Happy to announce that a new opinion paper of our group just came out: A conceptual framework to dissect emergent functions in microbial communities with @swagatika.bsky.social @sharvari27.bsky.social @anjanaprasad.bsky.social @palshubharthi.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A conceptual framework to dissect emergent functions in microbial communities

Microbial communities play vital roles in diverse ecosystems and are key drivers of numerous industrial or health-related applications. In many cases,…

sciencedirect.com

Cyanobacterial flocculation as a defence against bacterial predation academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs

Cyanobacterial flocculation as a defence against bacterial predation

Abstract. Many cyanobacteria are capable of flocculation: the formation of floating linked assemblages of many thousands of cells. Flocculation is a highly

academic.oup.com

🧪 Physiology is a hidden dimension of diversity in the radiation of woodland salamanders | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Physiology is a hidden dimension of diversity in the radiation of woodland salamanders | PNAS

Morphological evolution can be explosive, producing visually spectacular adaptive radiations like Caribbean anoles, Malagasy vangas, and African Ri...

pnas.org

How ancient are the building blocks of animal sensory systems? Key components of animal sensory systems evolved before animals. We find that choanoflagellates possess diverse & spatially segregated TRP channels, pointing to ancient origins of sensory specialization. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Excited to share this is now published in @narjournal.bsky.social 🎉 see the preprint thread below for a summary of our findings on plasmids with multiple partition systems using the Streptomyces plasmid SCP1 as a model! academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Stable inheritance of the Streptomyces linear plasmid SCP1 by dual ParABS partition systems

Abstract. Low-copy-number plasmids often rely on dedicated maintenance mechanisms, such as partitioning systems, to ensure stable inheritance across genera

academic.oup.com

Leah McPhillips@leahmcphillips.bsky.social · 8mo ago

📄 Delighted to share that the preprint of my main PhD work is out now! 👏 A huge thank you to everyone involved, @tommclean.bsky.social, Govind Chandra, Ngat Tran (both not on BlueSky) and especially my PhD supervisor @tunglejic.bsky.social 👏 🧵 below! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

now published!!! @johninnescentre.bsky.social @leahmcphillips.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Stable inheritance of the Streptomyces linear plasmid SCP1 by dual ParABS partition systems

Abstract. Low-copy-number plasmids often rely on dedicated maintenance mechanisms, such as partitioning systems, to ensure stable inheritance across genera

academic.oup.com

Thrilled that our paper "Eco-evolutionary dynamics of massive, parallel bacteriophage outbreaks in compost communities" is out! 🎉🦠🧬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... w/ @paulbrainey.bsky.social, Petros Skiadas, Paulien Hogeweg, @bedutilh.bsky.social

Eco-evolutionary dynamics of massive, parallel bacteriophage outbreaks in compost communities

A single bacteriophage can dominate microbial communities yet only evolves when migration changes its ecological context.

science.org

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

New preprint: "A branching cell-fate decision in biofilm dispersal enables long-term surface persistence." When V. cholerae biofilms disperse, it isn’t a uniform exit, rather, an opportunity to bet-hedge. A subpopulation of cells stay behind, primed for biofilm regrowth. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Phenotypic cliffs paper is out! We observe in RNA that phenotypic sites which typically keep the phenotype unchanged through mutation (robust), are also the ones which lead to the most change when they do. royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article...

Phenotypic cliffs in the RNA genotype–phenotype map

Abstract. Point mutations of a genotype can leave the phenotype unchanged, or change it, in some cases radically. The extent of this phenotypic change can

royalsocietypublishing.org

New lineup of exciting speakers for the Easter term. Sign up to our mailing list for updated zoom links 📝📩

Very excited with the online publication of our modeling work on the evolution of sexual reproduction during obligate endosymbiosis: doi.org/10.1098/rstb.... The first publication of Alkmini Zania 🎉; together with Paulien Hogeweg.

@shrylishreekar.bsky.social and me wrote a commentary on Chunhui Hao's and @stuwest.bsky.social et al.'s recent paper "Cooperation and the evolution of bacterial niche breadth" in PNAS. Please find our commentary here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

With a 135 complete, circular Pelagibacter genomes, we have answered some of the most outstanding questions about what is often considered the most abundant organism on the planet, with roughly 10 million times more individuals in the ocean than stars in the universe. Check out our preprint.

