Tanai Cardona

A general substitution matrix for structural phylogenetics. Abstract. Sequence-based maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetics is a widely used method for inferring evolutionary relationships, which has illuminated the

New paper from the lab from Sriram Garg in my group. We introduce a general substitution matrix for structural phylogenetics. I think this is a big deal, so read on below if you think deep history is important. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

UK immigration policy is destabilising international academics’ careers The effort of staying compliant with fluctuating regulations diminishes the mental space for teaching, research and building belonging, say Zahra Sharifonnasabi, Fleura Bardhi and Laetitia Mimoun

UK immigration policy is destabilising international academics’ careers. The effort of staying compliant with fluctuating regulations diminishes the mental space for teaching, research and building belonging, say Zahra Sharifonnasabu et al
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/uk-i...

Exploring the Structural Diversity and Evolution of the D1 Subunit of Photosystem II Using AlphaFold and Foldtree Although our knowledge of photosystem II has expanded to include time-resolved atomic details, the diversity of experimental structures of the enzyme remains limited. Recent advances in protein struc...

Our paper on testing #Alphafold predictions and structural phylogenetics of a #photosystem subunit is now published in @pplplantarum.bsky.social. Work by @tomdongmin.bsky.social, with JW Murray & D Pretorius at Imperial. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @qmulse.bsky.social @qmul.ac.uk 🌳

Structure and evolution of photosystem I in the early-branching cyanobacterium Anthocerotibacter panamensis | PNAS Thylakoid-free cyanobacteria are thought to preserve ancestral traits of early-evolving organisms capable of oxygenic photosynthesis. However, and ...

Our paper: Structure and evolution of photosystem I in the early-branching cyanobacterium Anthocerotibacter panamensis is out now in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Great collab with the labs of Ming-Yang Ho and Chris Girsiel.

One heterodimeric lineage becomes the ancestor to the chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll synthesis enzymes now only found in bacteria; the other lineage becomes nitrogenase in a methanogenic ancestor. It has interesting implications depending on various plausible scenarios 😀

This is my reading then. An ancestral homodimeric reductase in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis diverges, one lineage becomes CfbD in archaeal methanogenesis, the other duplicates. The new evolving heterodimers, still involved in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis diverges into two new lineages...

I just see the paper! Wow, this is indeed fascinating. You guys suggest that CbfD is ancestral to all other Nif proteins, right? Then would you say that tetrapyrrole biosenthesis is the ancestral function of this family of enzymes all in all? 😊

Happy to present the lab latest work, today from the green-side. The ultimate PSII assembly intermediate that directly precedes incorporation of the Mn4O5Ca cluster and formation of the OEC. Psb32 binds to PsbV, challenging the assumption the extrinsic subunits all associate spontaneously in-vivo.

Exploring the structural diversity and evolution of the D1 subunit of photosystem II using AlphaFold and Foldtree While our knowledge of photosystem II has expanded to time-resolved atomic details, the diversity of experimental structures of the enzyme remains limited. Recent advances in protein structure predict...

Our work applying #AlphaFold prediction and structural phylogenetics to the D1 subunit of #photosystem II is now on BioRxiv! This project was spearheaded by @tomdongmin.bsky.social in my lab, in collab with D. Pretorius and J. W. Murray. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #photosynthesis

It’s on! The first step to bring the evolution of photosystem into 3D with structure prediction.

Oxidative adaptations in prokaryotes imply the oxygenic photosynthesis before the crown group Cyanobacteria Abstract. The metabolic transition from anaerobic to aerobic in prokaryotes reflects adaptations to oxidative stress. Methanogen, one of the earliest life

Fascinating study. "Oxidative adaptations in prokaryotes imply the oxygenic #photosynthesis before the crown group Cyanobacteria" Although, one only needs to look at the #evolution of photosystem II to understand what happened... 😃
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...

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Reminder: We have made a Researchers on Cyanobacteria Starter Pack. If you would like to be included, please let us know.
go.bsky.app/BBgq3df

Join us — The Molecular Evolution Lab A PhD studentship funded by an EPSRC DTP (3.5 years) is currently available in the Molecular Evolution Lab. The project objective is to apply and develop synthetic biology approaches, leveraging direc...

Several PhD opportunities are available to join my group, the Molecular Evolution Lab at QMUL! 🌴 If you’re interested in the origin and evolution of #photosynthesis or #cyanobacteria, or in applying #SynBio to photosynthetic enzymes, get in touch! cardonalab.uk/joinus Please share! Thank you.

Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean Wittmers et al. show associations of prokaryotes and eukaryotes in the ocean using single-cell genomics on wild protists. The Marinamargulisbacteria are enigmatic, non-photosynthetic relatives of cyan...

Interesting! www.cell.com/current-biol... but just as I predicted (suspected) based on a few published observations: doi.org/10.1016/j.bb... 😄

I’m a photosynthesis researcher! I work on resolving the evolution of photosynthesis and on evolving new types of photosynthesis. I might be able to help