Publications by Sandrine Stutzmann

West African–South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae encodes multiple distinct phage defence systems

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, David William Adams, Milena Jadwiga Jaskolska, Laurie Righi, Loriane Bader, Alexandre Lemopoulos

Our understanding of the factors underlying the evolutionary success of different lineages of pandemic Vibrio cholerae remains incomplete. The West African–South American (WASA) lineage of V. cholerae, responsible for the 1991–2001 Latin American cholera e ...

Springer Science and Business Media LLC2025

Molecular mechanism of plasmid elimination by the DdmDE defense system

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, David William Adams, Laurie Righi

Seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae strains contain two pathogenicity islands that encode the DNA defense modules DdmABC and DdmDE. Here we use cryogenic electron microscopy to reveal the mechanistic basis for plasmid defense by DdmDE. A structure of the DdmD ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2024

Genome sequences of Vibrio cholerae strains isolated in the DRC between 2009 and 2012

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Natalia Carolina Drebes Dorr, Alexandre Lemopoulos

Vibrio cholerae has caused seven cholera pandemics in the past two centuries. The seventh and ongoing pandemic has been particularly severe on the African continent. Here, we report long read-based genome sequences of six V. cholerae strains isolated in th ...

2024

Sporadic type VI secretion in seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Lisa Christina Metzger, Natalia Carolina Drebes Dorr, Sandrine Natacha Isaac, Nicolas René Chiaruttini, Alexis Joseph Proutière, Loriane Bader

Vibrio cholerae is a pathogen that causes disease in millions of people every year by colonizing the small intestine and then secreting the potent cholera toxin. How the pathogen overcomes the colonization barrier created by the host’s natural microbiota i ...

2023

Single nucleotide polymorphism determines constitutive versus inducible type VI secretion in Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Milena Jadwiga Jaskolska, Natalia Carolina Drebes Dorr, Alexis Joseph Proutière, Loriane Bader

Vibrio cholerae is a well-studied human pathogen that is also a common inhabitant of marine habitats. In both environments, the bacterium is subject to interbacterial competition. A molecular nanomachine that is often involved in such competitive behavior ...

2022

Human commensal gut Proteobacteria withstand type VI secretion attacks through immunity protein-independent mechanisms

Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann, Nina Vesel, Sandrine Natacha Isaac, Leonardo Filipe Lemos Rocha, Nicolas Olmo Flaugnatti, Thibault Géry L Sana

While the major virulence factors for Vibrio cholerae, the cause of the devastating diarrheal disease cholera, have been extensively studied, the initial intestinal colonization of the bacterium is not well understood because non-human adult animals are re ...

Nature Research2021

Comparison of chitin‐induced natural transformation in pandemic Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor strains

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann

The human pathogen Vibrio cholerae serves as a model organism for many important processes ranging from pathogenesis to natural transformation, which has been extensively studied in this bacterium. Previous work has deciphered important regulatory circuits ...

2020

DNA-uptake pili of Vibrio cholerae are required for chitin colonization and capable of kin recognition via sequence-specific self-interaction

Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann, David William Adams

How bacteria colonize surfaces and how they distinguish the individuals around them are fundamental biological questions. Type IV pili are a widespread and multipurpose class of cell surface polymers. Here we directly visualize the DNA-uptake pilus of Vibr ...

2019

Neighbor predation linked to natural competence fosters the transfer of large genomic regions in Vibrio cholerae

Christian Iseli, Nicolas Jean Philippe Guex, Noémie Matthey, Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann

Natural competence for transformation is a primary mode of horizontal gene transfer. Competent bacteria are able to absorb free DNA from their surroundings and exchange this DNA against pieces of their own genome when sufficiently homologous. However, the ...

2019

The type IV pilus protein PilU functions as a PilT-dependent retraction ATPase

Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann, David William Adams, Jorge André Matias Pereira

Type IV pili are dynamic cell surface appendages found throughout the bacteria. The ability of these structures to undergo repetitive cycles of extension and retraction underpins their crucial roles in adhesion, motility and natural competence for transfor ...

2019

QstR-dependent regulation of natural competence and type VI secretion in Vibrio cholerae

Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann, Milena Jadwiga Jaskolska

During growth on chitinous surfaces in its natural aquatic environment Vibrio cholerae develops natural competence for transformation and kills neighboring non-immune bacteria using a type VI secretion system (T6SS). Activation of these two phenotypes requ ...

Oxford University Press2018

Molecular insights into Vibrio cholerae’s intra-amoebal host-pathogen interactions

Graham Knott, Melanie Blokesch, Candice Stoudmann, Sandrine Stutzmann, Charles Ulric V Van der Henst, Tiziana Scrignari, Catherine Maclachlan, Natalia Carolina Drebes Dorr, Audrey Sophie Vanhove

Vibrio cholerae, which causes the diarrheal disease cholera, is a species of bacteria commonlyfound in aquatic habitats. Within such environments, the bacterium must defend itselfagainst predatory protozoan grazers. Amoebae are prominent grazers, withAcant ...

Nature Research2018

Circulation of a Quorum-Sensing-Impaired Variant of Vibrio cholerae Strain C6706 Masks Important Phenotypes

Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann

Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, is a model organism for studying virulence regulation, biofilm formation, horizontal gene transfer, and the cell-to-cell communication known as quorum sensing (QS). As in any research field, discrepancies be ...

Amer Soc Microbiology2016

Independent Regulation of Type VI Secretion in Vibrio cholerae by TfoX and TfoY

Noémie Matthey, Melanie Blokesch, Sandrine Stutzmann, Charles Ulric V Van der Henst, Tiziana Scrignari, Lisa Christina Metzger

Type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) are nanomachines used for interbacterial killing and intoxication of eukaryotes. Although Vibrio cholerae is a model organism for structural studies on T6SSs, the underlying regulatory network is less understood. A recent ...

Elsevier2016