Publications

* = equal contribution
✉ = corresponding author
bold = Pilhofer Lab members

Full List of Publications

Preprints

Zachs T, Malit JJL, Xu J, Schürch A, Sivabalasarma S, Nußbaum P, Albers SV, ✉Pilhofer M
Archaeal type six secretion system mediates contact-dependent antagonism
external pageBiorxivcall_made

Lien YW, Amendola D, Lee KS, Bartlau N, Xu J, Furusawa G, Polz MF, Stocker R, ✉Weiss GL, ✉Pilhofer M
Mechanism of bacterial predation via ixotrophy
external pageBiorxivcall_made

Kohtz AJ, *Krukenberg V, *Petrosian N, *Jay ZJ, Pilhofer M, ✉Hatzenpichler R
Cultivation and visualization of a methanogen of the phylum Thermoproteota
external pageResearch Squarecall_made

2024

*Hugener J, *Xu J, Wettstein R, Ioannidi L, Velikov D, Wollweber F, Henggeler A, ✉Matos J, ✉Pilhofer M
FilamentID reveals the composition and function of metabolic enzyme polymers during gametogenesis
Accepted at Cell | external pageBiorxivcall_made

*Wettstein R, *Hugener J, *Gillet L, *Hernández-Armenta Y, Henggeler A, Xu J, van Gerwen J, Wollweber F, Arter M, Aebersold R, ✉Beltrao P, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Matos J
Waves of regulated protein expression and phosphorylation functionally rewire the proteome to drive gametogenesis
Accepted at Developmental Cell

✉Gaisin VA, van Wolferen M, Albers SV, ✉Pilhofer M
Distinct life cycle stages of an ectosymbiotic DPANN archaeon
Accepted at ISME Journal 

Feldmüller M, *Ericson CF, *Afanasyev P, *Lien YW, Weiss GL, Wollweber F, Schoof M, Hurst M, ✉Pilhofer M
Stepwise assembly and release of Tc toxins from Yersinia entomophaga
external pageNature Microbiologycall_made

2023

✉Pilhofer M
Announcement: Journal of Structural Biology – Paper of the Year 2022
external pageJournal of Structural Biologycall_made

Costafrolaz J, Panis G, Casu B, Ardissone S, Degeorges L, Pilhofer M, ✉Viollier PH
Adaptive β-lactam resistance from an inducible efflux pump that is post-translationally regulated by the DjlA co-chaperone
external pagePLoS Biologycall_made

Hüsler D, Stauffer P, Steiner B, Böck D, Steiner T, Kroniger T, Striednig B, Swart AL, Letourneur F, Maaß S, Becher D, Eisenreich W, Pilhofer M, ✉Hilbi H
The large GTPase Sey1/atlastin mediates lipid droplet- and FadL-dependent intracellular fatty acid metabolism of Legionella pneumophila
external pageElifecall_made

Ericson CF, ✉Pilhofer M
Mix-and-match tools for protein injection into cells
external pageNaturecall_made

Casu B, Sallmen JW, ✉Schlimpert S, ✉Pilhofer M
Cytoplasmic contractile injection systems mediate cell death in Streptomyces
external pageNature Microbiologycall_made | Read the external pagePerspectivecall_made

Wohlfarth JC, Feldmüller M, Schneller A, Kilcher S, Burkolter M, Pilhofer M, Schuppler M, ✉Loessner MJ
Gram-positive bacteria evade phage predation through endolysin-mediated L-form conversion
external pageNature Microbiologycall_made

2022

*Rodrigues-Oliveira T, *Wollweber F, *Ponce-Toledo RI, Xu J, Rittmann SKMR, Klingl A, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Schleper C
Actin cytoskeleton and complex cell architecture in an Asgard archaeon
external pageNaturecall_made | Read the external pageNews & Viewscall_made and press release

*Kieninger AK, *Tokarz P, Pilhofer M, ✉Weiss GL, ✉Maldener I
SepN is a septal junction component required for gated cell–cell communication in the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc
external pageNature Communicationscall_made

*Weiss GL, *Eisenstein F, Kieninger AK, Xu J, Minas HA, Gerber M, Feldmüller M, Maldener I, Forchhammer K, ✉Pilhofer M
Structure of a thylakoid-anchored contractile injection system in multicellular cyanobacteria
external pageNature Microbiologycall_made | Read perspectives in external pageScienceNewscall_made and external pageNature Microbiologycall_made

