"Birds of a feather flock together". But sometimes, the unlikeliest of pairs form lasting bonds. Take mutually beneficial symbioses in nature between animals, animals and bacteria or plants and bacteria. Or even humans and bacteria! 🧪🧵 #Evolution #EvoKE #InternationalFriendshipDay #Animalsymbiosis

Meet the #EvoKE Communications Team 📣 We have different backgrounds and a shared passion for evolution education and science outreach 🧵1/10 #EvolutionEducation

Mary Leakey spent nearly 30 years searching the sediment layers of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania alongside her husband Louis. On July 17, 1959, with Louis home sick, she spotted two large teeth jutting out of a hillside and instantly knew she was looking at one of our ancient relatives 🧪🧵

What do pea plants have to do with evolution? 🌱 More than you might think. Gregor Mendel's careful experiments uncovered the rules of inheritance, explaining how traits are passed from one generation to the next. Gregor Mendel was born #OTD in 1822! 🧪 #GregorMendel #Evolution #Genetics #EvoKE

The 2026 Conference on Beneficial Microbes will be co-organized with the International Symbiosis Society from July 19th - July 23rd. Its not too late to register! #BeneficialMicrobes10 #BeneficialMicrobesMtg #ISS #SymbioSky

A step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

doi.org

Proposed terminology for referring to the homes of #symbionts within their ( #insect ) hosts " #Symbiotic organs in #insects: diversity, functional implications, and terminology " w/ @kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social and co., not in bsky doi.org/10.1098/rstb... #SymbioSky

Symbiotic organs in insects: diversity, functional implications, and terminology

Abstract. With over a million described species, insects represent the most successful group of animals on Earth. One of the drivers of insect diversity is

doi.org

Here's my review for @theguardian.com of @rowhoop.bsky.social's superb new book Togetherness. I recommend it highly. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

Togetherness by Rowan Hooper review – a stunning portrait of cooperation in nature

This corrective to our habitual emphasis on competition had me writing ‘wow’ in the margins again and again

theguardian.com

Missed this one when it came out. #Genome degradation results in nested #symbiosis and #endosymbiont replacement in #cicadas doi.org/10.1038/s414... #SymbioSky

Genome degradation results in nested symbiosis and endosymbiont replacement in cicadas - Nature Communications

The evolutionary mechanisms leading to symbiont replacement in insects are not well understood. Zhou et al. show that genome degradation results in nested symbiosis and endosymbiont replacement in cic...

doi.org

🧪#WorldEnvironmentDay Modern humans are the outcome of billions of years of cosmic history, biological evolution, and countless chance events. If Earth's 4.5-billion-year history lasted just one minute, Homo sapiens would appear only in the final 0.004 seconds.

On the 22 of May, we celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity. For us at EvoKE, it’s an occasion to share the message that all life on Earth is a product of biological evolution and is constantly evolving! Learn more in the thread below👇 #BiodiversityDay 🧪 @unbiodiversity.bsky.social

In March, we welcomed more than 130 participants to #EESSymbiosis. Among 52 posters, 5 were recognised with prizes. Congrats to: 🧪 Rudvi Pednekar 🧪 Ronja Krüsemer 🧪 Dongik Chang Learn more about their research: s.embl.org/ees26-03-poster-winners

EvoKE wishes you a Happy International Museum Day! What’s your favorite museum to learn about evolution? Tell us in the comments or tag a museum we should follow and discover!

Cellular remodeling of ovarian follicular epithelial cells transmits an obligate nutritional #endosymbiont in a #scaleInsect #Insignibacter tubulum, novel nutritional endosymbiont of #Insignorthezia insignis doi.org/10.1073/pnas... #SymbioSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky #symbiosky

Tryptophanase disruption promotes insect–bacterium mutualism - Nature Microbiology

Disruption of a single gene encoding tryptophanase makes Escherichia coli mutualistic in a stinkbug model owing to the accumulation of tryptophan and a reduction in toxic indole. This gene is typicall...

nature.com

Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early! We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets. 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Pervasive and dynamic gut dysbiosis in wild bumble bees is linked to the host life cycle https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.05.704103v1

Niche #microsky question: if you have a Cerillo microplate reader in a shaker, how reliable is it? Do you have issues with OD reading stability? Would you recommend if there are issues with false high OD due to aggregation? Pls share! Thanks!

