Coral bleaching looks like a reef-scale catastrophe. But it starts as a breakdown between single cells. Published in @microbiomej.bsky.social, led by @ambonacolta.bsky.social we watched it at that scale for the first time: the first single-cell transcriptomics of a bleaching coral 🪸 #CoralReefs

Anthony M. Bonacolta@ambonacolta.bsky.social · 4w ago

My final PhD chapter is now published in Microbiome (@microbiomej.bsky.social)! Using metabarcoding, photochemical measurements, and the first scRNAseq of a bleaching coral, we examined the microbial ecology of coral bleaching at the single-cell level! 🪸🔥 #CoralReefs 🔗 rdcu.be/zWHQ92WqZQUa

Plastid endosymbiosis without gene transfer - dinoflagellates can do it #ProtistsOnSky #Kareniaceae #plastids

Recent plastid replacement in Karlodinium ballantinum (Kareniaceae, Dinoflagellata) challenges the paradigms of endosymbiotic gene transfer

Abstract. Plastids, the photosynthetic organelles of eukaryotes, arose via endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria by a eukaryotic host and were subsequently spread

academic.oup.com

Very excited to dive into the diversity of FRESHWATER perkinsids of the Masurian Lakeland together with Anna Karnkwoska - supported by a joint grant from the Polish and Czech grant agencies NCN & GAČR! #perkinsids #freshwater #protistsonsky

Anna Karnkowska@ankarn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🎉 Excited to share that Elisabeth Hehenberger and I have been awarded a 🇵🇱🇨🇿 NCN–GAČR grant! We'll explore the diversity, ecology, and interactions of Perkinsea, a fascinating and largely overlooked group of parasitic #protists in #freshwaters. Looking forward to this exciting collaboration!

This was the last seminar before summer break - come back in September for more dinoflagellate goodness! The date and time will be shared via email list, discord and on the website (where you can sign up to be on the email list/discord): sites.google.com/view/dinosph... #protistsonsky

DinoSphere

Welcome

sites.google.com

Liz Cooney@protistwtmostest.bsky.social · 3mo ago

DinoSphere seminar happening today in just over an hour! 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST. Speakers will be Leïla Jacquot (kleptoplasty) and Noodin Jacko (myzozoan plastid parallelism). Zoom link and details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w - come join us! @ehehenberger.bsky.social @manondemulder.bsky.social

Sweet and fatty symbionts: Photosynthetic productivity and carbon storage boosted in microalgae within a host | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #protistsonsky

Nice to meet you, Holdonia! #protistsonsky

Liz Cooney@protistwtmostest.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Meet Holdonia, a new member of the chrompodellid clade. Found clinging to a polychaete, this little guy reveals that similar patterns in plastid reduction have occurred independently across chrompodellid and related lineages. @rhizalyssa.bsky.social @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social tinyurl.com/2t25xb6z

It's happening tomorrow! Zoom link via: tinyurl.com/43uckr2w We look forward to seeing you there

DinoSphere - Online talks

Video credits: Liz Cooney

tinyurl.com

Manon Demulder@manondemulder.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Our next DinoSphere seminar will be June 18th at 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST hosting Jana Pilátová and @gracezhong.bsky.social 🪱 Grace Zhong: Symbiont mobility in a dinoflagellate–acoel worm symbiosis 🪩 Jana Pilátová: Eyespots as photonic mirrors in Symbiodiniaceae More details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w!

