Anouk Willemsen
@willemsenanouk.bsky.social
Scientist working on genome evolution, viruses, computational molecular evolution, and experimental evolution. 👩🏼🔬 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇪🇸🇫🇷🇦🇹 https://veelab.univie.ac.at/
Isolation of a Cohort of #giantViruses From Above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway doi.org/10.1111/1462...
Isolation of a Cohort of Giant Viruses From Above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway
(1) From July 2021 and May 2025 441 marine, freshwater, and soil samples were collected between longitudes 12.79° W to 23.68° E and latitudes 67.88° N to 83.90° N. (2) All samples were screened for v....
doi.org
Last week Elia (an @euerasmusplus.bsky.social master student) defended his thesis focused on #Tupanvirus infection and amoebal defence mechanisms. He now goes back to Radboud Univ. to pursue a PhD! It was a pleasure hosting him and can't wait to see what he does next!
Genetic manipulation of a #giantVirus -associated #virophage by Jingjie Chen, Hiroyuki Ogata, and Hiroyuki Hikida (cls.kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/) @KyotoUniversity doi.org/10.64898/202...
Genetic manipulation of a giant virus-associated virophage
Virophages are double-stranded DNA viruses that hyperparasitize giant viruses infecting unicellular eukaryotes. Parasitization by virophages often reduces the replication of giant viruses, thereby mod...
doi.org
With Eugene Koonin, we wrote a rather comprehensive review on the origin, evolution and organization of the #virosphere. We describe all 10 viral realms and the logic behind them, and so much more. Check it out! comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/ar...
www.linkedin.com/posts/univer...
University of Vienna – Anouk Willemsen, Assistant Professor at CeMESS | University of Vienna Philanthropy
When do viruses become a threat? 🧬 Viruses are all around us, and most go unnoticed. With new viral generations emerging daily, just a few mutations under the right conditions can change everything. ...
linkedin.com
Just published! Check out our review of the Nucleocytoviricota infection cycle. Great teamwork! @mkrupovic.bsky.social @willemsenanouk.bsky.social @fischerlab.bsky.social @puffy-virus.bsky.social
Nature Reviews Microbiology@natrevmicro.nature.com · 2mo agoNew online! Infection cycles of viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota
New Work out! A multilayered network reveals the centrality of newly discovered #Nucleocytoviricota in wastewater treatment plant communities w/ @dominikluecking.bsky.social & @amanzanom.bsky.social doi.org/10.64898/202... @erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @dome-vienna.bsky.social 1/4
Reposting for #VirEvol
Genome Biology and Evolution@genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 3mo agoHannaford, @viroepivet.bsky.social et al. uncover widespread recombination within megalocytiviruses through the analyses of 63 genomes, discussing implications for disease management and the classification and genetic characterization of viruses. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag095 #genome #evolution
Genomic islands in #Nucleocytoviricota. "[...] 37% of genomic islands are enriched in bacterial homologs, and several exhibit striking synteny with genomic regions recovered from environmentally co-occurring bacterial genomes [...]" doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org
Most viruses rely on the host to provide the entire translation machinery. However, giant viruses have evolved to encode part of the machinery themselves. Latest discovery: mimivirus (APMV) encodes its own initiation factor (vIF4F) and specifically promotes translation of viral mRNA!
We had a special speaker today at @i2sysbio.es , Anouk Willemsen @willemsenanouk.bsky.social. I have known her since my PhD and I truly admire her work on giant viruses #viruses #microsky
For some reason, this didn't show up automatically in #giantVirus Single-cell genomics reveals complex microbial and viral associations in ciliates and testate amoebae "The frequent co-occurrence of giant viruses and microbial symbionts, especially in amoebae, suggests multipartite interactions"
Nature Communications@natcomms.nature.com · 6mo agoSingle-cell genomics reveals complex microbial and viral associations in ciliates and testate amoebae #Symbiosis #Protists #GiantViruses
Last week we wrapped up the first edition of the Virus evolution and ecology course under the umbrella of the brand new Master in Microbiome Science offered @univie.ac.at. We learned about viruses, their evolution, and their ecological impact across different ecosystems. 1/2 #VirEvol
#microsky #phagesky #phage #virus academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Virus taxonomy: the database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
Abstract. Taxonomic classification underlies all biological science and is the basis for comparative analysis of biological organisms and therefore our und
academic.oup.com
Strain-level diversity of #giantViruses infecting #chlorarachniophyte #algae in the subtropical North Pacific by @fischerlab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Strain-level diversity of giant viruses infecting chlorarachniophyte algae in the subtropical North Pacific
Giant DNA viruses are ubiquitous among unicellular eukaryotes and occur in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Despite intense metagenomic data mining, their strain-level diversity remai...
