Jose A Escudero
@jaescudero.bsky.social
Scientist interested in #integrons, antimicrobial resistance and the molecular basis of adaptation. Working at at Univ. Complutense (http://ucm.es/mbalab).
A pleasure to read, as all Andreas Wagner’s books. They always shake some of the pillars that support my view of things.
I highly recommend reading all of them, especially to young scientists. In Sleeping beauties I particularly enjoyed the mix with neuropsychology.
I highly recommend reading all of them, especially to young scientists. In Sleeping beauties I particularly enjoyed the mix with neuropsychology.
August 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
A pleasure to read, as all Andreas Wagner’s books. They always shake some of the pillars that support my view of things.
I highly recommend reading all of them, especially to young scientists. In Sleeping beauties I particularly enjoyed the mix with neuropsychology.
I highly recommend reading all of them, especially to young scientists. In Sleeping beauties I particularly enjoyed the mix with neuropsychology.
My summer read. Well, actually not sure it will make it to August untouched…
July 14, 2025 at 8:39 PM
My summer read. Well, actually not sure it will make it to August untouched…
An important aspect of our work is that the super successful "guilt by association" rationale does not work for Mobile Integrons, where most cassettes are AMR genes.
May 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
An important aspect of our work is that the super successful "guilt by association" rationale does not work for Mobile Integrons, where most cassettes are AMR genes.
They can also combine BRiCs with other BRiCs and AMR cassettes providing multi-phage/drug resistance.
So the take home message is:
Integrons are Mobile low-cost defense islands.
So the take home message is:
Integrons are Mobile low-cost defense islands.
May 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
They can also combine BRiCs with other BRiCs and AMR cassettes providing multi-phage/drug resistance.
So the take home message is:
Integrons are Mobile low-cost defense islands.
So the take home message is:
Integrons are Mobile low-cost defense islands.
The cost of BRiCs is variable and dependent on the genetic context, which can be very important in their spread. Additionally, Integrons can fiddle around with cassettes in the array to modulate the cost of defense systems.
May 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The cost of BRiCs is variable and dependent on the genetic context, which can be very important in their spread. Additionally, Integrons can fiddle around with cassettes in the array to modulate the cost of defense systems.
Now the science!! (no pun intended):
we have found 47 phage defense systems among gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus). Most (43) of these Bacteriophage Resistance integron Cassettes (BRiCs) are novel, they are mobile, and many work in key pathogens from the #ESKAPEE group 💣 #phagetherapy ‼️
we have found 47 phage defense systems among gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus). Most (43) of these Bacteriophage Resistance integron Cassettes (BRiCs) are novel, they are mobile, and many work in key pathogens from the #ESKAPEE group 💣 #phagetherapy ‼️
May 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Now the science!! (no pun intended):
we have found 47 phage defense systems among gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus). Most (43) of these Bacteriophage Resistance integron Cassettes (BRiCs) are novel, they are mobile, and many work in key pathogens from the #ESKAPEE group 💣 #phagetherapy ‼️
we have found 47 phage defense systems among gene cassettes of unknown function (gcus). Most (43) of these Bacteriophage Resistance integron Cassettes (BRiCs) are novel, they are mobile, and many work in key pathogens from the #ESKAPEE group 💣 #phagetherapy ‼️
Proud supervisor
🎉❤️
🎉❤️
January 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Proud supervisor
🎉❤️
🎉❤️
Secret Santa in the lab today felt great with Ester and @albertohca.bsky.social coming back to the MBA in the last month. We are working at full steam before Xmas, and I have to say that this team is really great. Many sweet moments lately… Oh, and my sushi kit is cool! I’ll be using it soon!
December 18, 2024 at 8:20 PM
Secret Santa in the lab today felt great with Ester and @albertohca.bsky.social coming back to the MBA in the last month. We are working at full steam before Xmas, and I have to say that this team is really great. Many sweet moments lately… Oh, and my sushi kit is cool! I’ll be using it soon!
I consider my tree finally decorated and ready for a tasty Christmas season
December 14, 2024 at 8:21 AM
I consider my tree finally decorated and ready for a tasty Christmas season
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,719,065!
September 23, 2024 at 8:57 PM
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,719,065!
Remember the cassettes with antisense promoter activity? Well these can silence genes upstream!! And if located downstream a mildly expressed trimethoprim resistance gene, it resensitizes the bacterium!
January 15, 2024 at 8:06 PM
Remember the cassettes with antisense promoter activity? Well these can silence genes upstream!! And if located downstream a mildly expressed trimethoprim resistance gene, it resensitizes the bacterium!
Resistance increased with several promoter cassettes, and some also conferred resistance in E. coli, showing a potential risk in #HGT. But one thing was even more surprising....
January 15, 2024 at 8:05 PM
Resistance increased with several promoter cassettes, and some also conferred resistance in E. coli, showing a potential risk in #HGT. But one thing was even more surprising....
What we found more surprising from the RNAseq is that the Superintegron is not a silent structure at all!!! Many regions are being expressed at biologically relevant levels!!
January 15, 2024 at 8:02 PM
What we found more surprising from the RNAseq is that the Superintegron is not a silent structure at all!!! Many regions are being expressed at biologically relevant levels!!
We confirmed this at the mRNA level and determined experimentally the transcription start sites for a subset of cassettes. We then performed RNAseq of V. cholerae to see the activity in situ and could find some examples, despite strong difficulties.
January 15, 2024 at 8:01 PM
We confirmed this at the mRNA level and determined experimentally the transcription start sites for a subset of cassettes. We then performed RNAseq of V. cholerae to see the activity in situ and could find some examples, despite strong difficulties.
We synthesized and cloned all cassettes, and measured fluorescence: many cassettes increased fluorescence to Pc promoter-ballpark levels!! This usually occurred in the sense strand but in some cases we also saw it in the antisense strand (🤯).
January 15, 2024 at 8:00 PM
We synthesized and cloned all cassettes, and measured fluorescence: many cassettes increased fluorescence to Pc promoter-ballpark levels!! This usually occurred in the sense strand but in some cases we also saw it in the antisense strand (🤯).
To test this, we first designed and validated a plasmid to detect transcriptional activity on both strands using fluorescent proteins
January 15, 2024 at 7:59 PM
To test this, we first designed and validated a plasmid to detect transcriptional activity on both strands using fluorescent proteins
We found some 30 cassettes in 4 vibrio genomes that did not encode genes. We hypothesized they might play a regulatory role in the expression of the array (a bit in the lines of what Tansirichaiya et al. showed for atypical Treponema integrons in 2019).
January 15, 2024 at 7:58 PM
We found some 30 cassettes in 4 vibrio genomes that did not encode genes. We hypothesized they might play a regulatory role in the expression of the array (a bit in the lines of what Tansirichaiya et al. showed for atypical Treponema integrons in 2019).
So you might know that some integrons, like those in Vibrios, are massive structures containing hundreds of cassettes (hence called Superintegrons 🦹 ). Most encode genes of unknown function and are generally believed to be silent because of the large distance to the Pc promoter
January 15, 2024 at 7:58 PM
So you might know that some integrons, like those in Vibrios, are massive structures containing hundreds of cassettes (hence called Superintegrons 🦹 ). Most encode genes of unknown function and are generally believed to be silent because of the large distance to the Pc promoter
