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Bacterial natural transformation drives cassette shuffling and simplifies recombination in chromosomal integrons

Nucleic Acids Research Kevin Debatisse, Manon Brunie, Baptiste Darracq, Elia Bandini, Eloi Littner, Eduardo P C Rocha, Didier Mazel, Céline Loot Summary Integrons act as biobanks of gene cassettes conferring functions crucial for bacterial defense, including protection against phages and antibiotics. They enable bacterial on-demand adaptation through capture and shuffling of the cassettes under stress conditions. Our results underscore the significant role of horizontal gene

Investigation of the sero-epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases and common viral infections in French populations

Communications medicine Bloch, E., Baudemont, G., Donnadieu, F. et al.  Investigation of the sero-epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases and common viral infections in French populations. Background Vaccine-preventable diseases and common viral infections pose substantial public health challenges worldwide. Applying multiplex serological assays to samples collected from cross-sectional studies allows assessment of population-level immunity to a broad range of pathogens.

The influence of environment on bacterial co-abundance in the gut microbiomes of healthy human individuals

Communications Biol ogy Boetto, C., Romero, V.B., Henches, L. et al.  The influence of environment on bacterial co-abundance in the gut microbiomes of healthy human individuals. Summary The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem characterized not only by its marginal taxonomic composition but also by its emergent properties. Bacteria develop local interactions to form coherent functional communities, whose effects on health and diseases cannot be predicted from the behavior of

STORIES: learning cell fate landscapes from spatial transcriptomics using optimal transport

Nature Methods Huizing, GJ., Samaran, J., Capocefalo, D. et al. Summary In dynamic biological processes such as development, spatial transcriptomics is revolutionizing the study of the mechanisms underlying spatial organization within tissues. Inferring cell fate trajectories from spatial transcriptomics profiled at several time points has thus emerged as a critical goal, requiring novel computational methods. Wasserstein gradient flow learning is a promising framework for an

High-throughput conjugation reveals strain specific recombination patterns enabling precise trait mapping in Escherichia coli

PLOS Genetics Corneloup T, Bellengier J, Rosinski-Chupin I, Magnan M, Chavan A, et al. (2025) High-throughput conjugation reveals strain specific recombination patterns enabling precise trait mapping in Escherichia coli . Summary Genetic exchange is a cornerstone of evolutionary biology and genomics, driving adaptation and enabling the identification of genetic determinants underlying phenotypic traits. In Escherichia coli, horizontal gene transfer via conjugation and transdu

Whose Line Is it Anyway? Defining Seropositivity Cutoffs for Infectious Disease Surveillance

The Journal of Infectious Diseases Michael T White, Gaëlle Baudemont, Françoise Donnadieu, Arona Sabene Diatta, Ibrahima Sarr, Aissatou Diagne, Aissatou Toure-Balde, Fatoumata Diene Sarr, Joseph Faye, Cheikh Sokhna, Hubert Bassene, Inès Vigan-Womas, Stéphane Pelleau, Makhtar Niang Summary Background Serological assays are key tools in infectious disease surveillance, enabling detection of past infections by measuring antibody responses. Determining appropriate seropositivity

Impact of Natural Transformation on the Acquisition of Novel Genes in Bacteria

Molecular Biology and Evolution Fanny Mazzamurro, Marie Touchon, Xavier Charpentier, Eduardo P C Rocha Summary Natural transformation is the only process of gene exchange under the exclusive control of the recipient bacteria. It has often been considered as a source of novel genes, but quantitative assessments of this claim are lacking. To investigate the potential role of natural transformation in gene acquisition, we analyzed a large collection of genomes of Acinetobacter b

Multitrait Analysis to Decipher the Intertwined Genetic Architecture of Neuroanatomical Phenotypes and Psychiatric Disorders

Biology Psychiatry: Cognitive Neurosciences and Neuroimaging. Auvergne A, Traut N, Henches L, Troubat L, Frouin A, Boetto C, Kazem S, Julienne H, Toro R, Aschard H. Background There is increasing evidence of shared genetic factors between psychiatric disorders and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phenotypes. However, deciphering the joint genetic architecture of these outcomes has proven to be challenging, and new approaches are needed to infer the genetic structures t

The extended mobility of plasmids

Nucleic Acid Research Maria Pilar Garcillán-Barcia, Fernando de la Cruz, Eduardo P C Rocha Summary Plasmids play key roles in the...

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