Are you interested in learning how genomes of weird fungi and protists evolve and are you looking for an exciting PhD opportunity? Jolien van Hooff and I are looking for an enthusiasic PhD candidate at Wageningen University: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p... #TEworldwide #Fungi #Protists #Genome

PhD position in genome evolution and architecture in unicellular eukaryotes

Are you fascinated by how eukaryotic genomes evolve? Do you want to look beyond model organisms and point mutations to uncover the complexity of genome evolution?

wur.nl

Stepwise evolution of the developmental and symbiotic functions of DELLA in land plants @katharinamel1.bsky.social et al. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #PlantScience

I am extremely happy to announce that I have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu ERC Starting Grant to lead the ProtistEye project! We will be diving into the function, architecture, and diversity of eye-like structures across different protists to better understand their evolution. Stay tuned for more!

European Research Council (ERC)@erc.europa.eu · last mo.

📣 Good news! 📣 Results of the ERC 2026 Starting Grant call are out! Funding worth a total of €705 million will go to 421 early-career researchers across Europe. Discover who, what and where 👉 link.europa.eu/9M3MmN 🧪 #ERCStG #FrontierResearch #HorizonEurope 🇪🇺 @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

I find this new discovery of a transmissible cancer in catfish fascinating. As it’s described as the fourth example of contagious cancer, let me share this phylogenetic tree of species infected by such rarities.

Nature@nature.com · 3mo ago

Researchers have discovered a contagious cancer in catfish – just the fourth example of tumour cells that spread naturally from one animal to another go.nature.com/4fsoLR3

Such an honour to receive this price from the Académie des sciences, inscriptions et belles-lettres de Toulouse, for my PhD work! It's a very nice acknowledgement for the bryophyte research A huge thanks to the best supervisors ever: @maximebonhomme.bsky.social & @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social

Neptunia oleracea can grow on moist soil, but as it grows into water, it produces corky tissue on its stems that allows the stems to float. The leaves are held above the water. They are sensitive to touch, like Mimosa pudica. 📷: Gwendolyn Stansbury CCBYNCND2. #aquatic #Fabaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Are you the less lucky of the co-first or co-last authors? @shougroup.bsky.social makes the case for changes to the way that equal contribution information is sent to indexing sites such as #PubMed. 🧪 #AcademicSky #publishing

We need to correct the wide-spread omission of equal contribution in article indexing

Equal contribution designations (co-first and co-last authorship) is on the rise, yet this information is routinely lost, creating inequity in recognition and crediting. This Perspective calls for…

plos.io

New #ISEPpapers #preprint by @deemteam.bsky.social: Re-evaluating the eukaryotic Tree of Life with independent phylogenomic data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Eukaryotes #TreeOfLife #Phylogeny #Phylogenomics #Bioinformatics #Algae

New pre-print from the lab! We show that the subtilase SBT12a is essential for symbiosome stabilization in Medicago. Using HUNTER proteomics, we even got some of its substrates. Have a look. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Duplicated genes find their space: Spatial transcriptomics illuminates evolutionary fates (Min-Yao Jhu , Fabian van Beveren , Bruno Guillotin) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience @aspbofficial

Duplicated genes find their space: Spatial transcriptomics illuminates evolutionary fates

Gene and genome duplications are fundamental forces driving plant evolution, leading to relaxed selection and expanding genetic toolkits (Van de Peer et al

doi.org

Thrilled to see this published! 😄 Our dispatch examines potential additional fungal symbionts in lichen partnerships and the key challenges in unraveling their biology. Thanks for involving me in this @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social @currentbiology.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fungal symbioses: A multiplicity of fungi in the lichen union

Increasing evidence suggests that lichens are not just a partnership between one fungus and one alga or cyanobacterium but may contain multiple intera…

sciencedirect.com

Just over ten years after the discovery of the first Asgard archaeal genomes, we revisit the rapid expansion of this remarkable archaeal lineage. From diverse genomes and metabolisms to eukaryotic signature proteins and the first cultured representatives. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea - Nature Reviews Microbiology

The Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of th...

nature.com

Finally out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com: Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling. Great work by @stephkoe.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social @jvhooff.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/ ✨ New preprint alert ✨ It is my pleasure to share: "Stepwise evolution of the developmental and symbiotic functions of DELLA in land plants" Here we investigated the role of the single GRAS transcription factor DELLA in #MyMarchantia doi.org/10.64898/202... #PlantScience A thread...

Finally out in @nature.com: a new piece of the puzzle of how complex life evolved. Lead by @archaeal.bsky.social & @katyappler.bsky.social. Great collab with @greening.bsky.social and @kassipan.bsky.social. More pieces to follow soon! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two more weeks to apply - come join us () in The Netherlands as a postdoctoral researcher on large-scale metagenomic exploration of new lineages!

Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺@ettema.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I have a postdoc position in metagenomic exploration available in my group. Candidates with documented experience in phylo & metagenomics and preferably with petabase-scale data mining and GLM workflows are encouraged to apply. Come join us! 🧬🦠💻 Please repost Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...