doi.org
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
Reposting for #VirEvol
Michelle Wille@duckswabber.bsky.social · last yr.Antigenic map of H5 influenza viruses spanning their evolutionary history. 3 clusters (surprisingly few!) w no cross immunity. 6 key aa identified. 2344b, 2321a, 2344h in different clusters. Big jump in antigenicity from 234 to 2344b important finding. 👉 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...
Proud moment to see the first Master student of the team (Lotte Mayer) successfully defend her Master's thesis work digging into viral factories of #giantViruses. A link to part of her work: doi.org/10.1101/2025... @erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @cemess.bsky.social @dome-vienna.bsky.social
Last week #ESEB2025 wrapped up. It was a great opportunity to chat with colleagues, hear about great evolutionary research, present the group's work, and be a proud PI of Laura, who did a great job presenting her PhD work! Two years to go until next ESEB! @eseb2025.bsky.social
our paper is online! rdcu.be/exXBX . Who would have thought that some #giantviruses not only have #histones, but even histone variants that make weird #nucleosomes (pdb 9CVT). Fantastic work from Ale Villalta and Chelsea Toner, with Hugo Bisio @molbiolgv.bsky.social and Chantal Abergel
Melbournevirus encodes a shorter H2B-H2A doublet histone variant that forms structurally distinct nucleosome structures
Nature Communications - Melbournevirus encodes a conserved shorter H2B-H2A doublet variant. Here the authors report a cryo-EM structure of a nucleosome-like particle reconstituted with viral H4-H3...
rdcu.be
Heat Shock Protein 70 (AKA HSP70) in Mimiviridae and Phycodnaviridae likely originated from horizontal transfer from their protist hosts. By @sfelena.bsky.social & @amaachi.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025... #giantVirus #VirEvol
Multiple origins, one function: evolutionary pathways of HSP70 proteins in viruses
Heat shock proteins 70 (HSP70) are highly conserved molecular chaperones found across all domains of life, where they play essential roles in cellular stress responses. While HSP70 homologs have been ...
doi.org
Out now in its final peer-reviewed form @asm.org's Journal of Virology! doi.org/10.1128/jvi.... @dome-vienna.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @amersocvirology.bsky.social
doi.org
Anouk Willemsen@willemsenanouk.bsky.social · last yr.New work out! Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host. doi.org/10.1101/2025... 1/4 #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
New work out! Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host. doi.org/10.1101/2025... 1/4 #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
by now you probably know that #giantviruses have #histones, but some also have histone variants! Check out our latest preprint on an essential H2B-H2A histone variant in Melbournevirus - a fantastic collaboration with the Abergel Lab, spearheaded by Ale Villalta. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pacmanvirus isolated from the Lost City hydrothermal field extends the concept of transpoviron beyond the family Mimiviridae academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs
Looking for a postdoc in environmental virology? Fascinated by giant viruses and their glycobiology? We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology! @mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...
Post-Doc Protist Viruses
career.mpi-bremen.de
there is a new #giantvirus in town! and it speaks Finnish! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Genomic and structural insights into Jyvaskylavirus, the first giant virus isolated from Finland
Giant viruses of protists are a diverse and likely ubiquitous group of organisms. Here, we describe Jyvaskylavirus, the first giant virus isolated from Finland. This clade B marseillevirus was found i...
biorxiv.org