*Xu J, *Ericson CF, Feldmüller M, Rutaganira FUN, Eisenstein F, Lien YW, King N, ✉Pilhofer M
Identification and structure of an extracellular contractile injection system from the marine bacterium Algoriphagus machipongonensis
external pageNature Microbiologycall_made | Read perspectives in external pageScienceNewscall_made and external pageNature Microbiologycall_made

2021

✉Yakimov MM, Merkel AY, Gaisin VA, Pilhofer M, Messina E, Hallsworth JE, Klyukina AA, Tikhonova EN, Gorlenko VM
Cultivation of a vampire: 'Candidatus Absconditicoccus preadator'
external pageEnvironmental Microbiologycall_made

*Böck D, *Hüsler D, Steiner B, Medeiros JM, Welin A, Radomska KA, Hardt WD,
✉Pilhofer M, ✉Hilbi H
The polar Legionella Icm/Dot T4SS establishes distinct contact sites with the pathogen vacuole membrane
external pagemBiocall_made

✉Lobato-Márquez D, Xu J, Güler GO, Ojiakor A, Pilhofer M, ✉Mostowy S
Mechanistic insight into bacterial entrapment by septin cage reconstitution
external pageNature Communicationscall_made

2020

✉Springstein BL, Nürnberg DL, Weiss GL, Pilhofer M, Stucken K
Structural Determinants and Their Role in Cyanobacterial Morphogenesis
external pageLifecall_made

*Stanisich JJ, *Zyla DS, Afanasyev P, Xu J, Kipp A, Olinger E, Devuyst O, Pilhofer M, Boehringer D, ✉Glockshuber R
The cryo-EM structure of the human uromodulin filament core reveals a unique assembly mechanism
external pageElifecall_made

*Weiss GL, *Stanisich JJ, *Sauer MM, Lin CW, Eras J, Zyla DS, Trück J, Devuyst O, Aebi M, 
✉Pilhofer M, Glockshuber R
Architecture and function of human uromodulin filaments in urinary tract infections
external pageSciencecall_made | Also read a external pagePerspectivecall_made and a external pageDigestcall_made

*✉Gaisin VA, *Kooger R, Grouzdev DS, Gorlenko VM, Pilhofer M
Cryo-electron tomography reveals the complex ultrastructural organisation of multicellular filamentous Chloroflexota (Chloroflexi) bacteria
external pageFrontiers in Microbiologycall_made

*Fattinger S, *Böck D, Di Martino ML, Deuring S, Ventayol PS, Ek V, Furter M, Kreibich S, Bosia F, Müller-Hauser AA, Nguyen BD, Rohde M, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Hardt WD, ✉Sellin ME
Salmonella Typhimurium discreet-invasion of the murine gut absorptive epithelium
external pagePLoS Pathogenscall_made

Zachs T, Schertel A, Medeiros JM, Weiss GL, Hugener J, Matos J, ✉Pilhofer M
Fully automated, sequential focused ion beam milling for cryo-electron tomography
external pageElifecall_made

Hausmann A, Böck D, Geiser P, Berthold D, Fattinger SA, Furter M, Bouman J, Barthel-Scherrer M, Lang CM, Bakkeren E, Kolinko I, Diard M, Bumann D, Slack E, Regoes RR, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Sellin ME, ✉Hardt WD
Intestinal epithelial NAIP/NLRC4 restricts systemic dissemination of the adapted pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium due to site-specific bacterial PAMP expression
external pageMucosal Immunologycall_made

2019

*Wu CF, *Lien YW, Bondage D, Lin JS, Pilhofer M, Shih YL, Chang J, ✉Lai EM
Effector loading onto the VgrG carrier activates the assembly of the type VI secretion system
external pageEMBO Reportscall_made

*Ericson CF, *Eisenstein F, Medeiros JM, Malter KE, Calvalcanti G, Zeller RW, Newman DK, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Shikuma NJ
A contractile injection system stimulates tubeworm metamorphosis by translocating a proteinaceous effector
external pageElifecall_made | Read Alain Filloux' external pagedigestcall_made

