🧬🧬🧬 Very happy to share our new preprint led by Fede Mantica (@fedemantica.bsky.social) on how tissue-specific alternative splicing (TS-AS) and gene expression (TS-GE) evolve across bilaterians! Thread below 🧵 1/11 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Out today in @nature.com: our review on how single cells evolve into multicellular organisms. With Ozan Bozdag, @kaitong25.bsky.social, Peter Yunker, and @matthewherron.bsky.social. rdcu.be/9ZuiKow9twKa For an overview, check out the video below.

Two years ago, I asked @rorycraig.bsky.social sky.social during his visit to Virginia Tech about the viral TET gene, sparking an awesome collaboration with @alexdemendoza.bsky.social! What a way to wrap up my PhD in the Aylward Lab! Such an elusive virus, yet a little giant genetic engineer itself.

Alex de Mendoza@alexdemendoza.bsky.social · 2w ago

How can a #GiantVirus 👾 lurk inside the host genome undetected? We find that epigenetic conflict lies at the centre of the ⚖️ between infection and co-existence with the host. Great collaboration with the Aylward lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Very happy to contribute to the next chapter on chlamy's giant punuivirus, led by the de Mendoza and Aylward labs and beautifully described by Alex below. Also contains the first little bit of data generated here in Melbourne to see the light of day!

Alex de Mendoza@alexdemendoza.bsky.social · 2w ago

How can a #GiantVirus 👾 lurk inside the host genome undetected? We find that epigenetic conflict lies at the centre of the ⚖️ between infection and co-existence with the host. Great collaboration with the Aylward lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How can a #GiantVirus 👾 lurk inside the host genome undetected? We find that epigenetic conflict lies at the centre of the ⚖️ between infection and co-existence with the host. Great collaboration with the Aylward lab out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🧬 Mark your calendars! Our EMBO Workshop "Chromatin evolution from molecules to genomes" is coming to St Feliu de Guíxols (Spain), 4–7 Oct 2027 🌊 Amazing programme! #EMBOchromatinEvo meetings.embo.org/event/27-chromatin-evo Register early!

Chromatin evolution from molecules to genomes

Technological advances over the past decade have enabled genome-wide mapping of chromatin organization across diverse organisms at unprecedented resolution. These studies have uncovered both conserve…

meetings.embo.org

It's live! The next @embo.org #EvoChromo meeting will take place next year October in St Feliu de Guíxols (Spain), check it out here: meetings.embo.org/event/27-chr.... It's been great to co-organise with @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social @kellervalsecchi.bsky.social @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social & Nick I.

Chromatin evolution from molecules to genomes

Technological advances over the past decade have enabled genome-wide mapping of chromatin organization across diverse organisms at unprecedented resolution. These studies have uncovered both conserve…

meetings.embo.org

The first paper of my PostDoc in Christa Schlepers group (@archaea-vienna.bsky.social) on the dynamics of Asgard archaea is now out in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41... This was a great team effort and I am looking forward to uncover the complex behavior of these cells further!

Dynamic protrusions mediate crawling motility in Asgard archaea - Nature

Anoxic live-cell imaging shows actin-dependent crawling motility and dynamic protrusions in Asgard archaea, providing insights into cellular innovations that may have contributed to eukaryotic evoluti...

nature.com

We have a new branch in the family tree of animals: Atreyea- a previously unrecognized lineage among the closest unicell relatives of animals. Led by @konsmitsi.bsky.social & @freejakoba.bsky.social together with a fantastic team of collaborators. 🔗 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... #protistsOnSky

For those of you who, like me, missed the Vatican #EvoDevo: www.pas.va/en/events/20..., don't worry, there will be a more earthly local version next week (Friday) in Cambridge Dept of Zoology, program here: londonevodevo.co.uk. Can't promise cardinal vestments in the background though.

Must admit, ever since I was a kid, I’ve dreamt of seeing microscopy images of #protists in @lemonde.fr Today, protists are everywhere, and several images were taken by the team. And seeing #ichthyosporeans there too?! 🥹 One step closer to showcasing the beauty of the invisible microbial world. 🔬✨

Le Monde@lemonde.fr · last mo.

Plongée dans le monde fascinant de micro-organismes unicellulaires doués d’intelligence

Finally - the 🧵! So, the piRNA pathway defends the animal germline from transposons. But most of what we know comes from narrow developmental windows like late oogenesis, where it's easiest to study. We asked if the pathway is the same across development. It is not! /+

Peter Andersen@germline.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We watched piRNAs and transposons across development, saw them dance tightly and wrote a paper about it. It's so cool to see it online and we will make a thread about it all very soon. Stay tuned :-)

1/ out in @science.org! We found a new asymmetry in large-scale chromosome structure: sister chromatids are shifted by hundreds of kb in the 5′→3′ direction of their inherited strands! A close collaboration w/ @gerlichlab.bsky.social , led by @flaviacorsi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dear #LondonEvoDevo colleagues, don't forget to register for our next meeting (deadline on Sep 15th). It would be wonderful to see a lot of our #Cambridge colleagues.

Alex de Mendoza@alexdemendoza.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The #LondonEvoDevo goes to Cambridge! Kindly hosted by @emiliapsantos.bsky.social, mark on your calendars *October 2nd* at the Main Theatre in the Department of Zoology (Cambridge). Registration (£0.00): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F.... All welcome to present: #PI #PhD #PostDocs, submit abstracts!

How many TFs to you need to open chromatin at enhancers? Very excited to see this one out! Check out the augmented version with combinatorial motif mutant libraries in Figure 5! Very proud of @guidobarzaghi.bsky.social @valentinabaderna.bsky.social @embl.org

Guido Barzaghi@guidobarzaghi.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📄 That's a wrap 📄 we're excited to share that the latest from @arnaudkr.bsky.social 's lab and Judith Zaugg's lab is at last online at doi.org/10.1038/s415.... Many thanks to my co-first @valentinabaderna.bsky.social and to @embl.org for the wonderful research environment.

