Vasily Zlatogursky
@zlatogursky.bsky.social
Protistology whatever it means. Views are mine
📢 Meet our invited speaker: Mahwash Jamy, Uppsala University, @mjamy.bsky.social “New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life” How environmental plastid genomes reveal hidden algal diversity & evolution. #Protists #Protistology #Genomics #ProtistsOnSky #Microbiology
🔬 Invited speaker spotlight: Fabien Burki, Uppsala University: Single cell genomics and fluorescence microscopy suggest a permanent plastid in a marine centrohelid. @fburki.bsky.social 👉 comparativegenomics2026.com #Genomics #SingleCellGenomics #Protistology #Protists #Microscopy #Eukaryotes
Beautiful work from Brazil describing testate amoeba shells found on a moss sample from a tree on a tall mountain in the Amazon Rainforest: "High-altitude Amazonian eukaryotic shells (Arcellinida, Amoebozoa)" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #protistsonsky
Cool! Looks like #nucleariids / #rotosphaerids can be (1) flagellated/ciliated (2) parasitoids similar to other deep #holomycota. #ProtistsOnSky
phy_papers@phypapers.bsky.social · 2w agoA parasitic flagellate among the Nucleariae: a new perspective on the phylogeny of Holomycota (Opisthokonta) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.739728v1
Very happy something like this is now available. In protist diversity research we use the rDNA extensively, but I for one doesn't know enough about it's structure, variation, and implications www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Organization of Ribosomal RNA Genes in Eukaryotes
In eukaryotes, ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) encode the major ribosomal RNA molecules and are typically organized into a distinctive genomic structure involving tandem repetition of a polycistronic codin...
annualreviews.org
(1/6) Not protists, but this is Sunday, so why not 🙃 In short: I saw the fly “picture” on this 🦚🕷️ #peacockspider #jumpingspider opistosoma and can’t unsee it. Why it might be interesting (not just my pareidolia 🤪) - below.
⚡FINAL FLASH ABSTRACTS One last opportunity to share your research with the CGUE2026 community. 📅 Submissions open August 1 - 0:00 CET ⏰ Deadline: August 15 - 23:59 CET 👉 Submit your poster: comparativegenomics2026.com #ComparativeGenomics #Protistology #Genomics #ProtistsOnSky #Protist #Eukaryote
New preprint! 🧵 Best #Cercozoa genome alert! For a decade, I’ve studied protist ecology through questions like who eats whom. But beyond “they eat this, they eat that,” what do #protists do to their environment, biochemically speaking? #protistsonsky @huesnaoeztoprak.bsky.social
Do #tintinnids dream of electric sheep? 🤯 Here is a single cell capable of building a lorica and living inside it for protection... it also swims, feeds, hunts Can even detect and habituate to mechanical cues! #celllearning #protistsonsky #cilia Read more in our preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...
So happy to share our new paper out now in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We establish Pirsonia-Coscinodiscus as a model pathosystem and uncover how this tiny parasite infects and kills bloom-forming marine diatoms 🌊🦠 rdcu.be/fuQyF
Apparently the "boring billion" was actually exciting! We provide molecular evidence of complex Mesoproterozoic eukaryotic communities. So happy to see this out 🥳 Thanks to @phoebefossil.bsky.social , Hélène Morlon & @fburki.bsky.social for a lovely collab! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
🚨 Master's internship available at our lab. Join us to investigate the phenotypic plasticity and life cycles of several #ichthyosporean species using cell biology & microscopy. Interested? Get in touch with Vika Shabardina or DM us. Link: www.ibe.upf-csic.es/work-with-us...
Open calls - Institut de Biologia Evolutiva - CSIC UPF - UPF
ibe.upf-csic.es
Most people have never heard of #apusomonads. Yet these tiny protists occupy an important position in the eukaryotic tree of life. And we know so little about them! We're looking for a Master's student to help uncover their hidden diversity. #ProtistsOnSky 🧵 @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @prbb.org
Who can help me name this #protist #protistsonsky #ciliates #microscopy #freshwater #citizenscience Size approx 200 Micron exluding the trunk. @protistologyopen.bsky.social
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
Cool video about the nitroplast that’s also a testament to why basic science is important! youtu.be/g9B3gBhcwqM?...
This cell just changed biology
YouTube video by Grist
youtu.be
New preprint: We studied the population dynamics of Arctic #phytoplankton and #mycoplankton and found evidence for chytrid-mediated diatom bloom termination. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Congrats @paulinethome.bsky.social #protists #protistsonsky #algae #diatoms #chytrids
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Multiple evolutionary routes to cytoskeletal arborization revealed by the rhizarian amoeba Filoreta ramosa
Discovery of an adhesion GPCR regulating mating in choanoflagellates, by Alain Garcia de las Bayonas & Nicole King. Absolutely stunning work - choano cell biology is going next level www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dear fellow researchers. I think we need to discuss this: www.newscientist.com/article/2532... While peer review is flawed, and while preprints are a great way to share data before publication, as a community we mustn’t trade rigour for hype. This paper was peer reviewed and rejected.
What is 'SpudCell'? Arguably the greatest bioengineering feat yet
A prototype cell partly capable of replicating itself has been created using 36 existing bacterial genes, but it's not really a living organism – yet
newscientist.com
Had a blast putting this video abstract together with colleagues for @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social story in @currentbiology.bsky.social on how the "vampire cell" P. collini builds the perfect feeding trap 👀. Be sure to check out the full paper: www.cell.com/current-biol... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikzm...
A cellular vampire builds the perfect feeding trap / Curr. Biol., June 24, 2026 (Vol. 36, Issue 14)
YouTube video by Cell Press
youtube.com
I have a problem stopping watching this...
Phil Abitua@ohnolog.bsky.social · last mo.Annual killifish continue to surprise us: they make neutrophils before almost every other cell type, even before gastrulation. Neutrophils usually arise from the lateral plate mesoderm (forming in cyan), but in killifish they are already patrolling around the embryo in gold. tinyurl.com/killiphil
1/11 🤩Sooooo happy to see this work on a new new group #algae. Looks like #centrohelids - predatory ancient eukaryotic lineage sometimes harbor vertically-inherited plastids from #dictyochophytes. Amazing work, @annewalraven.bsky.social, glad to be on board! More below:
Anne Walraven@annewalraven.bsky.social · last mo.Very excited that the preprint of the main paper of my PhD is now out! We show that Meringosphaera is the first centrohelid with permanent plastids: doi.org/10.64898/202... @zlatogursky.bsky.social, @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social, prof. Rachel A. Foster, and @fburki.bsky.social #protistsonsky
Tiny unicellular #eukaryotes, big #biomaterial inspiration. Excited to share our Nature Communications study showing that tintinnid ciliates build their chemical- and heat-resistant shells from self-assembling proteins we call Tintinnidorins. doi.org/10.1038/s414... #protistsonsky 1/3
I'm excited to share that one of the main outcomes of my PhD research was published in @pnas.org this week!! Thank you to everyone involved in this work! @johandecelle.bsky.social More details here: lnkd.in/emwBFun3 Thanks to @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social for covering our work: lnkd.in/ex9GmJNe
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
The evolutionary transition from alga to parasite in the sister lineage of apicomplexans
The chrompodellids are a collection of photosynthetic “chromerids” and heterotrophic “colpodellids,” which are together the sister lineage to the apic…
tinyurl.com
Nucleariids are a group of single-celled amoeboid organisms which are related to Fungi. One species, Fonticula alba, was initially classified as a type of slime mould, because it behaves like slime moulds by forming multi-cellular aggregates and fruiting bodies 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...