Eisenstein F, Danev R, ✉Pilhofer M
Improved applicability and robustness of fast cryo-electron tomography data acquisition
external pageJournal of Structural Biologycall_made

*Weiss GL, *Kieninger AK, ✉Maldener I, Forchhammer K, ✉Pilhofer M
Structure and function of a bacterial gap junction analog
external pageCellcall_made

*Rocchi I, *Ericson CF, *Malter KE, Zargar S, Eisenstein F, Pilhofer M, ✉Beyhan S, ✉Shikuma NJ
A bacterial phage tail-like structure kills eukaryotic cells by injecting a nuclease effector
external pageCell Reportscall_made

Szwedziak P, ✉Pilhofer M
Bidirectional contraction of a type six secretion system
external pageNature Communicationscall_made

*Rapisarda C, *Cherrak Y, *Kooger R, Schmidt V, Pellarin R, Logger L, Cascales E, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Durand E, ✉Fronzes R
In situ and high-resolution cryo-EM structure of the type VI secretion membrane complex
external pageEMBO Journalcall_made

2018

*Kooger R, *Szwedziak P, Böck D, ✉Pilhofer M
CryoEM of bacterial secretion systems
external pageCurrent Opinion in Structural Biologycall_made

*Cai S, *Böck D, ✉Pilhofer M, ✉Gan L
The in situ structures of mono-, di-, and tri-nucleosomes in human heterochromatin
external pageMolecular Biology of the Cellcall_made

*Medeiros JM, *Böck D, Weiss GL, Kooger R, Wepf R, ✉Pilhofer M
Robust workflow and instrumentation for cryo-focused ion beam milling of samples for electron cryotomography
external pageUltramicroscopycall_made

2017

Medeiros JM, Böck D, ✉Pilhofer M
Imaging bacteria inside their host by cryo-focused ion beam milling and electron cryotomography
external pageCurrent Opinion in Microbiologycall_made

✉Toyofuku M, Cárcamo-Oyarce G, Yamamoto T, Eisenstein F, Hsiao C, Kurosawa M, Gademann K, ✉Pilhofer M, Nomura N, ✉Eberl L
Prophage-triggered membrane vesicle formation through peptidoglycan damage in Bacillus subtilis
external pageNature Communicationscall_made

*Böck D, *Medeiros JM, Tsao HF, Penz T, Weiss GL, Aistleitner K, ✉Horn M, ✉Pilhofer M
In situ architecture, function, and evolution of a contractile injection system
external pageSciencecall_made

Weiss GL, Medeiros JM, ✉Pilhofer M
In situ imaging of bacterial secretion systems by electron cryo-tomography
external pageMethods in Molecular Biologycall_made

Dobro M, Oikonomou C, Piper A, Cohen J, Guo K, Jensen T, Tadayon J, Donermeyer J, Park Y, Solis B, Kjaer A, Jewett A, McDowall A, Chen S, Chang Y, Shi J, Subramanian P, Iancu C, Li Z, Briegel A, Tocheva E, Pilhofer M, ✉Jensen G
Uncharacterized bacterial structures revealed by electron cryotomography
external pageJournal of Bacteriologycall_made

2016

*Shikuma NJ, *Antoshechkin I, Medeiros JM, Pilhofer M, ✉Newman DK
Stepwise Metamorphosis of the Tubeworm Hydroides elegans is Mediated by a Bacterial Inducer and MAPK Signaling
external pagePNAScall_made

✉Guillaume-Gentil O, Grindberg RV, Kooger R, Dorwling-Carter L, Martinez V, Ossola D, Pilhofer M, Zambelli T, ✉Vorholt JA
Tunable Single-Cell Extraction for Molecular Analyses
external pageCellcall_made

---Caltech---

2014

*Shikuma NJ,*Pilhofer M, Weiss GL, ✉Hadfield MG, ✉Jensen GJ, ✉Newman DK
Marine tubeworm metamorphosis induced by arrays of bacterial phage tail-like structures
external pageSciencecall_made | Featured by external pageThe Scientistcall_made, external pageSmall Things Consideredcall_made, external pageScientific Americancall_made

*Pilhofer M, *Aistleitner K, Ladinsky MS, König L, ✉Horn M, ✉Jensen GJ
Architecture and host interface of environmental chlamydiae revealed by electron cryotomography
external pageEnvironmental Microbiologycall_made

