Xavier Charpentier
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labxc.bsky.social
Xavier Charpentier
@labxc.bsky.social
620 followers 360 following 18 posts
Group leader.
HGT in bacterial pathogens. Acinetobacter, Legionella. Natural transformation. AMR. MGEs.
Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
kdebatisse.bsky.social
Our new paper is out in @narjournal.bsky.social We show that natural transformation enables bacteria to shuffle integron cassettes, boosting their phenotypic diversity.
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... 1/5
Bacterial natural transformation drives cassette shuffling and simplifies recombination in chromosomal integrons
Abstract. Integrons act as biobanks of gene cassettes conferring functions crucial for bacterial defense, including protection against phages and antibioti
academic.oup.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
cnrsbiologie.bsky.social
#ResultatScientifique 🔎 Certains gènes antiviraux humains partagent des défenses communes avec les bactéries, révélant une convergence évolutive surprenante 🧬
✍️ Alexandre Legrand et @lucievirevolte.bsky.social
📕 Nature Ecology and Evolution
buff.ly/Su0EdiU
Défenses immunitaires : une invention répétée au cours de l’évolution
Dans une étude publiée dans Nature Ecology and Evolution, des scientifiques montrent que les gènes SAMD9 et SAMD9L, a
www.insb.cnrs.fr
November 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
vivekmutalik.bsky.social
#phahe #phagesky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection
From mammals to bacteria, the direct recognition and cleavage of viral nucleic acids is a potent defense strategy against viral infection, but it requires mechanisms for distinguishing self from non-s...
www.biorxiv.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
vivekmutalik.bsky.social
The ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems'.

#phage #phagesky

A bunch of interesting reviews

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Preface: the ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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royalsocietypublishing.org
September 8, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
julielebris.bsky.social
Delighted to share our recently published work!
Ever wondered how Klebsiella (and others) deals with capsule production’s costs ?
The paper: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Thread👇
Phenotypic heterogeneity of capsule production across opportunistic pathogens | mBio
The polysaccharidic capsule is present in ~50% of species across the bacterial phylogeny, including all ESKAPE microorganisms, the six most significant multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens. It is also an important virulence factor and a major ...
journals.asm.org
September 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
epcrocha.bsky.social
Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
graphical abstract of the article the extended mobility of plasmids
July 23, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
sbigot.bsky.social
New publication from our Lesterlin lab in collab with lab of @knutdrescher.bsky.social
We determined the spatiotemporal dissemination of conjugative plasmids within biofilms and found that they spread only in specific structural regions.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Biofilm architecture determines the dissemination of conjugative plasmids | PNAS
Plasmid conjugation is a contact-dependent horizontal gene transfer mechanism that significantly contributes to the dissemination of antibiotic res...
www.pnas.org
April 28, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
charlescoluzzi.bsky.social
I'm very happy to share the last paper from my previous postdoc with the amazing @epcrocha.bsky.social! Thanks to the reviewers for their feedback, which improved our work!
#Plasmids #AMR #HorizontalGeneTransfer #Evolution
March 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
feldmanlab.bsky.social
Travel awards for trainees and early-stage investigators to attend the 2025 Acinetobacter conference are available. Deadline for applications is April 30. Please rt.

events.faseb.org/event/1b872d...
Biology of Acinetobacter XIV
events.faseb.org
March 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
cnrs-rhoneauvergne.bsky.social
#TalentsCNRS 🥉 | Découvrez la vidéo de Lucie Etienne, chercheuse au Centre international de recherche en infectiologie et lauréate de la médaille de bronze du @cnrs.fr en 2024 !

@cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @lucievirevolte.bsky.social @ensdelyon.bsky.social @inserm.fr

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE8b...
Lucie Etienne : décryptage des épidémies virales et des défenses immunitaires l TalentsCNRS
YouTube video by CNRS
www.youtube.com
February 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
genevauxpierre.bsky.social
Hello
L’École Thématique de Microbiologie Moléculaire (ETMM) fait son grand retour !
Rendez-vous du 6 au 10 octobre 2025
@ben-ezraty.bsky.social
Toujours à proximité de Marseille
En attendant, suivez-nous ici pour ne rien manquer :
@etmm.bsky.social
www.linkedin.com/showcase/%C3...
École Thématique de Microbiologie Moléculaire (ETMM) | LinkedIn
École Thématique de Microbiologie Moléculaire (ETMM) | 9 followers on LinkedIn. L’ETMM diffuse les avancées en microbiologie 🔬, réunissant experts et explorant concepts et thématiques clés 🥼
www.linkedin.com
February 6, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
brockhurstlab.bsky.social
🚨 Job alert 🚨 — are you interested in understanding how mobile genetic elements and defence systems shape bacterial genome evolution? 🧬 🧪 🧫 🦠 2x 5-year research positions available in experimental evolution @mermanchester.bsky.social Join us! #microsky
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Research Associate in Experimental Evolution:Manchester
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
February 6, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
soreklab.bsky.social
Out today @ Science: TIR signaling activates caspase-like immunity in bacteria