1/9 Our latest paper on immunity mechanisms in Marchantia just out @pnas.org ! 🔽 Close collaboration between our former PhD students @karimaelm.bsky.social and @chloe-beaulieu.bsky.social ! and the old gard @jacquet-chris.bsky.social @maximebonhomme.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

dplyr 1.2.0 is out now and we are SO excited! - `filter_out()` for dropping rows - `recode_values()`, `replace_values()`, and `replace_when()` that join `case_when()` as a complete family of recoding/replacing tools These are huge quality of life wins for #rstats! tidyverse.org/blog/2026/02...

dplyr 1.2.0

dplyr 1.2.0 fills in some important gaps in dplyr's API: we've added a new complement to `filter()` focused on dropping rows, and we've expanded the `case_when()` family with three new recoding and re...

tidyverse.org

🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨 Excited to share my first preprint from my PhD! 🎉 We introduce a novel Aeschynomene evenia – Aphanomyces euteiches pathosystem to explore links between quantitative resistance and symbiosis in legumes. 🌱🔬 🧾 www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... 🧵 Thread: 1/9

A novel pathosystem between Aeschynomene evenia and Aphanomyces euteiches reveals new immune components in quantitative legume root-rot resistance.

Legumes are pivotal for sustainable agriculture, yet their productivity is hindered by soilborne pathogens such as Aphanomyces euteiches . This study introduces Aeschynomene evenia as a novel model to...

biorxiv.org

Come join our group in the beautiful (currently very snowy) Wageningen!

Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺@ettema.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I have a postdoc position in metagenomic exploration available in my group. Candidates with documented experience in phylo & metagenomics and preferably with petabase-scale data mining and GLM workflows are encouraged to apply. Come join us! 🧬🦠💻 Please repost Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...

A newly discovered archaeal cell has a tiny genome and can’t metabolize biomolecules. It’s upending biologists’ definition of a living thing. “These types of organisms have been found before, but not as extreme as this,” said microbiologist Thijs Ettema.

A Cell So Minimal That It Challenges Definitions of Life | Quanta Magazine

The newly described microbe represents a world of parasitic, intercellular biodiversity only beginning to be revealed by genome sequencing.

quantamagazine.org

Huge honor to receive this price! Glad to see the lichen research rewarded with such a distinction Thanks @pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social and @kellerjeanphd.bsky.social for your SUPERvision ✨ Merci @academiesciences.bsky.social pour cette opportunité et cette belle cérémonie!

PM Delaux@pierremarcdelaux.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Huge congratulations @puginiercamille.bsky.social for receiving the Prix Locoq from the French Academy of science @academiesciences.bsky.social !! @lrsv-toulouse.bsky.social www.univ-tlse3.fr/actualite-de...

📢Postdoc position available!🧪🧫🧬 Our group is seeking a motivated researcher to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving host–endosymbiont interactions. Full details & application: karriere.hhu.de//index.php?a.... Please help us get the word out!

Postdoc (m/f/d) in Endosymbiosis Research

karriere.hhu.de

Diversity and spread of #cytoplasmicIncompatibility genes among maternally inherited #symbionts #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Diversity and spread of cytoplasmic incompatibility genes among maternally inherited symbionts

Author summary Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a reproductive strategy used by certain bacteria to promote their spread within arthropod populations. These bacteria, inherited through the mother, ...

doi.org

So excited to see our review on how to detect horizontal gene transfers and their impact on plant functional evolution finally published in @theplantcell.bsky.social! Great teamwork between @lrsv-toulouse.bsky.social and LGDP-Perpignan 😎🥳🌱 academic.oup.com/plcell/advan...

Mechanisms, Detection, and Impact of Horizontal Gene Transfer in Plant Functional Evolution

Abstract. Horizontal gene transfers (HGT) have been observed across the tree of life. While their adaptive importance in bacteria is conspicuous, the occur

academic.oup.com

New paper is out! We have studied the cute tiny Discocelia plataet sp. n. to obtain the first molecular data of the order Discocelida and clarify its cell structure. All this for a better understanding of the evolution of Cercozoa. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

I gave a symposium talk at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2025 (#eseb2025) meeting last week and this was my title slide showcasing how I was speaking as an independent scientist because @dalhousieu.bsky.social @dalhousie.bsky.social has locked us out.

1. 🧵 New preprint out! WitChi: a fast, open-source Python tool to detect, quantify & prune compositional bias in MSAs. Lightweight, tree-free, scalable to 5k+ taxa... so we applied it to the GTDB archaea MSA. #ArchaeaSky #MEvoSky #MicroSky 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 💻 github.com/stephkoest/w...

WitChi: Efficient Detection and Pruning of Compositional Bias in Phylogenomic Alignments Using Empirical Chi-Squared Testing

Convergent evolution, where unrelated taxa independently evolve similar nucleotide or amino acid compositions, can introduce compositional bias into biological sequence data. Such biases distort phylo...

biorxiv.org

Excited to share our work on WitChi! 🛠️🖥️ We tested it on the GTDB r220 archaeal supermatrix (5,869 taxa & 10,101 cols) removing 55% of sites in <2h. The phylogeny showed several interesting groupings with overall improved branch support: #phylogenetics #ArchaeaSky #MSA #opensource #MEvoSky #MicroSky

Stephan Köstlbacher@stephkoe.bsky.social · last yr.

1. 🧵 New preprint out! WitChi: a fast, open-source Python tool to detect, quantify & prune compositional bias in MSAs. Lightweight, tree-free, scalable to 5k+ taxa... so we applied it to the GTDB archaea MSA. #ArchaeaSky #MEvoSky #MicroSky 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 💻 github.com/stephkoest/w...

String manipulation is a critical daily task for bioinformaticians. Here is a cheatsheet using stringr: rstudio.github.io/cheatsheets... I probably use stringr::str_replace() once every other day... to clean up metadata (of course!) #rstats