Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
@namurxa.bsky.social
Research team interested in molecular and cellular biology of the Brucella abortus pathogen
New preprint of the Brucella team in Namur. Our first suppressor analysis 😉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brucella abortus histidine auxotrophs are copper sensitive
Despite decades of investigation into bacterial pathogens, the conditions met by intracellular bacteria are still unclear. These conditions can include access to nutrients, such as amino acids, and ex...
www.biorxiv.org
November 22, 2025 at 8:07 PM
New preprint of the Brucella team in Namur. Our first suppressor analysis 😉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
📢 Postdoc position: Cell Biology of Cyanobacteria
in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany.
More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2)
🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl
📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany.
More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2)
🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl
📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
November 2, 2025 at 7:13 PM
📢 Postdoc position: Cell Biology of Cyanobacteria
in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany.
More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2)
🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl
📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany.
More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2)
🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl
📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025
Please repost. #Postdoc
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Forgot to post the recently published version of this paper on the role of a minor pilin-like protein in surface sensing journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
October 31, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Forgot to post the recently published version of this paper on the role of a minor pilin-like protein in surface sensing journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
November 1, 2025 at 7:34 AM
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
📝New preprint! #MicroSky
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle
The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...
www.biorxiv.org
September 25, 2025 at 7:12 AM
📝New preprint! #MicroSky
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Expanding the genetic toolbox of the obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus with inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference
Inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference-mediated depletion in the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
academic.oup.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:27 AM
🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
I wrote a Preview in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social !
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.
Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.
Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
When predators meet the matrix: Natural resistance via amyloid fibers
How do bacteria protect themselves against predators? In a recent issue of Nature,
Ledvina et al. reveal curli fibers as a genetically encoded defense against Bdellovibrio
predation in wild E. coli st...
www.cell.com
September 11, 2025 at 9:18 AM
I wrote a Preview in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social !
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.
Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.
Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
🤩 Exciting Summer! 🤩 Two of my former postdocs in Switzerland🇨🇭 obtained Lecturer positions (Maîtres de Conférences) in French universities 🇨🇵 : congrats to Antonio Frandi and Florian Fournès !!!! 👏 La relève est assurée! All the best to both of you for this new start. 🤩
September 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
🤩 Exciting Summer! 🤩 Two of my former postdocs in Switzerland🇨🇭 obtained Lecturer positions (Maîtres de Conférences) in French universities 🇨🇵 : congrats to Antonio Frandi and Florian Fournès !!!! 👏 La relève est assurée! All the best to both of you for this new start. 🤩
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
If the fossil fuel industry didn’t have our president and corporate America by the throat, we could have nice things like this too.
August 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
If the fossil fuel industry didn’t have our president and corporate America by the throat, we could have nice things like this too.
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Great work by Adélie Lannoy on Brucella abortus, just published in The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10..... Thanks to fantastic collaborators! An enigmatic, perhaps ancestral, protein complex predicted as a tunnel-like structure between membranes. Crucial for survival in macrophages
August 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Great work by Adélie Lannoy on Brucella abortus, just published in The EMBO Journal www.embopress.org/doi/full/10..... Thanks to fantastic collaborators! An enigmatic, perhaps ancestral, protein complex predicted as a tunnel-like structure between membranes. Crucial for survival in macrophages
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Xavier DeBolle @namurxa.bsky.social and collaborators identify and characterize a novel conserved complex mediating lipid-transport between inner and outer membrane in gram-negative Brucella abortus bacteria
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
August 6, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Xavier DeBolle @namurxa.bsky.social and collaborators identify and characterize a novel conserved complex mediating lipid-transport between inner and outer membrane in gram-negative Brucella abortus bacteria
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing 💫 intron-containing precursors of tRNATyr are modified with Q or with galQ before being spliced #rnasky from @francescatuorto.bsky.social lab with @sebastianglatt.bsky.social and Helm labs www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing - Nature Communications
tRNA modifications are essential for function, yet their timing relative to processing is unclear. Here, the authors show that queuosine and derivative modifications occur before splicing of pre-tRNA^...
www.nature.com
August 3, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Queuosine is incorporated into precursor tRNA before splicing 💫 intron-containing precursors of tRNATyr are modified with Q or with galQ before being spliced #rnasky from @francescatuorto.bsky.social lab with @sebastianglatt.bsky.social and Helm labs www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Excited to share our newly book chapter on using #miniTurbo proximity labeling in #bacteria
We wrote it as a hands-on guide for anyone looking to get started with this approach.
Congrats to @coralietesseur.bsky.social and Ophélie Remy 👏 @lalouxlab.bsky.social
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
We wrote it as a hands-on guide for anyone looking to get started with this approach.
Congrats to @coralietesseur.bsky.social and Ophélie Remy 👏 @lalouxlab.bsky.social
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Identification of In Vivo Protein Networks Using miniTurbo Proximity Labeling in Bacteria
Protein–protein interactions play a crucial role in many bacterial cell processes. miniTurbo-based proximity labeling has emerged as a powerful tool for the identification of in vivo protein net...
link.springer.com
July 14, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Excited to share our newly book chapter on using #miniTurbo proximity labeling in #bacteria
We wrote it as a hands-on guide for anyone looking to get started with this approach.
Congrats to @coralietesseur.bsky.social and Ophélie Remy 👏 @lalouxlab.bsky.social
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
We wrote it as a hands-on guide for anyone looking to get started with this approach.
Congrats to @coralietesseur.bsky.social and Ophélie Remy 👏 @lalouxlab.bsky.social
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
#MicroSky Summer read!
