Who knew ammonia-oxidizing archaea could be “flexitarians”? Our new study in Science Advances shows that #AOA living inside marine sponges can assimilate branched-chain amino acids, an unexpected talent that may even shape how they interact with their hosts 🧽🤝🦠 🎉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Branched-chain amino acid assimilation enables mixotrophy of ammonia-oxidizing archaeal sponge symbionts

Marine sponges and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) represent one of the earliest animal-microbe symbioses. AOA are considered metabolically constrained chemolithoautotrophs that remove nitrogenous was...

science.org

Very exciting stuff from @juliameltzer.bsky.social!

Julia Meltzer@juliameltzer.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Excited to share what I've been working on with an incredible team! Visualisation of Asgard viruses on cell surfaces and vesicles, and a story of complex viral interactions. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @brendanburns999.bsky.social @belindaferrari.bsky.social @xabivc.bsky.social

From my last PhD paper, now in The Conversation: how deep sea sponges thrive in the dark. Their microbial partners oxidise ammonia and break down tough algal carbon. theconversation.com/deep-sea-spo... #Metagenomics 🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 #SymbioSky

Deep-sea sponges survive in complete darkness in ways we didn’t know before

Beyond the sunlit ocean lies a vast abyss where organisms have to recycle every scrap available.

theconversation.com

Sandpiper 2 is up. 913,000 metagenomic community profiles w @ace-gtdb.bsky.social R232, 200k more than 1.0. sandpiper.qut.edu.au GlobDB coming. Thanks to @aroneys.bsky.social @thepatientwait.bsky.social @iambrettb.bsky.social and especially the new kid @nhstefan.bsky.social

In the last paper from my PhD (out now in Microbiome): how do deep-sea sponges survive where food is scarce? Their microbiomes oxidise ammonia & break down hard-to-degrade carbon to fuel mixotrophic growth. doi.org/10.1186/s401... #symbiosis! #Metagenomics 🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 #SymbioSky

Ammonia oxidation and recalcitrant carbon degradation fuel mixotrophic growth in the symbiont community of a deep-sea sponge - Microbiome

Background Sponges are important members of shallow-water, benthic ecosystems, where they often rely on their microbial symbionts to acquire organic or inorganic carbon. Sponges are also found in the deep sea, however, how they metabolically interact there with their symbionts remains underexplored. Here, we combined metagenomic, metatranscriptomic and stable-isotope labelling approaches to investigate the metabolic activities of the microbial community of the deep-sea sponge Calyx sp. Results Approximately 84% of the total estimated microbial abundance was composed of nine heterotrophic phyla, whilst the remaining 16% consisted of two autotrophic ammonia-oxidising archaea. Metatranscriptomic analysis revealed the high expression of genes involved in the degradation of recalcitrant polysaccharides of algal origin, suggesting that an undegraded fraction of marine snow plays a role in the nutrition of this deep-sea holobiont. Additionally, we detected active ammonia oxidation and carbon fixation pathways in the autotrophic community members and, through ex situ incubations with labelled carbonate show a potential to fix 13.67 mg CO2 per g dry weight in a year. Conclusions This study highlights the mixotrophic lifestyle of a deep-sea sponge microbiome, expanding our knowledge of the sponge–microbe symbiosis in the oligotrophic environment of the deep ocean. Video Abstract Graphical Abstract

doi.org

GTDB release 11 based on RefSeq 232 (R11-RS232) is live at gtdb.ecogenomic.org. This release covers 901,341 genomes (23% increase) and has 199,923 species clusters (39% increase). Release notes at: forum.gtdb.ecogenomic.org/t/announcing.... Release statistics at: gtdb.ecogenomic.org/stats/r232.

Hello, Bluesky. We fund research that helps shape Australia’s future. Follow us for updates on funding, research and outcomes.

🧫 JAMS Sydney is back! 🧫 We’re kicking off 2026 with an Archaea Special 🔬 📅 24 February ⏰ 6–8 pm 📍 Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire St, Surry Hills New year, new venue, and a deep dive into one of the most fascinating domains of life. 🎤 Speaker details coming soon — stay tuned! #JAMSSydney

Our review “Symbiotic Ammonia Oxidation in the Marine Environment” is now published in Annual Review of Marine Science and is fully open access. We synthesise ammonia-oxidising microbes in marine symbioses, their implications, and key gaps in host-associated nitrogen cycling doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Every opportunity politicians provide for you to tell them about how chronic underfunding of research in Australia is affecting your particular fields, people, working conditions etc. is extremely important. Fill out the form here: lnkd.in/g8A_PAZG

A/Prof Sam Stehbens PhD (She/Her)@samstehbens.bsky.social · 11mo ago

@ginaravenscroft.bsky.social & #NARF are collecting impact statements from Australian researchers ‘ Please consider sharing your story about the impact of Australia's chronic underfunding of science and biomedical research.’ lnkd.in/g8A_PAZG 1/

New preprint! We explore how gutless marine worms and their bacterial symbionts use organosulfur compounds like DMSP and DMS - key molecules in marine sulfur cycling. Our results show that these compounds support carbon and energy metabolism in the Olavius algarvensis symbiosis.