What happens when evolution adds an extra pair of eyes? Male mayflies evolve an extra pair of dorsal compound eyes, the Turbanate eyes, thought to help males detect females during mating swarms. we have investigate how this remarkable evolutionary novelty develops. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The #LondonEvoDevo goes to Cambridge! Kindly hosted by @emiliapsantos.bsky.social, mark on your calendars *October 2nd* at the Main Theatre in the Department of Zoology (Cambridge). Registration (£0.00): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F.... All welcome to present: #PI #PhD #PostDocs, submit abstracts!

LondonEvoDevo meeting - October 2026

This event will take place on Friday October 2nd, 2026, at the Department of Zoology (Main Lecture Theatre), University of Cambridge, Downing Street CB2 3EJ, 12:30 - 18:30. There will be no posters, ...

docs.google.com

Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below

Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics

This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...

nature.com

Our study published today @science.org shows that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) attracts L1 mutations to the human X chromosome: doi.org/10.1126/scie... With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Sailing in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social ready for summer, our study on the iconic Portuguese man o' war 🪼 is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We use (epi)genomics to understand a critter that fascinates me since childhood. Massive team effort with @obog.bsky.social, Cummins and Neely groups. 🧵

The third chapter in our coral single-cell trilogy is here. After mapping cell type diversity in Stylophora (Levy 2021) and exploring facultative symbiosis in Oculina (Levy 2025), we now uncover cell type-specific responses to heat stress. Find out more in @xgrau.bsky.social's thread below.

Cell-resolved transcriptional responses during heat-induced coral bleaching and recovery

Coral reefs depend on an intracellular symbiosis between cnidarian hosts and photosynthetic dinoflagellates that is disrupted by ocean warming, causing coral bleaching. Yet how these responses are dis...

biorxiv.org

Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾@xgrau.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I'm happy to share our latest on #coral single-cell biology: a transcriptomic timecourse of heat stress in Stylophora pistillata, from bleaching to recovery 🪸🌊 This project was spearheaded by Shani Levy and carried through in @arnausebe.bsky.social's lab at @crg.eu. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨Preprint Drop🚨 We are very pleased to release our study on DNA methylation dynamics at enhancers during ESC differentiation! This work was led by Marlet Morales-Franco and Priscillia Lhoumaud 🧵(1/13) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Dual profiling of DNA modifications with enhancer features during the exit of naive pluripotency

Cis-regulatory elements, such as enhancers, play an essential role in coordinating gene expression programs during cellular transitions. As such, substantial efforts have been made to characterize enh...

biorxiv.org

Funny to get quoted on a pun about the origin of eukaryotes being a bit of a promiscuous relationship in the 🇪🇸 press, but glad to help communicate @tonigabaldon.bsky.social & his team's fatnastic work, which highlights the importance of giant viruses 👾 in eukaryotic origins @nature.com. Congrats!

Patricia Ruiz Guevara@patriciaenverde.bsky.social · 5mo ago

¿De dónde venimos? El gran salto evolutivo del que surgieron las células complejas que nos conforman es un enigma. Un estudio de @irbbarcelona.org y @bsc-cns.bsky.social revela que hay más actores implicados de los que pensábamos El 'ménage à trois' celular 👉 www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/c...

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...

"Humbled to receive this recognition. This belongs as much to my team, my family, & to my home, Palestine: the people, the place, the joyful stubbornness to enjoy life." Cheers buddy @gautamdey.bsky.social Thx to my mentors @sophiemartinlab.bsky.social, @paveltomancak.bsky.social, & Pierre Gönczy.

EMBO@embo.org · 5mo ago

Congratulations to Gautam Dey (EMBL) and Omaya Dudin (University of Geneva) for being awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2026 in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the #LifeSciences in Europe! 🧪 https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold-medal-2026-awarded-to-gautam-dey-and-omaya-dudin/

10/10 Perhaps aggregation is not an evolutionary dead end after all! Perhaps it was one of the evolutionary experiments from which animal multicellularity emerged. Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41... @icreacommunity.bsky.social #AnimalOrigins #Evolution #Multicellularity

📣 POSTDOC position available in the Feschotte Lab at Cornell to work on #TRANSPOSONS! More details below. Pls send informal application or inquiry ASAP by DM or email to cf458_at_cornell.edu. Pls spread the word 🙏 #TEsky www.thefeschottelabatcornell.com

🧪

Alex de Mendoza@alexdemendoza.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Capolavoro 🎨 alert 🚨! What is the role of gene body methylation in invertebrates? Despite extensive speculation linking it to plasticity and environmental responses, its mechanistic effects and heritability remain unclear. Our take out in @natecoevo.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

Capolavoro 🎨 alert 🚨! What is the role of gene body methylation in invertebrates? Despite extensive speculation linking it to plasticity and environmental responses, its mechanistic effects and heritability remain unclear. Our take out in @natecoevo.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

Gene body methylation suppresses intragenic transcription and permits epigenetic inheritance in a cnidarian - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Experiments in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis show a role of gene body methylation in transposable element suppression and that epigenetic inheritance is constrained by chromatin context and tra...

nature.com

Infection cycles of viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota #microbiology #virology #virus #MicroSky @natrevmicro.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Infection cycles of viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota - Nature Reviews Microbiology

In this Review, Abergel et al. overview infection cycles across the Nucleocytoviricota phylum, highlighting shared mechanisms and lineage-specific features spanning viral entry, viral factory formatio...

doi.org