Biology subjects

Yuly, J. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Yuly, J. L..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A minimal kinase-phosphatase system and its lipid substrates self-organize into dynamic patterns

Competing lipid kinases and phosphatases are critical for organizing cellular membranes, but whether a minimal system can autonomously organize proteins and lipids into dynamic spatiotemporal patterns is unknown. Here, we report the in vitro reconstitution of the Legionella phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase MavQ and PI 3-phosphatase SidP. Together with their lipid substrates, PI and PI 3-phosphate (PI3P), these enzymes form a minimal self-organizing system that generates ATP-dependent spatiotemporal patterns, including traveling waves, on model membranes. These behaviors arise from MavQs cooperative membrane binding, SidPs phosphatase activity, and the continual interconversion and redistribution of PI and PI3P within a conserved membrane pool. A reaction-diffusion model reproduces the observed dynamics and predicts that lipid conservation prevents patterns from propagating across membrane discontinuities, which we verify experimentally. Together, these findings establish enzymatic modification of membrane lipids as a distinct molecular strategy for biological pattern formation.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2026

Do plasmid-dependent phages enable the survival of costly plasmids?

Plasmids benefit bacterial communities by storing auxiliary genes that address environmental challenges such as antibiotics. Subsequent plasmid loss can also be advantageous if plasmid benefits are temporary but costs are permanent. However, unless positive selection is sustained, plasmid loss can proceed to extinction, with access to plasmid-derived benefits permanently lost. In principle, horizontal transmission can maintain a plasmid in a population, but if the plasmid cost is too high, the host can become uncompetitive. We examine how survival of costly but occasionally beneficial plasmids is possible in a bacterial population. Using population models, we demonstrate that plasmid-dependent phages can, counterintuitively, solve this plasmid survival problem for their bacterial hosts. Phage predation pins the plasmid at low but nonzero abundance, such that the plasmid cost is effectively neutralized at the population level, dramatically lengthening the persistence time of the plasmid. When conditions change and the costly plasmid becomes beneficial, it spreads across the host population and switches to a vertical-transmission lifestyle until benefits again subside.

microbiology↗