Read our review about the "Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea" in @natrevmicro.nature.com here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
By @kassipan.bsky.social @stephkoe.bsky.social @micropat.bsky.social & @gerbenz.bsky.social
05.03.2026 11:08
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Cooperation and the evolution of bacterial niche breadth www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs
04.03.2026 14:16
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How do evolutionary forces shape bacterial adaptation to the plant environment? π±π¦
Curious? Read our new review in @femsjournals.bsky.social Microbiology Reviews.
#PlantMicrobiome #MicrobialEvolution #HostMicrobeInteractions #Rhizosphere #Microbiome
π doi.org/10.1093/fems...
17.02.2026 06:34
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Some creatures weβve isolated from soil recently. If you recognise any of these let me know! #protistsonsky
23.02.2026 19:21
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(π. π€π°ππͺ, not elephant) chromosome replicationists take note π
23.02.2026 08:25
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Two postdoctoral positions (3-year) in Experimental Evolution of Methanogenic Microbiomes in Bioelectrochemical Systems
Application deadline: 4 March 2026 at 23:59 hours local Danish time
Hiring: two 3-year Postdoc positions
Weβre looking for postdocs who can design and run directed laboratory evolution experiments in microbial communities under electrochemical stimulation, and link adaptations to performance using shotgun meta-omics.
23.02.2026 05:45
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Positive retention effect
A study on the Spree River shows that aquatic #plants can stabilise water levels in both the river and the floodplain, thereby compensating for a drier climate. This is relevant for lowland #rivers which are increasingly affected by water scarcity. Read more at: www.igb-berlin.de/en/news/posi...
23.02.2026 09:28
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To add one thing: if you have the data to run both classic dN/dS tests and MK tests, choose the latter. dN/dS tests are blind to positive selection in the important, constrained proteome, while MK test will work regardless of constraint, if DFE well estimated.
#evolution #adaptation #popgen
20.02.2026 16:27
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Phageβhost interactions are a key driver of microbial ecology, but observing them in nature is hard!
With metaHi-C, we detect freshwater phageβhost pairs and link their infection dynamics to evolution.
Together with @nadal-molero.bsky.social & Ana Martin-Cuadrado
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
20.02.2026 10:40
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New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...
18.02.2026 16:00
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Our new study combines experiments with bioinformatics to examine amino acid metabolism in Pseudomonas strains co-isolated from pond and soil communities
by Simon MarΓ©chal, Beni Heiniger, @swagatika.bsky.social, Shaohua Gu, Christian Ahrens
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
18.02.2026 07:39
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Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan LΓΆwe, @danieltamarit.bsky.social and many others we discovered and characterized several Asgard tubulin genes and propose that microtubule architecture and dynamics evolved in Asgard archaea prior to eukaryogenesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
16.02.2026 16:43
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Iβm loving this ciliate in slo-mo! Such beautiful cilia action. Keep watching to see it whizz about in real time. ID help appreciated!
#marineplankton π¦
15.02.2026 20:00
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Dear followers,
please follow @ap.brid.gy so that people on Mastodon (and the Fediverse in general) can see your posts, and you can see theirs. Spread the word and help keep the web open π±ποΈ
Thank you!
13.02.2026 12:02
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Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities
Spatial structure naturally emerges in microbial communities, shaping growth, interactions, and evolution, and revealing how microscale processes scale up
Most microbes don't live in shaking flasks; spatial structure shapes how microbes interact and evolve at every scale, as we discuss in our recent review @jeroenmeijer.bsky.social @simonvanvliet.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @bramvandijk.bsky.social and others
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic... π§΅π
12.02.2026 15:46
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Dear followers,
please follow @ap.brid.gy so that people on Mastodon (and the Fediverse in general) can see your posts, and you can see theirs. Spread the word and help keep the web open π±ποΈ
Thank you!
13.02.2026 12:02
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Two more weeks to apply - come join us () in The Netherlands as a postdoctoral researcher on large-scale metagenomic exploration of new lineages!
12.02.2026 07:46
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Please share!
PhD position at the University of Copenhagen. Start date: 1st of June!
Β
The project integrates field work, RNAseq, MALDI-MSI & FISH to explore composition, regulation, andΒ resilienceΒ of termite host-gut symbiont metabolism.
Β
πΒ employment.ku.dk/phd?show=156...
Β
β³ Deadline 23/2/26
11.02.2026 19:39
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Time lapse of an odd little monster. Presumably some kind of cercozoan from brackish water. #protistsonsky
06.02.2026 22:17
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Co-occurrence is associated with horizontal gene transfer across marine bacteria independent of phylogeny
Abstract. Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring
Now out & nicely formatted in @isme-microbes.bsky.social
A big analysis of ocean genomes & metagenomes co-led by former postdocs, now PIs, @gmdouglas.bsky.social & @cyanophage.bsky.social along with co-PIs @lbobay.bsky.social & Samuel Chaffron.
A few highlights... π§΅ (1/n)
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
09.02.2026 20:31
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Diagram illustrating early genome erosion during the transition from a free-living Sodalis bacterium to two host-associated endosymbionts inside the long-tailed mealybug. Circular genomes show intact genes in blue and pseudogenes in red, highlighting increased pseudogene accumulation in symbiotic forms. Caption asks: βWhat are the downstream molecular consequences of early genome erosion?β
Happy to share a preprintβthe last chapter of my dissertation with @mcsymbiont.bsky.social and Coβon what happens when bacterial endosymbionts accumulate huge numbers of pseudogenes during early genome reduction.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
08.02.2026 02:08
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Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason
Protein structure is conserved beyond sequence, making multiple structural alignment (MSTA) essential for analyzing distantly related proteins. Computational prediction methods have vastly extended ou...
FoldMason is out now in @science.org. It generates accurate multiple structure alignments for thousands of protein structures in seconds. Great work by Cameron L. M. Gilchrist and @milot.bsky.social.
π www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
π search.foldseek.com/foldmason
πΎ github.com/steineggerla...
30.01.2026 06:11
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Person standing outside next to a building wearing a red jacket
Meet Leonie Johanna Lorenz π©πͺ, a Predoctoral Fellow at EMBL-EBI who is bringing mathematical modelling to microbes.
Find out more about how Leonieβs passion for modelling patterns extends from bacterial evolution to sewing π§΅
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/p...
02.02.2026 09:58
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Uppsala in late autumn
Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Weβre searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
28.01.2026 20:28
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