Recent graduates Nina Baggett and Adam Bronson are co-first authors on new work describing a non-traditional pathway for the production of pyocins--phage tail-like antibacterial complexes--by P. aeruginosa. Unexpectedly, the researchers found that a deficiency in or absence of a recombinase proteins called XerC causes very high pyocin production, but not via the usual mechanism. The results of the study have implications for antibiotic therapy. The work is published in mBio.