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Strategies and mechanisms of contact-dependent predation in bacteria
Predatory bacteria kill other bacteria to acquire nutrients. Among diverse strategies to kill and feed on prey, contact-dependent predation stands out…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
#MicroSky Summer read!
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Charline studied how some clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii create a transient intracellular niche before infecting neighboring cells.
Great collaboration with @kroegerlab.bsky.social
If you are interested, check out her preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Great collaboration with @kroegerlab.bsky.social
If you are interested, check out her preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Charline studied how some clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii create a transient intracellular niche before infecting neighboring cells.
Great collaboration with @kroegerlab.bsky.social
If you are interested, check out her preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Great collaboration with @kroegerlab.bsky.social
If you are interested, check out her preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Cool result: Transposon insertion sequencing reveals novel hypermutator genes in Acinetobacter baumannii
"Exposure of a transposon insertion mutant library to extended weak antibiotic selection ... revealed genes that indirectly increased fitness due to elevated general mutation rates"
"Exposure of a transposon insertion mutant library to extended weak antibiotic selection ... revealed genes that indirectly increased fitness due to elevated general mutation rates"
Transposon insertion sequencing reveals novel hypermutator genes in Acinetobacter baumannii | mBio
All organisms have the capacity for evolution through mutation. Bacteria with high
mutation rates have a survival advantage in some stressful environments because they
generate beneficial mutations mo...
journals.asm.org
June 29, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Cool result: Transposon insertion sequencing reveals novel hypermutator genes in Acinetobacter baumannii
"Exposure of a transposon insertion mutant library to extended weak antibiotic selection ... revealed genes that indirectly increased fitness due to elevated general mutation rates"
"Exposure of a transposon insertion mutant library to extended weak antibiotic selection ... revealed genes that indirectly increased fitness due to elevated general mutation rates"
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Fellow bacterial cell biologists, message me if you use @thermofishersci.bsky.social Gene Frames for microscopy!
Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further.
If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product
Please RT🔬🦠
Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further.
If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product
Please RT🔬🦠
Live Cell Imaging of Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae using Automated Time-lapse Microscopy
42.1K Views. University of Groningen. This protocol provides a step-by-step procedure to monitor single cell behavior of different bacteria in time using automated fluorescence time-lapse microscopy....
www.jove.com
April 8, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Fellow bacterial cell biologists, message me if you use @thermofishersci.bsky.social Gene Frames for microscopy!
Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further.
If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product
Please RT🔬🦠
Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further.
If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product
Please RT🔬🦠
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
The new open access policy of NIH will take effect next week (July 1st). All NIH funded research 🔬🧪🧬accepted after July 1st must be open access upon publication. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology
June 26, 2025 at 9:47 PM
The new open access policy of NIH will take effect next week (July 1st). All NIH funded research 🔬🧪🧬accepted after July 1st must be open access upon publication. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Just part of the Caulo crew at BCBD GRC. We would’ve gotten all the alphaphiles but it was too many people to herd into a pic!
June 6, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Just part of the Caulo crew at BCBD GRC. We would’ve gotten all the alphaphiles but it was too many people to herd into a pic!
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Marie Curie fellowship, post-doc hosting oppotunity in my lab. MSCA Post-doctoral Fellowship at IBPC Paris on RNA modifications in bacteria (FRANCE) 🦠💫 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hosting...
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
May 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Marie Curie fellowship, post-doc hosting oppotunity in my lab. MSCA Post-doctoral Fellowship at IBPC Paris on RNA modifications in bacteria (FRANCE) 🦠💫 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/hosting...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
🚨 Big news! Infection and Immunity is now open access! 🌍🔬 That means wider visibility & impact for your research. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology
April 4, 2025 at 12:45 AM
🚨 Big news! Infection and Immunity is now open access! 🌍🔬 That means wider visibility & impact for your research. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Thousands of 3D protein structures locked up in big-pharma vaults will be used to create a new AI tool that won’t be open to academics.
www.nature.com/artic...
www.nature.com/artic...
AlphaFold is running out of data — so drug firms are building their own version
Nature - Thousands of 3D protein structures locked up in big-pharma vaults will be used to create a new AI tool that won’t be open to academics.
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Thousands of 3D protein structures locked up in big-pharma vaults will be used to create a new AI tool that won’t be open to academics.
www.nature.com/artic...
www.nature.com/artic...
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
For my first official post on here I have some news to share: the lab is moving! After ~12 wonderful years in the US, Muller lab 2.0 will reopen this summer at the Institute of Microbiology in Lausanne🇨🇭Switzerland🇨🇭! We'll be recruiting at all levels so keep us in mind for your future adventures!
February 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
For my first official post on here I have some news to share: the lab is moving! After ~12 wonderful years in the US, Muller lab 2.0 will reopen this summer at the Institute of Microbiology in Lausanne🇨🇭Switzerland🇨🇭! We'll be recruiting at all levels so keep us in mind for your future adventures!
Reposted by Xavier De Bolle : Xa Team at UNamur
Phage satellites are now known to be very diverse, numerous and ancient. They pose many evolutionary, ecological and mechanistic questions. Lots of fun in perspective!
Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.
Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.
New online! Genetics, ecology and evolution of phage satellites
Genetics, ecology and evolution of phage satellites
Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 27 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01156-zIn this Review, Penadés et al. explore the genetics, potential origins and life cycle of phage satellites, and they discuss the impact of these elements on the evolution of other mobile genetic elements and their host bacteria.
www.nature.com
March 27, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Phage satellites are now known to be very diverse, numerous and ancient. They pose many evolutionary, ecological and mechanistic questions. Lots of fun in perspective!
Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.
Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.