped get those last few crucial experiments across the line
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
#NewResearch
Nasal colonisation by S. aureus is linked with depression in a human cohort and shown in a mouse model to cause decreased serotonin and dopamine in the brain
#MicroSky #Depression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nasal colonisation by S. aureus is linked with depression in a human cohort and shown in a mouse model to cause decreased serotonin and dopamine in the brain
#MicroSky #Depression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage promotes depressive behaviour in mice via sex hormone degradation - Nature Microbiology
Nasal colonization by Staphylococcus aureus is linked with depression in a human cohort and shown in a mouse model to cause decreased serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
www.nature.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:27 PM
#NewResearch
Nasal colonisation by S. aureus is linked with depression in a human cohort and shown in a mouse model to cause decreased serotonin and dopamine in the brain
#MicroSky #Depression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nasal colonisation by S. aureus is linked with depression in a human cohort and shown in a mouse model to cause decreased serotonin and dopamine in the brain
#MicroSky #Depression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Latest from Lizzie Ledger in the lab…. Very cool story demonstrating the cross reactivity of a single AMR mechanism to confer resistance/tolerance to two distinct classes of antibiotics.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Expression of mecA increases daptomycin tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus | mBio
The incidence of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is on a steady incline in many parts of the world. Given the associated
mortality rates have changed little in the last 10 years, this is a major heal...
journals.asm.org
September 22, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Latest from Lizzie Ledger in the lab…. Very cool story demonstrating the cross reactivity of a single AMR mechanism to confer resistance/tolerance to two distinct classes of antibiotics.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Awesome story!
So excited our antibiotic potentiation story is out 🤩 Led by the extraordinary @manonlang.bsky.social with @fox-science.bsky.social & @amazeld.bsky.social +amazing collaborators @immunobladder.bsky.social @imaneelmeouche.bsky.social 🦠 We believe it can make a difference in #AMR infections!
Uridine as a potentiator of aminoglycosides through activation of carbohydrate transporters
Uridine boosts aminoglycoside treatment efficiency against antibiotic-susceptible as well as antibiotic-resistant E. coli strains.
www.science.org
September 6, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Awesome story!
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.
Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence - Nature
Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.
Great work from Nathan and the team!
New work from the lab, lead by Nathan Palk and supported by Tarcisio Brignoli and Marcia Boura…. None of which are on here!
If you like S. aureus, toxin production and two component regulatory systems, you’ll like this:
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
If you like S. aureus, toxin production and two component regulatory systems, you’ll like this:
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Phosphate sensing by PhoPR regulates the cytotoxicity of Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus has evolved a complex regulatory network to coordinate expression of virulence factors, including cytolytic toxins, with host environmental signals. Central to this network are t...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
September 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Great work from Nathan and the team!
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Ed Tate, Nate Traaseth and many others!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Small molecule inhibitors of the NorA multidrug efflux pump potentiate antibiotic activity by binding the outward-open conformation
Antibiotic resistance is among the greatest threats of the modern era. Multidrug efflux pumps expel antibiotics from bacterial cells and present a particular challenge by conferring resistance to a br...
www.biorxiv.org
August 23, 2025 at 11:24 AM
New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Ed Tate, Nate Traaseth and many others!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Also proud to see some work from my friends (and former labmates!) Naz and Lucy published today! Very cool insights into the importance of nucleotide signalling in S. aureus infection. Congrats to @corrigar.bsky.social and all the authors on this cool work :)
Determining the importance of the stringent response for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus virulence in vivo - PubMed
The stringent response is a stress signalling pathway with links to bacterial virulence. This pathway is controlled by the nucleotide alarmone (p)ppGpp, produced in Staphylococcus aureus by three synt...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
August 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Also proud to see some work from my friends (and former labmates!) Naz and Lucy published today! Very cool insights into the importance of nucleotide signalling in S. aureus infection. Congrats to @corrigar.bsky.social and all the authors on this cool work :)
Great to see Sigurbjorn's work on polyamine transport out now in Nature! Great work from a great scientist
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SLC45A4 is a pain gene encoding a neuronal polyamine transporter - Nature
The SLC45A4 gene encodes a neuronal polyamine transporter and is linked to pain response in humans and mice.
www.nature.com
August 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Great to see Sigurbjorn's work on polyamine transport out now in Nature! Great work from a great scientist
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Really pleased to share some recent work from our lab now published in Comms Bio. Here, we’ve identified and characterised a peculiar TRAP transporter binding protein from B. pertussis that we think uses a membrane component from a completely different transporter family.
rdcu.be/eAr8v
rdcu.be/eAr8v
A new class of binding-protein dependent solute transporter exemplified by the TAXI-GltS system from Bordetella pertussis
Communications Biology - Identification and characterization of an unusual tri-domain TRAP transporter binding protein from Bordetella pertussis reveals insight into the diversity of binding...
rdcu.be
August 18, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Really pleased to share some recent work from our lab now published in Comms Bio. Here, we’ve identified and characterised a peculiar TRAP transporter binding protein from B. pertussis that we think uses a membrane component from a completely different transporter family.
rdcu.be/eAr8v
rdcu.be/eAr8v
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Out now!
🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation
By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co
#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation
By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co
#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology
An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...
www.nature.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Out now!
🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation
By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co
#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation
By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co
#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪
Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
A cool use of DALI/FoldSeek building on new human HG-SNAT protein enabled Bethan Kinniment-Williams & co., to structural unify the TmAT superfamily of membrane-bound acyltransferases first proposed by Milton Saier Jnr in TCDB. @jnb-lab.bsky.social
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Structural unification of diverse transmembrane acyltransferases reveals a conserved fold for the Transmembrane Acyl Transferase (TmAT) superfamily
The movement of acyl groups across biological membranes is essential for many cellular
processes. One major family of proteins catalysing this reaction are the acyl transferase
family 3 (AT3) proteins...
www.jbc.org
August 12, 2025 at 8:16 PM
A cool use of DALI/FoldSeek building on new human HG-SNAT protein enabled Bethan Kinniment-Williams & co., to structural unify the TmAT superfamily of membrane-bound acyltransferases first proposed by Milton Saier Jnr in TCDB. @jnb-lab.bsky.social
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Very important new paper regarding amino acid acquisition inside staph-infected macrophages! Key role for BCAAs + nice evidence that host cell nutrients can be conveyed to bacteria in the phagosome to facilitate growth... Big implications for host-path interactions. Great work!
Inactivation of branched-chain amino acid uptake halts Staphylococcus aureus growth and induces bacterial quiescence within macrophages
Author summary Staphylococcus aureus is a prominent human pathogen causing acute and chronic disease. It is facultatively intracellular and can reside within many host cell types, including profession...
journals.plos.org
August 9, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Very important new paper regarding amino acid acquisition inside staph-infected macrophages! Key role for BCAAs + nice evidence that host cell nutrients can be conveyed to bacteria in the phagosome to facilitate growth... Big implications for host-path interactions. Great work!
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
A single transcriptional regulator is crucial for the adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to diverse niches https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.01.668060v1
August 2, 2025 at 4:17 AM
A single transcriptional regulator is crucial for the adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to diverse niches https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.01.668060v1
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Pleased to share our latest study @natcomms.nature.com! We show that the host metabolites fumarate and itaconate impose selective pressure on Staphylococcus aureus, driving its adaptation via the enzyme FumC. Grateful to all who contributed to this work!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Regulation of airway fumarate by host and pathogen promotes Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia - Nature Communications
This study reveals how the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus adapts to the lung microenvironment, rich in host metabolites fumarate and itaconate, by using a key enzyme, FumC, to support its metabolic fi...
www.nature.com
August 1, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Pleased to share our latest study @natcomms.nature.com! We show that the host metabolites fumarate and itaconate impose selective pressure on Staphylococcus aureus, driving its adaptation via the enzyme FumC. Grateful to all who contributed to this work!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Exciting new paper from Wonsik Lee's group in Korea, using TnSeq to study gene essentiality in various intracellular and extracellular infection niches of S aureus. Loads of cool insights into metabolism and nutrient acquisition in the host
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Environmental cues in different host niches shape the survival fitness of Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Communications
Staphylococcus aureus adapts to diverse host environments during infection. Here, the authors use transposon sequencing to reveal niche-specific genes and identify 27 core genes required for S. aureus...
www.nature.com
August 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Exciting new paper from Wonsik Lee's group in Korea, using TnSeq to study gene essentiality in various intracellular and extracellular infection niches of S aureus. Loads of cool insights into metabolism and nutrient acquisition in the host
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Just seen this very clever paper from Alex O'Neill's group at Leeds. Systematic approaches to identify routes of antibiotic uptake in S. aureus and E. coli! As someone who never believed the dogma of passive diffusion, I feel very vindicated.. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40631918/
Carrier-mediated transport as a common route of antibiotic ingress into bacteria - PubMed
Increasing antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria is undermining our ability to treat infection, and new antibacterial drugs are urgently needed to address the problem. One of the most signif...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
July 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Just seen this very clever paper from Alex O'Neill's group at Leeds. Systematic approaches to identify routes of antibiotic uptake in S. aureus and E. coli! As someone who never believed the dogma of passive diffusion, I feel very vindicated.. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40631918/
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Commensal to pathogen switch in Streptococcus pneumoniae is governed by a thermosensing master regulator https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.23.655729v1
May 24, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Commensal to pathogen switch in Streptococcus pneumoniae is governed by a thermosensing master regulator https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.23.655729v1
Reposted by (not) Imran Khan
Cool work by the group of Natalia Korotkova demonstrating glycosylation of some of our favorite proteins like PBP1a, MapZ and RodZ! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glycosylation of serine/threonine-rich intrinsically disordered regions of membrane-associated proteins in streptococci - Nature Communications
Here, the authors identify mechanisms of glycosylation of intrinsically disordered regions present in streptococci membrane proteins, uncovering a functional role for glycosylation in Streptococcus mu...
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Cool work by the group of Natalia Korotkova demonstrating glycosylation of some of our favorite proteins like PBP1a, MapZ and RodZ! www.nature.com/articles/s41...