I am months late, but this fascinating study shows that evolution is the ultimate tinkerer! Benjamin @huepfkiesel.bsky.social et al. showed how a bacterial DNA segregation system was repurposed into a cytoskeleton that controls cell shape in multicellular cyanobacteria.

Stella Hurtley@smhsci.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Out now in @science.org Repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cell shape | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The origin of complex cells may have been far messier than we thought!

Toni Gabaldón@tonigabaldon.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Our paper "Gene ancestries reveal diverse microbial associations during eukaryogenesis.” is finally out in Nature. Eukaryogenesis was likely a gradual process shaped by multiple microbial partners and virus-mediated gene transfer, rather than a single binary symbiosis. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A fascinating reminder that evolution builds on what already exists! Some of the genes behind animal multicellularity may have first played a role in aggregation, helping unicellular ancestors come together and form groups long before the first animals evolved. Super cool study!

Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo@multicellgenome.bsky.social · 2mo ago

1/10 For decades, cellular aggregation was considered an evolutionary dead end. Cells could come together temporarily. But complex multicellular organisms like animals? Our study, led by JP Gerdt, with Ruibao & @jennahed.bsky.social suggests it may be time to rethink that🧵 #ProtistsOnSKy

Very very cool! Also rises the question on whether all 'phase separation' could just be molecular diffusion and binding events yet to be precisely characterized 🤔😅😜

Mir Lab@mirlab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

1/🧵 Can transcription factor condensate formation be explained without phase separation? Our new preprint introduces SPARK, a simulation tool that reproduces condensate behavior (clustering, fusion, FRAP) from diffusion & binding kinetics alone. Movie: 60 sec FRAP sim www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Out today - structure of the human HIRA histone chaperone complex bound to nucleosomes. Ever wondered how nucleosomes are assembled in the wake of transcription? It takes a 'hulk of a protein complex'. Work by the amazing Wei Tian weetian558.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

Excited to share my postdoc work on the cryo‑EM structure of the budding yeast telomerase holoenzyme! 🧫🧬 It’s been a real privilege to be part of the awesome Kelly Lab @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social. Grateful as well to the incredible facilities @mrclmb.ac.uk.

Cryo–electron microscopy structure of the budding yeast telomerase holoenzyme

Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomeric repeats at chromosome ends, safeguarding genome integrity. We present the cryo–electron microscopy structure of the budding yeast telom...

science.org

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology@mrclmb.ac.uk · 4mo ago

Led by Investigator Scientist @hongmiaohu.bsky.social, @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division have produced the first ever structure of telomerase from yeast. Read more here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBResearch #cryoEM 🧪

Congrats Deniz @microbiodnz.bsky.social 👏🎉

Panagiotis (Panos) Adam 🐐@precambriangoat.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Congratulations to my and @apapageorgiou.bsky.social 's PhD student, @microbiodnz.bsky.social, for winning both travel award and poster prize at the #VAAM2026 @vaam-microbes.bsky.social conference. Thanks to the organizers and more about archaeal HU proteins coming soon.

New preprint! We show that conjugation accelerates the segregation of #plasmid alleles -> horizontal transfer is a route for allele segregation in MGE evolution. Led by Lisa Hartmann, with @mariosanter.bsky.social &Nils Hülter. Naturally, reviewed by @qedscience.bsky.social! doi.org/10.64898/202...

Asgard #archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors? New review (also for newcomers to the field!) by Christa Schleper and Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira link.springer.com/article/10.1...

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

This is an incredible resource: The MicrobeAtlas Database www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The MicrobeAtlas database: Global trends and insights into Earth’s microbial ecosystems

MicrobeAtlas (www.microbeatlas.org) is an integrated, reference-based resource for truly planet-wide microbiomics, analyzing hundreds of thousands of microbial lineages across diverse environments, co...

cell.com

Since last year, I've been making a RELION GUI that supports viewing, navigating and running jobs in a way completely compatible with the original RELION pipeline. Now it's working nicely for both SPA and tomography! Please try it out - github.com/hanjinliu/hi...

