Having a nice walk after @proftracypalmer.bsky.social delivered an excellent talk at the mycobacterial biology GRC.

I think it can do the Akta run in less than 12 parsecs.

Made a new lab logo, it is based on a Canadian stamp from when I was a kid. The idea is to embed the TB cell wall in the maple leaf using (mostly) the symbolic nomenclature for glycans. Previously put this on twitter, now realising it is hard to maintain 2 accts (I don't know how the trolls do it).🦠

Finally, during this work we discovered that Rafael Prados-Rosales and Marcelo Guerin were also interested in LamH. We decided to join forces and Rafael has shown that loss of LamH results in a defect during infection. 7/8

One strange thing Aaron noticed during this work is that the LamH mutant always took longer to grow. So we quantified it and it turns out it has a profound lag-phase defect (check the x axis units!!). This can be recovered by adding AM to the growth media. How cool is that? 6/8

He then went on to show that a strain of M. bovis BCG lacking this enzyme accumulates LAM, and most importantly completely loses capsular AM. With Nick Scott‘s expert proteomics we show that the bacteria dynamically respond to this accumulation of LAM by shutting down synthesis. 5/8

Through some very careful biochemistry Aaron showed that the enzyme is quite specific for the “neck” of LAM and releases its lipid carrier. 4/8

Aaron started from the premise that an enzyme that cuts the “neck” of LAM must exist to cleave this molecule. Working with @lislowe.bsky.social we identified a GH76 as the likely candidate. We now call this enzyme LamH. 3/8

Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) is an important lipoglycan anchored to the mycobacterial inner membrane. It is critical to pathogenesis. How it gets to the host is largely unknown. A molecule that looks like LAM has, however, been observed in the capsule, lacking its lipid anchor. 2/8

Cross posting from Twitter b/c the purple deserves to be seen. New PhD student Kamilla doing her first prep with an mCherry fusion:

One of the privileges of this career is to work with brilliant scientists. Very grateful to the Wellcome trust for enabling a collaboration with these fine people. @lislowe.bsky.social @proftracypalmer.bsky.social

@prokaryota.bsky.social important announcement:

My office chili plant is getting a bit out of control.

End of summer with a beer a dog and family around a fire.

The world needs more “honesty bakeries”. This is a cabinet on the side of the road on Skye. You put money in a box and take your baked goods.