I’m excited to announce Sydney Plant Ecophys Group is hosting two talks 9 Dec from 4PM (Australian Eastern summer time) Andrew Merchant: plant source-sink dynamics using low field NMR & Davide Siclari: thermal metrics in a warming climate sydneyplantecophysiologygroup.wordpress.com/talks/

Sydney Plant Ecophysiology Group (SPEG)

Sydney Plant Ecophysiology (SPEG)

sydneyplantecophysiologygroup.wordpress.com

NEW pub in @science.org 🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Here, we show that deep below, corals and feather stars don’t just share space – they share microbes. Endozoicomonadaceae + Nitrosopumilaceae inhabit both hosts in a “promiscuous” symbiosis that may fuel nitrogen cycling in the deep sea. doi.org/10.1186/s401... 🌊🪸🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 #SymbioSky

Drift, dispersal limitation and homogeneous selection as a key processes shaping prokaryotic community assembly in marine sediments academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a... #jcampubs

Happy to share that the paper describing Autocycler is now 100% up: doi.org/10.1093/bioi... (1/3)

Autocycler: long-read consensus assembly for bacterial genomes

AbstractMotivation. Long-read sequencing enables complete bacterial genome assemblies, but individual assemblers are imperfect and often produce sequence-l

doi.org

🌐 Global PhD & Faculty Opportunities Open Now! 🧬🐛 Discover a wide range of PhD and faculty-level openings across microbiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, environmental science, and more, spread across top institutions worldwide. tinyurl.com/3jknvu4y

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

tinyurl.com

New review out in Annual Review of Marine Science! 🌊🧫 We explore how ammonia-oxidising microbes form symbioses with marine hosts - fueling the nitrogen cycle, fixing carbon, and possibly feeding their hosts. #Metagenomics 🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 #SymbioSky 🔗 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Great work on Asgardarchaea by @snobsi.bsky.social, @juliameltzer.bsky.social, @xabivc.bsky.social and collaborators

Julia Meltzer@juliameltzer.bsky.social · last yr.

So excited to finally show the world a project years in the making. A huge group effort with lots of expertise leading to a unique #Asgard syntrophy story. Very fortunate to have been involved in cultivating and analysing this wonderful organism ❤️

This looks like a great resource for drawing metabolic schemes and the proteins involved. Lost countless hours looking for the subcellular location of specific enzymes and very keen to give this a try

Cameron Thrash@jcamthrash.bsky.social · 2y ago

Predicting the subcellular location of prokaryotic proteins with DeepLocPro academic.oup.com/bioinformati... #jcampubs

Keeping your symbiosis genes on a plasmid is a smart move if you have multiple potential hosts. Here a gut bacterial symbiont, but same is true for N-fixing Rhizobia. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A conserved bacterial genetic basis for commensal-host specificity

Animals selectively acquire specific symbiotic gut bacteria from their environments that aid host fitness. To colonize, a symbiont must locate its niche and sustain growth within the gut. Adhesins are...

science.org

Hoje, nosso último artigo ganhou destaque no Brasil! 🇧🇷 Nomeamos uma nova ordem e família viral em homenagem a dois deuses da mitologia brasileira. Um pequeno passo para valorizar a ciência e cultura nacionais. www.bbc.com/portuguese/a... História completa: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

O vírus descoberto nas profundezas da costa do RJ que ganhou nome da mitologia indígena - BBC News Brasil

Pesquisa revelou a existência de um intricado sistema de simbiose que garante a sobrevivência em ambientes inóspitos e pode render no futuro novas soluções para lidar com as mudanças climáticas.

bbc.com

‘A place of joy’: why scientists are joining the rush to Bluesky For me, it certainly feels good to be here! @natureportfolio.bsky.social @bsky.app www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘A place of joy’: why scientists are joining the rush to Bluesky

Researchers say the social-media platform — an alternative to X — offers more control over the content they see and the people they engage with.

nature.com

Deep-sea menage à trois? A sponge, an archaeon, and a bacterium rely on carbon & vitamin B12 exchange — until a virus crashes the party! Discover how ammonia-oxidation and viral lysis drive this unique #symbiosis! doi.org/10.1093/isme... #Metagenomics 🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 #SymbioSky

Simple Porifera holobiont reveals complex interactions between the host, an archaeon, a bacterium, and a phage

Abstract. The basal metazoan phylum Porifera (sponges) is increasingly used as a model to investigate ecological and evolutionary features of microbe–anima

doi.org

Nice collaboration with a great team. Congrats to @lilly_hill and Camila Messias for the countless works of work. This is a great isolation method for anyone studying in hospite Symbiodiniaceae out there. 🧪 #Bioinformatics 🧬💻 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A nice paper on microbial dark matter revealing that in situ devices increase coral's microbes culturability up to 570% is out on iScience 🧪. This device, initially used in soils, has proved to be useful in marine sponges and, now, in corals as well. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #SymbioSky

Finally started migrating from X to bsky and hoping to connect with more people interested in #Bioinformatics 🧬💻. Thanks @amanzanom.bsky.social for all the tips so far and if someone out there have any good tips, please let me know!