The first paper from #theLifeOfRetaria is out! doi.org/10.1002/bies... This was a very fun and enriching process, as it has been the last 2 years of our Seminar Series 🤩 #protistsonsky

Julie Meilland@juliemeilland.bsky.social · 4mo ago

We got our first common paper out #theLifeOfRetaria with @sandinmm.bsky.social , @raphaelmorard.bsky.social, @nicolecoots.bsky.social, @mattgr3co.bsky.social, Nicolaas Glock and Natalia Llopis-Monferrer - first product of our seminar series! check it out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

New #ISEPpapers #preprint! A billion-year-old bacterial machinery replicates plastid DNA and supports kleptoplastidy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Algae #Microbes #Bacteria #Evolution #Symbiosis #Plastids

Excited to say that my new paper with @maxlechte.bsky.social (and others not on bluesky) has come out in @nature.com! Study of sediments, geochemistry and fossils from rocks 1.75 to 1.4 billion years old indicate that the oldest known #eukaryotes were aerobic and benthic! #protists rdcu.be/fjNgL

Early fossil eukaryotes were benthic aerobes

Nature - Integrated palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses of ancient rocks from Australia show that early eukaryotes were largely restricted to oxygenated benthic habitats,...

rdcu.be

Our next DinoSphere seminar will be June 18th at 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST hosting Jana Pilátová and @gracezhong.bsky.social 🪱 Grace Zhong: Symbiont mobility in a dinoflagellate–acoel worm symbiosis 🪩 Jana Pilátová: Eyespots as photonic mirrors in Symbiodiniaceae More details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w!

Five days left to apply! 🌊 Exciting #PhDPosition in #PlanktonEcology at the University of Koblenz, Germany! Work on #marine #protists with a mix of 🔬 wet lab and 💻 bioinformatics in a 3-year, 60% position. 📅 Apply by 20 May 2026 Please repost/share 🙌 Link: tinyurl.com/yu27knau #ProtistsOnSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #protistsonsky

Protist-dominated hard substrate faunas thrive at the deepest ocean depths

Deep-sea hard substrates host faunal novelties and distinct evolutionary lineages. However, sessile organisms on rocks are difficult to sample and largely unknown at extreme hadal depths. Here, we rep...

science.org

The first group picture of (almost) the whole lab! Not so wisely taken the day after the Protistology Open 2026 Conference Dinner, but I think we still look pretty sharp :) #protistsonsky

Important announcement!!! 💫 Would you have a tooth pulled if it helped your chances to get an important grant funded? Absurd question, but the funding situation is so bad, that I bet some of you actually considered it for a second… keep your teeth! we created something that might help! 👇 (1/16)

#RequestForProposals We’re inviting teams of two researchers to pursue projects advancing #AquaticSymbiosis (marine + freshwater). Areas of interest include how aquatic environments influence symbiosis, evolutionary ecology & new methods/tech. Details + how to apply:  moore.org/SymbiosisRFP

New funding opportunity: Advancing aquatic symbiosis research

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation announces a new request for proposals aimed at advancing understanding of symbiosis in marine and freshwater environments.…

moore.org

Interested in working on the evolution of photosynthetic endosymbioses? Come join us! I have 2 open positions in my new group @cemess.bsky.social in Vienna 3yr postdoc info: tinyurl.com/4emkjpn4 4yr PhD info: tinyurl.com/mtxmsjpy Apply by 1st June! Please share/repost #Protists #Symbiosis #PhD

I know late to the party and all but very excited to see this: support for the hypothesis that increased prey specificity correlates with more tightly integrated kleptoplasts – from @mixotrophe.bsky.social lab (wrong image associated with link) #protistsonsky onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Increased prey choice is associated with higher kleptoplastidic reliance in Mesodinium ciliates

Kleptoplastidic organisms display varying levels of reliance on stolen plastids, with some lineages evolving complex strategies for plastid (and other organelle) integration into metabolism. More com...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Please join us tomorrow morning (9 AM CEST) to hear about Rocío Mozo Muñoz's work on the phylogenomics of Symbiodiniaceae (from the lab of @fonamental.bsky.social) #protistsonsky

Liz Cooney@protistwtmostest.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Tune in this week to the DinoSphere seminar to hear Rocío Mozo Muñoz (IBE-UPF-CSIC) talk about her work in phylogenomics of Symbiodiniaceae! 📆 16 April - 9AM CEST 🔗 tinyurl.com/5fje3s55 @ehehenberger.bsky.social @manondemulder.bsky.social @chandnibhickta.bsky.social Norico Yamada, Edmée Royen

