Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

3.1K followers 2K following 740 posts

Mostly about bacterial gene/protein regulation & function, esp. with Borrelia burgdorferi and Lyme disease. Professor at U Kentucky, views are my own. He/him
Lab= http://microscopist.net/Stevenson_Lab.html
UK= https://medicine.uky.edu/users/bstev0

Posts Replies Media Videos

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

This was after their second “follow up” email.
I wish that everyone will achieve success and happiness, but you gotta put a little effort into life.

November 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

Soooooo, lots of OspA protein in your lab’s floor dust?

November 10, 2025 at 7:57 PM

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

The answer may not be at the bottom of a margarita glass, but we should at least check

November 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

Gac Is a Transcriptional Repressor of the Lyme Disease Spirochete's OspC Virulence-Associated Surface Protein

Castro-Padovani, Saylor, Husted, Krusenstjerna, Jusufovic, and Stevenson
2023, J Bacteriol, 205:e0044022.
doi: 10.1128/jb.00440-22
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36920207/
#MicroSky

(A) Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) of labeled Ip89 ospC operator, without (−) and with (+) cytoplasmic extract from strain B31. The asterisk indicates shifted probe that was present only when borrelial extract was included, indicating presence of a DNA-binding component. Unbound DNA is indicated by “free.” Some labeled DNA probe remained in the wells of the gel. (B) Cytoplasmic extract from strain B31 was incubated with Ip89 ospC operator DNA affixed to beads, eluted with increasing concentrations of NaCl, and eluates were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Lanes are labeled with the concentration of NaCl used for that elution. The arrow indicated a protein band of 30 to 35 kDa that eluted in the 0.3 and 0.5 mM NaCl washes. (C) Amino acid sequence of GyrA and Gac (the two potential initiation methionines of Gac are indicated by boldface and underlining). Mass spectrometry identified nine unique peptides that all mapped to the Gac ORF. Peptides identified with high confidence are shaded green, and those with lower confidence are red. (D) Predicted structures of B. burgdorferi Gac and GyrA proteins, as determined by AlphaFold (https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk). Both are consistent with the solved structures of B. burgdorferi Gac and the N-terminal domain of E. coli GyrA (https://www.rcsb.org/structure/4ckk).

November 7, 2025 at 3:51 PM

Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

@bstevensonlab.bsky.social

Quantitative analyses of interactions between SpoVG and RNA/DNA
Saylor et al, 2023, Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 30:654:40-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2023.02.044
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36889033/
#MicroSky