Excited to share our new preprint led by Fred and me in collaboration with the archaeal community! We found that the molecular foundation of histone-based chromatin has pre-eukaryotic roots in Asgard archaea. (1/4) #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Emergence of histone-based chromatin complexity in Asgard archaea

The emergence of the eukaryotes coincided with the diversification of histone proteins and their post-translational modifications by enzymes that constitute the core of eukaryotic chromatin. Yet the e...

biorxiv.org

After a long hiatus, happy #MicroscopyMonday! Here are some amoebae squeezing themselves into narrow channels (part of a video for our preprint pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41377514/). Sound effects by Dillon (my 4 month old who may have had a little to do with the bluesky hiatus!)

Eukaryotic evolution via massive HGT "Our relative timing estimates suggest early interactions between an Asgard archaea and a Planctomycete (bacterium) ... Thus, the prokaryotic-to-eukaryotic transition was probably a gradual and complex process, with a constant flow of HGT from diverse sources."

Ricard Solé@ricardsole.bsky.social · 2mo ago

How did complex cells emerge? In this groundbreaking paper, @tonigabaldon.bsky.social & co show that eukaryotes arose through multiple waves of ancient genetic exchange involving diverse bacteria (& giant viruses!) revealing a far more complex origin than we imagined. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Not all cells do the whole membrane blebbing thing the same. Some of them get weird about it. This is a single cell videoed through a DIC microscope. #CellBiology

What in the name of Beetlejuice ARE these things? They're zebra morphs of 'squat lobsters', likely in genus Allogalathea. They're not true lobsters & are more closely related to hermit crabs. Now which one is white with black stripes & which is black with white stripes? (📷: hoopderscotch)

the only character creation sliders that matter #InvertebrateShitposting

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/

A dividing cell videoed through a microscope. Hot tip: Don't mess around with myosin II paralogs if you don't want your cells to freak out. #CellBiology www.cell.com/cell-reports...

And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...

Ben Larson@blarson.bsky.social · 11mo ago

What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n

New #ISEPpapers by @ankarn.bsky.social et al.! Living together: evolutionary and ecological dimensions of #protist endosymbiosis academic.oup.com/microlife/ar... #Protists #Microbes #Symbiosis #Evolution

That's almost 4 years of funding for the NIH. Across the country, labs are shutting down and the next generation of scientists are seeing their futures destroyed. But let's just go buy a lot of bombs....

Jeff Stein@jeffstein.bsky.social · 5mo ago

SCOOP: The Pentagon asked the White House today for more than *$200 billion* for Iran war supplemental, sources say Some in WH think Congress won't support b/c it's so big Will tee up giant battle in Congress My last story for WaPo: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Hiding in plain sight! 2.3M conserved non-coding sequences traced back 300M years across 284 plant species Ground-breaking study out in First Release @science.org from labs of @madelaineb.bsky.social, @idane.bsky.social & Zach Lippman ▶️ doi.org/10.1126/scie... ▶️ www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/hiding-...

Do you work with a strange model species and are frustrated by the lack of antibodies for immunos? Here's a web app that does some computational pre-screening for you. sixpack-abscan.serve.scilifelab.se

You are finishing your PhD and looking to continue in science? The Martin lab @biology-unige.bsky.social has an open postdoctoral position in cell biology to study cell-cell fusion. For more information, please consult mocel.unige.ch/research-gro.... Thanks for reposting!

Do the dance, do the algal dance.

End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis " doi.org/10.64898/202...

Happy solstice! These ice crystals on our windshield might have delayed the morning trek into lab, but they're at least pretty to look at! ❄️

Our latest, led by the inimitable Chris Kay "Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes" in which we used gene duplications to test hypotheses of eukaryogenesis. TLDR? They're all wrong. With @tweethinking.bsky.social @anya1.bsky.social @ssolo.bsky.social Davide Pisani

Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes - Nature

Analysis of eukaryotic gene sequences using a relaxed molecular clock methodology indicate that eukaryotes emerged 3.0–2.25 billion years ago as a result of mitochondrial endosymbiosis with complex ar...

nature.com

Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter doi.org/10.32942/X2M... We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process! #MicroEvoSky #ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏

So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth! #protistsonsky 🧵

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.690213v1

Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out! Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea. Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling. Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage

Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single eukaryotic group. Guest e...

cell.com

Finally out! We measured mutations in tetraploid potato. Highlights: - higher mutation rates in L1 than L2 - even higher rates and a distinct oxidative stress signature outside of meristems - lower mutation rates in genes everywhere we looked More 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2514507122

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Just under a month left—apply by December 5 through the link on my website!

Katrina Velle@katrinavelle.bsky.social · 10mo ago

PhD or Master's position available for Fall 2026! Interested in how actin drives cell crawling, eating, dividing, or osmoregulation? What about pathogenesis of a brain-eating amoeba? Or eukaryotic evolution? If so, apply through my website: katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science/cont... Please share!

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny. #ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Our lab’s variegated peperomia makes green flecks on leaves, but only on the abaxial side. It’s the typical sandwich: L1 green-L2 yellow-L3 green, so guessing flecks are L1-derived cells dividing periclinally into L2. But how only on the abaxial side? Something to do with the super thick epidermis?

Just for fun, here's a game I like to call "Find the neuron" with examples of olfactory sensory neuron images from Šmít et al 2017 (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...) and Filoreta ramosa, a free-living syncytial amoeba from a salt marsh.

My PhD work is up on bioRxiv! Read all about the #actin and #microtubule #cytoskeleton of the Rhizarian #amoeba Filoreta ramosa here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Autumn is just the best

This is glorious! And diatoms are as weird as ever!

Flora Vincent@floravincent.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to share the lab's 1rst preprint! Rapid high-res immunofluorescence is now possible in cultured & environmental diatoms thanks to 4-fold expansion microscopy. A step-change for comparative cell biology in one of the most important phytoplankton groups on the planet 🥳 tinyurl.com/m9s5su7s 1/2