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Pelagibacter, resolved https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.03.716430v1

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪 *High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations *We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained *EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

Genetic diversification of Pseudomonas fluorescens maintained by multi-niche selection within biofilms | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Bacterial biofilms dominate microbial life; however, their evolutionary genetics remain incompletely understood. Extensive replication of biofilm selection experiments by secondary school students can...

journals.asm.org

Vaughn Cooper@vscooper.micropopbio.org · last yr.

Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team. Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

On the architecture and evolution of prokaryotic multicellularity Preprint from @escolizzi.bsky.social www.authorea.com/doi/full/10....

On the architecture and evolution of prokaryotic multicellularity

AbstractProkaryotes form multicellular structures under both natural and experimental conditions, based on developmental programs that sometimes echo those known from eukaryotes. Recent research has i...

authorea.com

What started out as a student project has grown over the last 2 years into a full-fledged review! So many thanks to @escolizzi.bsky.social for leading this multicellular effort and sharing your evolutionary wisdom with us 🫶🏻🦠

Enrico Sandro Colizzi@escolizzi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

How common is multicellularity in bacteria? And archaea? And how does it evolve? We wrote a short review "On the architecture and evolution of prokaryotic multicellularity". Preprint link: bit.ly/4ta06Gq Sharing and comments are much appreciated. 1/4

How common is multicellularity in bacteria? And archaea? And how does it evolve? We wrote a short review "On the architecture and evolution of prokaryotic multicellularity". Preprint link: bit.ly/4ta06Gq Sharing and comments are much appreciated. 1/4

Now out in its final form, our investigation of how Pseudomonas aeruginosa manages resources to permit ongoing adaptations to environment during starvation: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... Congrats to first author @findunmun1.bsky.social, and co-authors Claudia Hemsley and Elize Ambulte.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa dynamically prioritizes motility and resource recycling during prolonged starvation | mSystems

Molecular microbiology has traditionally focused on exponential growth in model organisms as the preferred context in which to study bacterial physiology, especially the regulation of new protein synt...

journals.asm.org

Do you know a paper describing evolution of (enhanced) biofilm formation upon phage exposure? Thus not an experiment where biofilm is used for EE, but EE of a bacterial population leading to protection against phage via biofilm matrix/aggregation/etc Asking for a friend's teaching lecture

Phd Position alert 🚨 Join our project ASTRAfun (Adaptation and Starship Traffic in Root-Associated fungi), in which we will use computational models to unveil the hidden dynamics of fungal evolution. It’s not going to be just regular fun. It’s going to ASTRAfun. 🤓 www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

PhD Position in Computational Modelling of Fungal Evolution

How do giant mobile elements called ‘Starships’ reshape fungal plant pathogens? Help us computationally model their spread and impact in nature and agriculture!

uu.nl

Curious about the origin of development during the transition to multicellularity? A very belated preprint alert: bit.ly/4rr2mHU Reproduction emerges from ecological interactions at the onset of multicellularity. A short 🧵 with lots of videos...

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨 Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!) Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Most microbes don't live in shaking flasks; spatial structure shapes how microbes interact and evolve at every scale, as we discuss in our recent review @jeroenmeijer.bsky.social @simonvanvliet.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @bramvandijk.bsky.social and others academic.oup.com/femsre/artic... 🧵👇

Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities

Spatial structure naturally emerges in microbial communities, shaping growth, interactions, and evolution, and revealing how microscale processes scale up

academic.oup.com

Have a look at the Insight on Research story on our Science paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... on the @mrclmb.bsky.social website: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... including a great little animation from LMB VisLab.

Bridging the gap from chemistry to life: discovery of a tiny RNA that can copy itself | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Led by Edoardo Gianni, Philipp Holliger’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have identified a small self-replicating catalytic RNA (ribozyme), providing new ...

mrclmb.ac.uk

Great summaries of our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in Science: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2515... and in the Science museum blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...

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

New paper from my group in @science.org : "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complementary strand" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Outstanding work by @edogia.bsky.social

How did life arise from simple chemical building blocks? New #LMBResearch led by @edogia.bsky.social in @philholliger.bsky.social group has identified a small self-replicating ribozyme that could be the answer. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller? Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase. 1/n

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