Maxime Québatte

TL;DR: It is shown that the laterally acquired Trw T4SS diversified in the Bartonella lineage to facilitate host-restricted adhesion to erythrocytes in a wide range of mammals.

TL;DR: The data suggest that T4SS-dependent DNA transfer into host cells may occur naturally during human infection with Bartonella and that these chronically infecting pathogens have potential for the engineering of in vivo gene-delivery vectors with applications in DNA vaccination and therapeutic gene therapy.

TL;DR: The general applicability of the strategy toward accurate and complete genome annotation consolidates CDSs from multiple reference annotation resources, ab initio gene prediction algorithms and in silico ORFs in an integrated proteogenomics database (iPtgxDB) that covers the entire protein-coding potential of a prokaryotic genome.

TL;DR: It is proposed that BatR/BatS two-component system homologs represent vertically inherited pH sensors that control the expression of horizontally transmitted gene sets critical for the diverse host-associated life styles of the alphaproteobacteria.

TL;DR: A dramatic membrane proteome reorganization was observed, including differential regulation of autotransporters, adhesins, and hemin binding proteins, which included expression of all members of the VirB/D4 type IV secretion system, a key virulence factor.