We report a new immune signaling molecule: N7-cADPR. Produced by phage-induced TIRs and activates a defensive bacterial caspase

Congrats Francois Rousset, Ilya Osterman and coauthors!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
January 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
epcrocha.bsky.social
The contribution of natural transformation for the acquisition of novel genes has been notoriously difficult to quantify because it relies on recombination (which is affected by other processes). Here's a first estimate : doi.org/10.1101/2025... (for the very busy: 1-6% of gene gains) #MicroSky
Transformation, Recombination and horizontal transfer
January 27, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
vscooper.micropopbio.org
What influence does evolutionary history have on basal transcriptomes? On transcriptomic response to drug? On genetic paths for drug resistance? On fitness tradeoffs? Check out our latest preprint to find out!

By @aleciarokes.bsky.social @asantoslopez.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
History shapes regulatory and evolutionary responses to tigecycline in strains of Acinetobacter baumannii from the pre- and post-antibiotic eras
Evolutionary history encompasses genetic and phenotypic bacterial differences, but the extent to which history influences drug response and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) adaptation is unclear. Histor...
www.biorxiv.org
January 24, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
nihilcurtis.bsky.social
A really good comic by @jpjhall.bsky.social on bacteria that found a very engaging way to tell the story. #GraphicScience #SciComm #comics www.andthemicrobes.org/plasmid
- BIZARRE BACTERIA & PECULIAR PLASMIDS — And The Microbes
www.andthemicrobes.org
November 24, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
jayhinton.bsky.social
Incredible graphic - the myriad of ways that bacteria defend themselves against antibiotics.

14 resistance mechanisms, summarised by Idan Yelin & Roy Kishony in Cell

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 13, 2024 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
alanmcn1.bsky.social
Out today. The culmination of DETECTIVE led by the exceptional Rob. Longitudinal genomics of CRAb and identification of a new clone in China

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Longitudinal genomics reveals carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii population changes with emergence of highly resistant ST164 clone - Nature Communications
Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is an important nosocomial pathogen that can cause outbreaks. In 2019, these authors conducted a genomic surveillance study of A baumannii in an intensive ...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2024 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
fronzeslab.bsky.social
3-year Postdoctoral position available.

Topic: interbacterial competition mediated by T7SS.

Techniques: molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, CryoEM/ET and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy.

Applications (CV+publications)to remi.fronzes@u-bordeaux.fr
Deadline: Jan 1st 2025
October 21, 2024 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
fronzeslab.bsky.social
Very happy to share our latest paper published today in EMBO Journal !!
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Structural insights into the mechanism of DNA branch migration during homologous recombination in bacteria | The EMBO Journal
imageimageThe bacterial hexameric ATPases RadA and ComM mediate DNA branch migration in the homologous recombination pathway of genetic transformation in distinct bacterial species. This study offers ...
www.embopress.org
October 18, 2024 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
epcrocha.bsky.social
Our study on the (huge) variations in transformation rates is now out in OA! Key question: why are so many strains non-transformable if the many recent transitions to non-transformability seem deleterious? doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Intragenomic conflicts with plasmids and chromosomal mobile genetic elements drive the evolution of natural transformation within species
Bacterial species exhibit large variations in their transformation rates. This study of Legionella pneumophila and Acinetobacter baumannii shows that their transformation rates evolve by sudden quick ...
doi.org
October 15, 2024 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
contaminatedsci.bsky.social
Diverse anti-defence systems are encoded in the leading region of plasmids
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Diverse anti-defence systems are encoded in the leading region of plasmids - Nature
The leading region of plasmids is a hotspot for many anti-defence systems, encoding anti-CRISPR, anti-restriction and other counter-defence proteins; focusing on this region could lead to the discover...
www.nature.com
October 9, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
wvschaik.bsky.social
We are looking for a Network Manager for TARGet (Transdisciplinary Antimicrobial Resistance Genomics network).

Apply by scanning the QR code or via www.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs
A job posting for a research project manager at the University of Birmingham.
August 9, 2024 at 11:28 AM
labxc.bsky.social
incredible opportunity to work with some of the best and nicest people of this fast-moving field!
epcrocha.bsky.social Eduardo Rocha @epcrocha.bsky.social · Apr 4
New job offer: we search a postdoc (bioinformatics) to work on mobile genetic elements and gene flow in bacteria, with a focus on antibiotic resistance within a consortium including bioinformatics, synthetic biology, epidemiology & biochemistry. See research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd... #MicroSky
April 5, 2024 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Xavier Charpentier
epcrocha.bsky.social
Our latest on phage-plasmids(PP) is out! Two main findings. PP recombine more with (other) plasmids and phages than the latter, thereby connecting them. PP can become just phages or plasmids, which may then transition to be conjugative. All the world’s an MGE! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 21, 2024 at 11:34 AM