Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).
A brief 𧡠(carried over from the old place)
Now in Nature Comms w/ @ritatewari.bsky.social, Pushkar Sharma & @ryanase.bsky.social (thanks!). Aurora kinases fascinate me: single ancestor - parallel duplications in eukaryotes - paralogs with distinct functions. ARK1 is the CPC Aurora in the malaria parasite. rdcu.be/e5NRT #plasmodium #mitosis
Before he passed away in 2021, Tom Cavalier-Smith had drafted parts of his autobiography. It's now 'published' because GΓ‘spΓ‘r JΓ©kely put a lot of effort in! Please enjoy and share: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
What I have been arguing is that without knowing the root position, one cannot conclude that Euglenozoa (or any group) are monophyletic. You make an assumption that the root is not within Euglenozoa when you say Euglenozoa are monophyletic.
Confused by all the histones that are cropping up in organisms that are decidedly NOT eukaryotes? check out our review - fantastic work by team NucEvo in the #Lugerlab
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
I appreciate the comments by Max Raas, Eelco Tromer and others on my paper published last year "Hypothesis that ancestral eukaryotes sexually proliferated without kinetochores or mitosis". However, I do not think their critiques can reject my hypothesis. For details, please read the paper. 1/n
Euglenozoa are paraphyletic if the eukaryotic root lies between glycomonads and the rest of eukaryotes. Response to 'The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a derived feature' pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41685547/
Great to see our paper on light-intensity dependent swimming patterns in #Chlamydomonas out now in Phys Rev Lett. as an Editors' suggestion! With a nice commentary by @philipcball.bsky.social.
Chlamy actively modulate the beat planes of their #cilia!
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... #protistsonsky
Thank you @mollyherring.bsky.social for the stunning showcase π
Like what you see? Come ExM with us! Letβs flood the internet with microbial marvels π¦
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroEvoSky π§ͺπ¬π
@dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @embl.org @erc.europa.eu @embo.org
New PNAS study identifies ESBX, a protein controlling which surface coat gene is active in sleeping sickness parasites - key to immune evasion.
@tiengwe-tryplab.bsky.social
@zephyris-science.bsky.social
@fariatrypslab.bsky.social
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/article...
Another #notTHECover unfortunately.
But this gorgeous, Tron-like vibe, drawn by the amazing @munafomarzia.bsky.social for our recent #ExM work with @gautamdey.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social will still be printed out in the lab.
Read here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
The discovery of the first kinetochore proteins (CENP-A, CENP-B, CENP-C) was reported by Bill Earnshaw and Naomi Rothfield in 1985 in Chromosoma. Forty years later, Chromosoma/Chromosome Research has published a special issue (most articles are open access)
link.springer.com/collections/...
Final version is out! Our large-scale cryo-ET dataset π¬ of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii π¦ is now published in @cp-molcell.bsky.social
Huge collaborative effort! So glad to see the community already using it to develop new resources & tools.
Check it out here: shorturl.at/z4i4c
#CryoEM #CryoET
Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation π§ͺπ
W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
New in ACS SynBio: led by Dennis Bolshakov, we used the awesome power of yeast to define how expression levels, noise, and sequence program the dynamics of synthetic protein waves, allowing us to genetically encode new cellular timescales stable over generations!
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Are you very busy but still want to learn what Aphelids are and why they are important to understand the evolution of Fungi?
Then check out our βQuick guideβ on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and GuifrΓ©. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Anatomy and mechanics of tsetse fly blood feeding www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.692967v1
Endogenous tagging of novel proteins confirms supervised cluster predictions. Left: Tagged proteins highlighted (black) among relevant predicted clusters, resolved on neighbor-averaged imputed t-SNE. Right: Individual cell lines were generated via endogenous tagging and imaged through fluorescence microscopy for comparison with the compartment-relevant protein was predicted to. Merged microscopy images showing protein signal (green) merged with nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (blue). All imaged cells are oriented with their apical regions facing right and posterior facing left, cell membrane outlines are traced for all images except for L, showing only trace of the papilla, which lacks signal. Scale bar represents 5 ΞΌm.
#Diplonemids are among the most diverse & abundant #protists in the deep #ocean. This study localises >5,000 proteins of #Paradiplonema papillatum, revealing #organelle compartmentalisation, including a membrane coated with carbohydrate-degrading enzymes @plosbiology.org π§ͺ plos.io/3XvmpIO
Differential contributions of Ξ² tubulin isotypes to acentrosomal oocyte meiosis in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.03.692175v1
Our new paper is out in Nature Communications! π
We explore how Toxoplasma gondii organizes parasite development, combining cell biology and expansion microscopy to reveal new structural insights.
#Toxoplasma @meissnerlab.bsky.social @natcomms.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New Online! Critical constituents and assembly principles of centriole biogenesis in human cells
Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, theyβre everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter
doi.org/10.32942/X2M...
Weβd love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!
#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky π§ͺπ
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
π doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a π₯ preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 𧡠tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
A huge thank you to all my co-authors for this great collaboration!
@ritatewari.bsky.social @davidguttery.bsky.social @zeeshanm.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social
Our new preprint describes Plasmodium NEK4 as a key regulator coupling meiotic initiation and morphogenesisβa critical step for malaria transmission. This involves MTOC-driven nuclear movement strikingly analogous to "horsetail" movement in fission yeast.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A Trypanosoma brucei cell visualized by confocal microscopy after ultrastructure expansion. The cell was immunolabelled for the BILBO1 protein (yellow) and stained with fluorescent NHS-ester (grey). The flagellar pocket is highlighted in pink. Credit: Marie ZelenΓ‘
The flagellar pocket collar (FPC) is a cytoskeletal structure essential for nutrient uptake & immune evasion in #Trypanosome. @mbonhivers.bsky.social &co use U-ExM to provide novel insights into FPC biogenesis, and reveal 2 unknown cytoskeletal structures @plosbiology.org π§ͺ plos.io/4n3bWi6
Time for a thread!𧡠How different is the molecular organization of thylakoids in βhigherβ plantsπ±? To find out, we teamed up with @profmattjohnson.bsky.social to dive into spinach chloroplasts with #CryoET βοΈπ¬. Curious? ..Read on!
#TeamTomo #PlantScience π§ͺ π§Άπ§¬ πΎ
elifesciences.org/articles/105...
1/π§΅
π± Using βcompellingβ methods, including #CryoET, researchers mapped spinach thylakoid membranes at single-molecule precision, revealing how photosynthetic complexes are organised and settling long-standing debates on chloroplast architecture.
buff.ly/j3TSIkn
