PUBLICATIONS
2025
Hulst, R.I., Govers, S.K., Michiels, J., Verstrepen, K.J., van den Berg, P. (2025). The evolutionary role of mutational robustness: theoretical insights. Trends in Genetics. Trends in Genetics, online ahead of print.
doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2025.10.011
Liu, B.*, Sondervorst, K.*, Nesporova, K., Faust, K.°, Govers, S.K.° (2025). Growth stage and interspecies interactions shape the cell biology and cell cycle characteristics of human gut bacteria Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Roseburia intestinalis. Communications Biology, 8, 1580.
*Equal contribution °Co-corresponding authors
doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-08949-1
Verstraete, L., Steemans, B., Eilers, T., Van Looy, N., Vandenberghe, Z., Lavigne, R., Govers, S.K., Van den Bergh, B., Michiels, J. Natural polymorphisms in Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations reveal a dual role for DNA gyrase in fluoroquinolone resistance and persistence. Preprint
doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7146623/v1
Deghelt, M., Cho, S.H., Sun, J., Govers, S.K., Janssens, A., Dachsbeck, A.V., Remaut, H., Huang, K.C., Collet, J-F. (2025). Peptidoglycan–outer membrane attachment generates periplasmic pressure to prevent lysis in Gram-negative bacteria. Nature Microbiology, 10, 1963-1974.
doi: 10.1038/s41564-025-02058-9
Nesporova, K., Steemans, B., Govers, S.K. (2025). Large-scale genomic analysis reveals the distribution and diversity of Type VI Secretion Systems in Escherichia coli. mSystems, e00105-25.
doi: 10.1128/msystems.00105-25
Sondervorst, K., Nesporova, K., Herdman, M., Steemans, B., Rosseels, J., Govers, S.K. (2025). Complex interplay between gene deletions and the environment uncovers cellular roles for genes of unknown function in Escherichia coli. mSystems, e00206-25.
doi: 10.1128/msystems.00206-25
Meunier, A., Govers, S.K. (2025). Cell cycle regulation in Escherichia coli: from governing principles, checkpoints, and control variables to molecular mechanisms. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 86, 102616.
doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102616
Papagiannakis, A., Yu, Q., Govers, S.K., Lin, W.-H., Wingreen, N.S., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2025). Nonequilibrium polysome dynamics promote chromosome segregation and its coupling to cell growth in Escherichia coli. eLife, reviewed preprint.
2024
Tawfeeq, M.T., Voordeckers, K., van den Berg, P., Govers, S.K., Michiels, J., Verstrepen K.J. (2024). Mutational robustness and the role of buffer genes in evolvability. EMBO Journal, 1-14.
doi: 10.1038/s44318-024-00109-1
Steemans, B., Govers, S.K. (2024). Protocol to train a support vector machine for the automatic curation of bacterial cell detections in microscopy images. STAR Protocols, 5 (1), 102868.
doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.102868
Govers, S.K., Campos, M., Tyagi, B., Laloux, G., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2024). Apparent simplicity and emergent robustness in the control of the Escherichia coli cell cycle. Cell Systems, 15 (1), 19-36.
doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2023.12.001
2023
Hoes, L., Voordeckers, K., Dok, R., Boeckx, B., Steemans, B., Gopaul, D., Pasero, P., Govers, S.K., Lambrechts, D., Nuyts, S., Verstrepen, K.J. (2023). Ethanol induces replication fork stalling and membrane stress in immortalized laryngeal cells. iScience, 26 (12), 108564.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108564
Mortier, J., Govers, S.K., Cambré, A., Van Eyken, R., Verheul, J., den Blaauwen, T., Aertsen, A. (2023). Protein aggregates act as a deterministic disruptor during bacterial cell size homeostasis. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 80 (12), 1-13.
doi: 10.1007/s00018-023-05002-4
Del Vecchio, M., Amado, L., Cogan, A.P., Meert, E., Rosseels, J., Franssens, V., Govers, S.K., Winderickx, J., González Montoro, A. (2023). Multiple tethers of organelle contact sites are involved in α-synuclein toxicity in yeast. Molecular Biology of the Cell, E23-01-0029.
2022
Wilmaerts, D., Govers, S.K., Michiels J. (2022). Assessing persister awakening dynamics following antibiotic treatment in E. coli. STAR Protocols, 3 (3), 101476.
doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101476 Open Access
2021
Kaljevic, J., Saaki, T.N., Govers, S.K., Remy, O., van Raaphorst, R., Lamot, T., Laloux, G. (2021). Chromosome choreography during the non-binary cell cycle of a predatory bacterium. Current Biology, 31 (17), 3707-3720.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.024 Open Access
Xiang, Y., Surovtsev, I., Chang, Y., Govers, S.K., Parry, B.R., Liu, J., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2021). Interconnecting solvent quality, transcription, and chromosome folding in Escherichia coli. Cell, 184 (14), 3626-3642.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.037
2020
Govers, S.K., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2020). Caulobacter crescentus: model system extraordinaire. Current Biology, 30 (19), R1151-R1158.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.033
2019
Mortier, J.*, Tadesse, W.*, Govers, S.K.*, Aertsen, A. (2019). Stress-induced protein aggregates shape population heterogeneity in bacteria. Current Genetics, 65 (4), 865-869.
