How do fungi distinguish conspecific self from non-self? The genetics of this fascinating topic are plagued with misunderstandings even amongst mycologists. We wrote a review/rant to address this confusion, out now! 🍄 #fungi #allorecognition #HETgenes www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Drawing the line: Clarifying fungal allorecognition from HET domains to het genes to heterokaryon incompatibility

The iconic networks of filamentous fungi are connected through hyphal fusions. While fusion is beneficial among hyphae from the same fungal individual…

sciencedirect.com

The last chapter of my PhD work is now live on MBE. This has been an incredible project, combining genomics, proteomics, as well as transcriptomics that resolves total mRNA from ribosome-associated mRNA (which we infer to be in the process of translation).

Molecular Biology and Evolution@molbioevol.bsky.social · 3w ago

@ironark.bsky.social et al. measured transcript abundance, ribosome-associated RNA, and protein abundance in bacterial endosymbionts, suggesting a mechanism for aberrant pseudogene-derived protein removal. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag153 #societyjournal #evobio #molbio

It was great to present my postdoc work at #IAL10, the International Association for Lichenology congress in Trieste! Thanks to the organizers for the invitation!

How is this not the lead news story right now? A major chunk of an American metropolitan area of half a million is burning

Steve Bowen@stevebowen.bsky.social · 4d ago

UPDATE: It appears that local fire officials are now confirming that 640 structures were destroyed in Spokane's Old Trails Fire. (HT: @kellyhereid.bsky.social) www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...

I guess this might be Calogaya pusilla #lichen #Teloschistaceae

Thanks to everyone who organized the great event and selected me for a Margalith Galun Award! Congratulations to the other winners. Already looking forward to following up on all the new connections and ideas #IAL10

@metalichen.bsky.social Congratulations on your award, I can for sure agree that I have also been inspired by your work on lichens! 🥳

#IAL10 day 2 Coming with new ideas on why sterility could evolve in Icmadophilaceae lichen forming fungi! Could it be a #STARSHIP transposable element breaking their mating locus?

Proud of my PhD student Beatrice Bylén who did a great job in presenting #Thamnolia phylogeography and #photobiont community inside. #IAL10 #lichens #Trebouxia

Congratulations to Gulnara Tagirdzhanova @metalichen.bsky.social on receiving the Aino Henssen Award last night for outstanding postdoctoral research on lichen symbiosis from the International Association for Lichenology! #IAL10

Very happy to attend the 10th International Association for Lichenology symposium in Trieste ! #IAL10 And very honoured to be presenting tomorrow our work on lichenization in Xanthoria parietina

It was very nice to present some of our work on antimicrobial proteins in lichens at the IAL10! Stop by at my poster number 4 today or tomorrow afternoon for further discussion #IAL10

Absolutely ground breaking stuff presented by @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social. Structurally chimeric lichen made by intertwined hyphae of an ascomycete and a basidiomycete present in nearly 1:1 ratio! #IAL10

Very clever study design by @ddiazescandon.bsky.social, who grouped lichen fungi based on which sugar they receive from their symbiotic partner and discovered patterns in their genomes that reflect how this fungi evolve to rely on their partners. Coming soon to the bioRxiv near you! #IAL10

Excited to see @puginiercamille.bsky.social presenting on secreted proteins in Xanthoria. I'm blown away by the work on algal cultures and protein-protein interaction modeling! #IAL10

A teaser from @spribille.bsky.social on lichen fungi G protein-coupled receptors in the context of the symbiosis evolution. A lot of independent data points to them being a key to the symbiosis #IAL10

Sergio Perez Ortega talking about photobiont community networks: networks simplify with greater air pollution #IAL10

Veronika Vesela presenting on their fascinating work with @skaloud.bsky.social on algae and algal symbionts inside and outside of lichens in a great study in CZ #IAL10

The workshop features @ddiazescandon.bsky.social talking about machine learning. Some serious galaxy brain stuff, using ML magic to whole lichen genomes and making accurate predictions about the biology of the fungus #IAL10

Pavel Škaloud opens day two of #IAL10 with a riveting lecture on symbiosis from the distant mists of time up to the present. Nice to have this much emphasis on symbiosis at this IAL meeting!

Great to see our very own Arseniy @belosokh.bsky.social talk (albeit by video) at #IAL10 about his work on vitamin syntrophies in lichen symbioses

And the lichenology congress #IAL10 is officially open!

Proud that @thesainsburylab.bsky.social alumna @metalichen.bsky.social will be a keynote speaker at the IAL10 Congress presenting our effector investigation in Xanthoria. #celebratingalumni

Excited for the kick-off of the International Association of Lichenology symposium in person for the first time in 10 years in Trieste, Italy. Looking forward to lots of great talks over the next week. #IAL10

Hydration breaks, but for writing research papers

The mycobiont of the lichen Xanthoria parietina produces the siderophore ferrichrome which enables iron acquisition and nutrient exchange with its algal photobiont. Great collaboration with my group & @metalichen.bsky.social led by Hubertus Haas 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#地衣類 #lichen #fungifriends

British Columbia probably has more lichens than Costa Rica or the Amazon. This is the Amazon of the lichen world — and we have a global responsibility for the conservation of this organismal group. wildsight.ca/2026/06/23/c...

Conservation through the lens of lichens — an interview with lichenologist Toby Spribille

Toby Spribille was 18 years old when he first discovered a new-to-western-science species of lichen, and became hooked on lichenology. “I realized there was quite a bit of unrecognized species diver...

wildsight.ca

Out today in Nature Microbiology: a paper that started in 2021 with an email from @sullivan-lab.bsky.social. Subject line: "Crazy ideas". www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/23

"Lichens are living archives. Changes in their presence, absence or health reflect local climate history, air quality and even cataclysmic events, both natural and human-caused. In their quiet testimony, lichens tell us things we need to hear..." www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-m...

They’ve puzzled scientists for more than a century — and they’re almost everywhere in WA

More than 1,000 species of lichen grow in Washington. All of them offer a window into profound biological cooperation.

seattletimes.com