Tune in this week to the DinoSphere seminar to hear Rocío Mozo Muñoz (IBE-UPF-CSIC) talk about her work in phylogenomics of Symbiodiniaceae! 📆 16 April - 9AM CEST 🔗 tinyurl.com/5fje3s55 @ehehenberger.bsky.social @manondemulder.bsky.social @chandnibhickta.bsky.social Norico Yamada, Edmée Royen

DinoSphere - Online talks

Video credits: Liz Cooney

tinyurl.com

Aerobic sister lineage of breviates has gene-rich mitochondrial genomes #microbiology #eukaryotes #mitochondria #protists #MicroSky #ProtistsOnSky @cellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

Aerobic sister lineage of breviates has gene-rich mitochondrial genomes

Cho et al. describe a novel, aerobic sister lineage of Breviatea using flow cytometric single-cell sorting and genome amplification. The new lineage harbors gene-rich mitochondrial genomes, unlike Bre...

cell.com

Extremely cool PhD position alert! Plus a great supervisor!

Fabien Burki@fburki.bsky.social · 11mo ago

We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2

Please join us next week for the second iteration of the DinoSphere Seminars! This time our two speakers will talk about host-associated dinoflagellates and any challenges they might have encountered when working with them. All current and future friends of dinoflagellates welcome! #ProtistsOnSky

Manon Demulder@manondemulder.bsky.social · 11mo ago

We’re back with the next DinoSphere Online Seminar! Join us on Nov 4th, we're hosting: Edmée Royen (ULiège) - Symbiodinium
 Nicolas dos Santos Pacheco (Cambridge) - Perkinsids 📅 Tue, Nov 4 - 4 PM CET/3 PM GMT 
💻 Zoom link: sites.google.com/view/dinosphere
 Please spread the word! #protistonsky

#Expansion #Microscopy #Atlas of #Microbial #Eukaryotes is getting up to speed. We will be at full speed soon, but we are lucky to have a welcoming #protistology #community. Thx 🙏 to @Marine @fmikus.bsky.social @Julius & @Galina ⏭️Stop: @ccapoban.bsky.social #ExpandThemAll #ExAME #ProtistsOnSky

Felix Mikus@fmikus.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Trip 3 and past the 100 species count! Thank you for hosting us in České Budějovice Julius and Galina (and everyone providing samples!), for the prime support, and a fantastic selection of cultures! #expandthemall @moorefound.bsky.social @dudinlab.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social & T. Richards

Characterizing organisms from three domains of life with universal primers from throughout the global ocean www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to be involved in UNICIL, our new Wellcome Trust Discovery project coordinated by @micromotility.bsky.social We will study ciliary dynamics across scales and organisms. A long-term #postdoc position will be available at Heidelberg University […] [Original post on biologists.social]

✨ The Bernhardt Lab at the University of Guelph is recruiting graduate students for 2026! Join us! We have several fully funded grad positions available ✨ Please spread the word! www.bernhardtlab.org/join-us #CSEE2025

It's shameful that we are so behind with endometriosis, but a landmark $50 million donation offers new hope. vajenda.substack.com/p/decades-be...

Decades Behind: The Shameful Neglect of Endometriosis Research

A Landmark $50 Million Donation Offers New Hope for One of Medicine's Most Overlooked Conditions

vajenda.substack.com

Excited to share our new paper in @cellreports.bsky.social that reshapes our understanding of chromosome organization's deep evolutionary roots! Our work dives into the origins of the machinery that structures our very genomes. 🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... #Genomics #Evolution #CellBiology #LECA

We have a new paper out today in Trends in Microbiology led by @bhattacharyalab.bsky.social, also ft. me, Tims Stephens and McDermott, and Gabby Panayotakis. Based on NASA + JGI-funded work on Cyanidiophyceae and other Yellowstone microbes. nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...