doi: 10.1007/s00294-019-00947-1 Open Access
*Equal contribution
Jutras, B.L., Lochhead, R.B., Kloos, Z.A., Biboy, J., Strle, K., Booth, C.J., Govers, S.K., Gray, J., Schumann, P., Vollmer, W., Bockenstedt, L.K., Steere, A.C., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2019). Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan is a persistent antigen in patients with Lyme arthritis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 (27), 13498-13507.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904170116 Open Access
Gray, W.T.*, Govers, S.K.*, Xiang, Y., Parry, B.R., Campos, M., Kim, S., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2019). Nucleoid size scaling and intracellular organization of translation across bacteria. Cell, 177 (6), 1632-1648.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.05.017
*Equal contribution
2018
Cerulus, B.*, Jariani, A.*, Perez-Samper, G., Vermeersch, L., Pietsch, J.M J., Crane, M.M., New, A.M., Gallone, B., Roncoroni, M., Dzialo, M.C., Govers, S.K., Hendrickx, J.O., Galle, E., Coomans, M., Berden, P., Verbandt, S., Swain, P.S., Verstrepen, K.J. (2018). Transition between fermentation and respiration determines history-dependent behavior in fluctuating carbon sources. Elife, 7, e39234.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.39234 Open Access
*Equal contribution
Passaris, I., Cambre, A., Govers, S.K., Aertsen, A. (2018). Bimodal Expression of the Salmonella Typhimurium spv Operon. Genetics, 210 (2), 621-635. doi: 10.1534/genetics.118.300822 Open Access
Govers, S.K., Mortier, J., Adam, A., Aertsen, A. (2018). Protein aggregates encode epigenetic memory of stressful encounters in individual Escherichia coli cells. PLoS Biology, 16 (8), e2003853.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2003853 Open Access
Campos, M., Govers, S.K., Irnov, I., Dobihal, G.S., Cornet, F., Jacobs-Wagner, C. (2018). Genomewide phenotypic analysis of growth, cell morphogenesis, and cell cycle events in Escherichia coli. Molecular Systems Biolgoy, 14 (6), e7573.
doi: 10.15252/msb.20177573 Open Access
2017
Gayán, E., Govers, S.K., Aertsen, A. (2017). Impact of high hydrostatic pressure on bacterial proteostasis. Biophysical Chemistry, 231, 3-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.bpc.2017.03.005 Open Access
Govers, S., Gayán, E., Aertsen, A. (2017). Intracellular movement of protein aggregates reveals heterogeneous inactivation and resuscitation dynamics in stressed populations of Escherichia coli. Environmental Microbiology, 19 (2), 511-523.
doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.13460 Open Access
Featured on the cover of the journal issue containing the manuscript
Govers, S., Adam, A., Blockeel, H., Aertsen, A. (2017). Rapid phenotypic individualization of bacterial sister cells. Scientific Reports, 7 (1), 8473.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-08660-0 Open Access
2016
Rodríguez-Rubio, L., Chang, W-L., Gutiérrez, D., Lavigne, R., Martínez, B., Rodríguez, A., Govers, S.K., Aertsen, A., Hirl, C., Biebl, M., Briers, Y., García, P. (2016). 'Artilysation' of endolysin λSa2lys strongly improves its enzymatic and antibacterial activity against streptococci. Scientific Reports, 6, 35382.
doi: 10.1038/srep35382 Open Access
Defraine, V., Schuermans, J., Grymonprez, B., Govers, S.K., Aertsen, A., Fauvart, M., Michiels, J., Lavigne, R., Briers, Y. (2016). Efficacy of Artilysin® Art-175 against resistant and persistent Acinetobacter baumannii. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 60 (6), 3480-3488.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.00285-16 Open Access
Gayán, E., Govers, S.K., Michiels, C., Aertsen, A. (2016). Severely heat injured survivors of E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 43888 display variable and heterogeneous stress resistance behavior. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7, 1845.
2015
Govers, S.K., Aertsen, A. (2015). Impact of high hydrostatic pressure processing on individual cellular resuscitation times and protein aggregates in Escherichia coli. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 213, 17-23.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.04.039
Cenens, W., Makumi, A., Govers, S., Lavigne, R., Aertsen, A. (2015). Viral transmission dynamics at single-cell resolution reveal transiently immune subpopulations caused by a carrier state association. PLoS Genetics, 11 (12), e1005770.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005770
2014
New, A., Cerulus, B., Govers, S.K., Perez, G., Zhu, B., Boogmans, S., Xavier, J., Verstrepen, K. (2014). Different levels of catabolite repression optimize growth in stable and variable environments. PLoS Biology, 12 (1), e1001764.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001764
Govers, S.K., Dutré, P., Aertsen, A. (2014). In vivo disassembly and reassembly of protein aggregates in Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology, 196 (13), 2325-2332.
Featured on the cover of the journal issue containing the manuscript
2013
Vanlint, D., Rutten, N., Govers, S.K., Michiels, C., Aertsen, A. (2013). Exposure to high hydrostatic pressure rapidly selects for increased RpoS activity and general stress-resistance in Escherichia coli O157:H7. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 163 (1), 28-33.