A bumblebee mimic hoverfly #insect #entomology . . Shop: www.redbubble.com/people/Chaii... Page: chaintist.wordpress.com

have you ever heard of "bacterial heterologous multicellularity" ? meet 𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘮, once thought to be one species, but it's actually two... #MicroSky #SymbioSky (from the STC archive)

How do they make it work?

Genomic Revelations on a Bacterial Consortium by Johnna L. Roose — Do you ever look at a couple and wonder… ‘Why are they together? What does X see in Y. I just don’t get it. Is X in it only for t…

smallthingsconsidered.blog

Announcing our next #NSFfunded workshop on "Telling Stories Through Data", co-lead by myself + @vgwschutte.bsky.social! It’s half bioinformatics data viz & half #SciComm - this year’s focus is host-associated microbiome datasets. Apply here to join us (form closes 1/10) bit.ly/TSTD2026 #symbiosky

How host and symbiont cells interface in intimately symbiotic associations is still poorly undersood. @annazaidmanremy.bsky.social and her team @inrae-umr-bf2i.bsky.social identifed now a complex network of membraneous tubules containing carbohydrates presumably feeding Sodalis symbionts of weevils!

INRAE UMR BF2I@inrae-umr-bf2i.bsky.social · 9mo ago

📣 #OurLastPaper is out! And it's a major breakthrough that we're publishing in @cp-cell.bsky.social l: we've discovered architect bacteria that build complex structures to feed themselves better! #SymbioSky 1/5

👇 #SymbioSky

Also on my Redbubble shop: www.redbubble.com/people/Chaii... #SymbioSky

Chai_ntist Shop | Redbubble

Chai_ntist is an independent artist creating amazing designs for great products such as t-shirts, stickers, posters, and phone cases.

redbubble.com

Ramya Ganesan@chaintist.bsky.social · 9mo ago

FISH images of microbial cells in host organs/ tissues sometimes remind me of Van Gogh's starry night. Am I the only one? No? Yes? Maybe? Anyways, I just wanted to recreate it ;) #microbiomesky #microbiome #art

FISH images of microbial cells in host organs/ tissues sometimes remind me of Van Gogh's starry night. Am I the only one? No? Yes? Maybe? Anyways, I just wanted to recreate it ;) #microbiomesky #microbiome #art

The 2nd edition of Comprehensive Molecular #Insect Science is out. As section editor for #Immunity and #Symbiosis, I had the privilege to work with outstanding contributors. Other sections cover #genomics, #physiology, #neurobiology, and #ecology 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/referencewor... #SymbioSky

Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science

Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science, Second Edition is a unique resource that provides extensive review articles on contemporary topics in insect s...

sciencedirect.com

Hi! Florence Hommais, @nicolasparisot.bsky.social , and I are looking for a postdoctoral candidate to investigate the molecular dialogue between three weevil species and their endosymbiotic bacteria #symbiosis! Please see the #post-doc offer for more information. #SymbioSky #Bioinformatics

Had to draw a cartoon for this fascinating finding! Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #SymbioSky

Bacterial tubular networks channel carbohydrates in insect endosymbiosis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Bacterial tubular networks channel carbohydrates in insect endosymbiosis

Bacteria with an intracellular lifestyle need to feed from inside their host cells. This study shows an adaptation of certain symbiotic bacteria, allowing them to actively retrieve nutrients from the ...

cell.com

#microsky #mevosky @spp2389.bsky.social A PhD position is available in my lab to work on: Emergence and self-organisation of bacterial metabolism in consortia of cross-feeding bacteria. Please RT Deadline: 12.11.25 More infos 👇 shorturl.at/rAKAT