V. Anantharaman

Altruistic feeding and cell-cell signaling during bacterial differentiation actively enhance phenotypic heterogeneity

This study shows that bacterial differentiation through altruistic feeding and cell-cell signaling increases phenotypic heterogeneity, enhancing population resilience to environmental changes.

Bacterial cell surface nanoenvironment requires a specialized chaperone to activate a peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme

This study identifies SpoVK as a chaperone that activates MurG during spore surface assembly in Bacillus subtilis, highlighting the need for specialized chaperones in specific nanoenvironments.

Protein coopted from a phage restriction system dictates orthogonal cell division plane selection in Staphylococcus aureus

This study identifies PcdA, a protein from a phage restriction system, as a key factor in orthogonal cell division plane selection in S. aureus, with implications for antibiotic resistance.

The small protein MntS evolved from a signal peptide and acquired a novel function regulating manganese homeostasis in Escherichia coli

This paper shows that the small protein MntS evolved from a signal peptide and regulates manganese homeostasis by inhibiting the MntP transporter and self-interacting in the presence of manganese.