Antarctic Mokoshia rubra and Mokoshia mucilaginosa enhance growth and cadmium stress tolerance in Nicotiana species

Cooperation with the Section of Experimental Plant Biology ÚEB - Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 2025. 
The species of the genus Massilia, which we have described from Antarctic environments, function as an important component of beneficial plant microbiomes.

Virion content unpacked by long-read sequencing: stress-induced changes in transmitted staphylococcal mobilome due to phage-satellite interactions

Botka al. Nucleic Acids Research 2025
We published a study focused on the spread of mobile genetic elements of bacteria, which have a significant impact on the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens. Their spread is enabled by temperate bacteriophages and their satellites, for which we have presented a new approach to monitor the genetic content of individual viral particles. We also demonstrated how therapeutic bacteriophages can be utilized to suppress the spread of these factors, thereby combating the global issue of antibiotic resistance.

CRISPR-Cas10-Assisted Structural Modification of Staphylococcal Kayvirus for Imaging and Biosensing Applications

Šimečková et al. ACS Synthetic Biology 2025
Congratulations to Hanka on her publication of a structurally modified bacteriophage with a number of advanced applications.

We participated in the Electron Microscopy Days

Evidence of in vitro mecB-mediated β-lactam antibiotic resistance transfer to Staphylococcus aureus from Macrococcus psychrotolerans sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium from food-producing animals and human clinical specimens

Mašlaňová et al., Appl Environ Microbiol 2025
The study offers insights into the phenotypic and genomic features of new species Macrococcus psychrotolerans sp. nov. including first complete sequence of a linear 150-kb plasmid. Confirmed in vitro conjugative transfer of plasmid-borne mecB gene to S. aureus poses a significant risk of spread of broad β-lactam resistance including 5th generation cephalosporins.

Piezoelectric biosensor with dissipation monitoring enables the analysis of bacterial lytic agent activity

Obořilová R. et al., Scientific Reports 2025
We have published a novel approach to monitor the dynamics of lysis of pathogenic bacteria in real time using piezoelectric sensors. The results confirmed the effective synergy between bacteriophages and antibiotics in the action against Staphylococcus aureus, indicating that this is a promising strategy for the treatment of drug-resistant bacterial infections.