New online: Z-DNA formation regulates the totipotent-like state and primes Zscan4-dependent chromatin compartmentalization

Z-DNA formation regulates the totipotent-like state and primes Zscan4-dependent chromatin compartmentalization

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 17 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-026-01751-5Shajahan et al. unveil a repressive genomic compartment in totipotent-like cells, shaped by Zscan4 and guided by transient Z-DNA formation. This ‘Z compartment’ may be crucial for preserving totipotency in early embryos.

dlvr.it

Max Fels @mfels.bsky.social from our lab discovers giant DNA viruses that infect amoeba encode eIF4E and the entire suite of 4F complex proteins to control mRNA translation, including beautiful crystal structures of viral 4E bound to modified mRNA 5' caps: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan Löwe, @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...

Our great collaboration with the lab of Wei Yang and Kaoru Sugasawa is now online in Nature. We’re glad we could contribute some cell biology to complement this beautiful structural and biochemical work. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pre-incision structures reveal principles of DNA nucleotide excision repair - Nature

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of nucleotide excision repair complexes reveal the roles of the constituent proteins XPA, XPB, XPC, XPD, XPF, XPG and RPA in DNA bubble formation and excision ...

nature.com

Wow! Self-replication!

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand

The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

science.org

Glad to share our paper out today @NatureEcoEvo: “Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor”. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky #archaeasky

Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Phylogenetic and biochemical analyses show a diversity of components of the DNA replication machinery in different Asgard archaea that contributed to the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery.

nature.com

Check out this awesome work by Strock et al. on how Archaea can turn nasty against Bacteria. Very honored for the opportunity to spread their story in a primer with @apapageorgiou.bsky.social. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Tobias Warnecke@tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Archaea are often surrounded by bacteria. But is there ever active conflict between the two? Can archaea kill bacteria? If so, how do they do it? Work by @romainstrock.bsky.social shows that some archaea can kill bacteria by secreting peptidoglycan hydrolases. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

If you are curious about plant evolution, cytogenomics, and big-picture questions about biodiversity, feel free to get in touch with Sreetama @sreetamabhadra.bsky.social!

Sreetama Bhadra@sreetamabhadra.bsky.social · last yr.

Thrilled to start as Junior Group Leader @ibotcz.bsky.social this Sept at Průhonice! 🌿🚀 We will explore how #genomesize, #polyploidy & #traits shape plant #diversity, #evolution & #distribution across space and time, combining lab work and modelling.🌴🔬🧬 Funded #PhD openings soon! Get in touch!

This was fun! Folding whole proteomes… looking at tomogram, looking at genomes🤩 lots to discover!🧬🧶

An Asgard archaeon from a modern analog of ancient microbial mats

It has been proposed that eukaryotic cells evolved via symbiosis between sulfate-reducing bacteria and hydrogen-producing archaea. Here we describe a highly enriched culture of a novel Asgard archaeon...

biorxiv.org

ChimeraX@chimerax.ucsf.edu · last yr.

ChimeraX daily builds can predict binding affinity of small molecules using Boltz 2 on your Mac, Windows or Linux computer. www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/dat...

Check out this weird protein we found in a Loki Asgard archaea.🧬🧶Only found relatives in other Lokis. 🤔 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Alright, last one, now I need to get back to real work... 😸

📣 We are proud of the publication of the second paper of @bbaker24.bsky.social PhD thesis. In collaboration with friends in Halifax we have studied the difficult question of the phylogeny of the DPANN archaea, composed of several phyla of highly reduced, fast-evolving epiparasites 🧵 rdcu.be/erkkU

Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors

Nature Microbiology - Phylogenetic reconstructions with conserved protein markers from the 11 known DPANN phyla reveal their monophyletic placement within the Euryarchaeota.

rdcu.be

One more appointment with great science in a few days, one click away 👇

It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.

#phylogenetics

Andrew Roger@andrewjroger.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt

Interesting paper alert! #eukaryogenesis www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Microtubules in Asgard archaea

Discovery of heterodimeric, microtubule-forming tubulins in Asgard archaea, the closest known relatives of eukaryotes, reveals snapshots of microtubule evolution.

cell.com

When asked to draw a scientist, school-age kids in the United States are increasingly sketching women, according to a study from 2018. Read more on #WomenInScienceDay: https://scim.ag/4hOUuvx