2013

*Pilhofer M, *Aistleitner K, Biboy J, Gray J, Kuru E, Hall E, Brun YV, VanNieuwenhze MS, Vollmer W, ✉Horn M, ✉Jensen GJ
Discovery of chlamydial peptidoglycan reveals bacteria with murein sacculi but without FtsZ
external pageNature Communicationscall_made| Featured by Nature Reviews Microbiology

*Briegel A, *Pilhofer M, Mastronarde DN, ✉Jensen GJ
The challenge of determining handedness in electron tomography and the use of DNA origami helices as molecular standards
external pageJournal of Structural Biologycall_made

✉Pilhofer M, and Jensen GJ
The bacterial cytoskeleton: more than twisted filaments
external pageCurrent Opinion in Cell Biologycall_made

2012

*Basler M, *Pilhofer M, Henderson GP, ✉Jensen GJ, ✉Mekalanos JJ
Type VI secretion requires a dynamic contractile phage tail-like structure
external pageNaturecall_made | Featured by Nature Reviews Microbiology, F1000

2011

✉Pilhofer M, Ladinsky MS, McDowall AW, Petroni G, ✉Jensen GJ
Microtubules in Bacteria: ancient tubulins build a five-protofilament homolog of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton
external pagePLoS Biologycall_made| Featured by Nature’s Research Highlights, F1000, ASM Microbe

Swulius MT, Chen S, Ding HJ, Li Z, Briegel A, Pilhofer M, Tocheva EI, Lybarger SR, Johnson TL, Sandkvist M, ✉Jensen GJ
Long helical filaments are not seen encircling cells in electron cryotomograms of rod-shaped bacteria
external pageBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communicationscall_made

2010

Pilhofer M, Ladinsky MS, McDowall AW, ✉Jensen GJ
Bacterial TEM: New insights from cryo-microscopy
external pageMethods in Cell Biologycall_made

Chen S, McDowall A, Dobro MJ, Tocheva EI, Briegel A, Ladinsky M, Shi J, Beeby M,
Pilhofer M, Ding HJ, Li Z, Gan L, Morris DM, ✉Jensen GJ
Electron Cryotomography of Bacterial Cells
external pageJournal of Visualized Experimentscall_made

---Technical University Munich---

2009

✉Pilhofer M
Bakterielle Tubuline und Zellteilung in Prosthecobacter
Invited review in external pageBIOSpektrumcall_made - Karriere, Köpfe und Konzepte

Grünwald S, Pilhofer M, ✉Höll W
Microbial associations in gut systems of wood- and bark-inhabiting longhorned beetles.
external pageSystematic and Applied Microbiologycall_made

Pavlekovic M, Schmid MC, Schmider N, Spring S, Pilhofer M, Gaul T, Fiandaca M, Löffler FE, Jetten M, Schleifer KH, ✉Lee NM
Optimization of three FISH procedures for in situ detection of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria in biological wastewater treatment
external pageJournal of Microbiological Methodscall_made

Weber SD, Hofmann A, Pilhofer M, Wanner G, Agerer R, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH, ✉Fried J
The diversity of fungi in aerobic sewage granules assessed by 18S rDNA and ITS sequence analyses
external pageFEMS Microbiology Ecologycall_made

✉Pilhofer M, Pavlekovic M, Lee NM, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH
Fluorescence in situ hybridization for intracellular localization of nifH mRNA
external pageSystematic and Applied Microbiologycall_made

2008

✉Pilhofer M, Rappl K, Eckl C, Bauer AP, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH, Petroni G.
Characterization and evolution of cell division and cell wall synthesis genes in the bacterial phyla Verrucomicrobia, Lentisphaerae, Chlamydiae and Planctomycetes and phylogenetic comparison with rRNA genes
external pageJournal of Bacteriologycall_made

2007

Pilhofer M, Bauer AP, Schrallhammer M, Richter L, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH, ✉Petroni G
Characterization of bacterial operons consisting of two tubulins and a kinesin-like gene by the novel Two-Step Gene Walking method
external pageNucleic Acids Researchcall_made

Pilhofer M, Rosati G, Ludwig W, Schleifer KH, ✉Petroni G
Coexistence of tubulins and ftsZ in different Prosthecobacter species
external pageMolecular Biology and Evolutioncall_made