Excited to share our @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social led by Magda showing how Bif has co-evolved with different animal hosts 🐒🐭🐷🐦 Key takeaways: 🔹 Host ancestry + diet shape Bif evolution 🔹 Mammals enriched for carb-busting enzymes 🔹 Untapped diversity in non-human hosts = new probiotic potential

Unusual reproductive strategy in Iberian harvester ants challenges the conventional biological boundaries that define "species" as one queen effectively produces two genetically distinct species (into males of their own species and males of another species) within a single colony 😲👇

Nature research paper: Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence go.nature.com/4mTnRzG

Nice interview to Katie Peichel @currentbiology.bsky.social I completely agree with her claims for more funding for curiosity-driven research, basic Science... Science. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Microbiomes are interactive, multispecies communities, but bulk analysis obscures functional diversification from environmental and genetic heterogeneity. In our new review we describe how single-bacterium transcriptomics dissects microbiomes at cellular resolution. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Nature research paper: One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants go.nature.com/45PYV6d

Engineering Synthetic Phase Variation for Control of Microbial consortium https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.25.672192v1

Seaweed aquaculture eyes holobiont optimization. More evidence that breeding programs are starting to get on top of it. Host-Microbiome Ecology in a Seaweed Holobiont: Current Understanding, Technological Advancements, and Manipulation Approaches papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Given the tremendous diversity of microorganisms in the world, why do only a small fraction cause disease? My essay in #PLOSBiology argues that the answer is lack of opportunity and that humans encounter only one new bacterial pathogen for every 1.4b years lived. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

@currentbiology.bsky.social has always been one of my favorite journals but I think they have now outdone themselves www.cell.com/current-biol.... And picked up by the @nytimes.com as well! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/s...

Defined synthetic microbial starters reproduce the key attributes of fine flavour chocolate 🍫 fermentation in the lab; enable controlled, consistent production of complex chocolate flavours, providing an alternative to the variable traditional farm fermentation process. 👇

One of my favourite papers of 2025 so far and its on chocolate! 🍫 A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation 🧪 Read the paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🔎 The associated news & views here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The human immune system evolved over millennia - and can adapt within a single lifetime. This review examines how the immune responses change over the life course. By Jessica Metcalf, Andrea Graham, Andrew Yates and Derek Cummings @science.org buff.ly/GJpPUO7

Why would anyone want to be a scientist? There are the pleasures of: 1. Having the initial idea or insight, 2. Watching the idea develop into new experiments or a new model, and 3. Telling others. Martin A. Schwartz Check out also his Night Science podcast episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7...

Check out our latest preprint where we show synergistic interactions between bacteria for the degradation of complex polysaccharides 🌊🦠🔺 @envsysmicro.at @akshitg.bsky.social #MicroSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We’re hiring a Postdoc in Gut Microbiome Metabolomics! Help us decode microbial metabolism and its impact on human health @leibniz-hki.de , Jena 🇩🇪 🔗 jobs.hki-jena.de/jobs/Postdoc...

Join our Deep Microbiome Metabolomics team as a Technician! Work with LC/MS & ICP-MS in a cutting-edge microbiome lab @leibniz-hki.de - CTA/chemical lab tech or BSc in chemistry/biochemistry - LC/MS experience - English 🔗 jobs.hki-jena.de/jobs/Technis... #LabJobs #Technician #Metabolomics #LCMS

If you’re passionate about microbiome research & innovative in vitro systems, this is a great chance to join an exciting & collaborative environment. Bonus: You’d get to work with Sarela, who is not only an inspiring scientist but a genuinely supportive. Highly recommended if you want a great mentor

#Throwback 🧪 PERSPECTIVE | Emerging tools and best practices for studying gut microbial community metabolism ‪@cecilianoecker.bsky.social‬ & P Turnbaugh

Makes sense that diverse microbial communities can be maintained on a recalcitrant substrate like cellulose, but on glucose, surely not? Surprisingly there is no difference 🤔 The first part is live 👇 but more to come (including answers). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Low variability in microbial community functions, often seen as functional redundancy or selection, can result from statistical averaging. Warns that common analyses can give false signs of selection & offers null models to separate functional selection from artefacts. www.cell.com/cell-systems...

I am excited to announce that the position of a senior postdoc (3 +3 years) in the field of theoretical biology is available in my group. The position provides the opportunity to closely interact with experimentalists and develop own research projects. Please RT. Details 👇: shorturl.at/iiiOv

Tour de force paper by Jingren Zhang's group @tsinghuauniversity.bsky.social showing a complex link between peptidoglycan acetylation and phase variation through nutrient sensing #MicroSky journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Feels surreal to say but: I'm hiring! If you are or know anyone interested in looking at the evolution of phage resistance using A. baumannii and natural transformation, then this might be for you www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

In another milestone for human genetics, the world's largest set of whole-genome DNA sequences now encompasses data from nearly half a million people, described in this new @nature.com paper from @ukbiobank.bsky.social: 🧪👇

Complex multicellularity linked with expanded chemical arsenals in microbes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.06.668190v1

#phage #phagesky #microsky academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Cool work reports personalised gut microbiome models can predict individual risk of Clostridioides difficile colonisation and assess probiotic therapy success, highlighting that probiotic effectiveness strongly depends on a person’s unique gut community www.cell.com/cell-systems...

Kin selection has sparked debate for decades. Now, a landmark study offers a generalised version of Hamilton’s rule, capturing the messy, nonlinear reality of evolution and cooperation. Explained in our latest Insight Article: buff.ly/EKfPBhH #EvoBio #Evolution

Cool paper from @harriswang.bsky.social lab reports that a CRISPR-associated transposase can be used to precisely & efficiently inactivate virulence genes in gut Enterobacteriaceae, enabling targeted, safe, and durable suppression of pathogenic traits in these bacteria. Check it out👇  rdcu.be/ezqbU

Amino acid competition shapes A. baumannii gut carriage Acinetobacter baumannii uses ornithine to compete w/ microbiota & persist in gut. Amino acid supplementation & differences in diet promote A. baumannii gut colonization in mice & humans @laurenpalmer.bsky.social‬ www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

A bacterial host factor confines phage localization for excluding the infected compartment through cell division

Gut bacteria from different phyla metabolically cross-feed a common dietary antioxidant, allowing them to generate energy under oxygen-free conditions, thereby enhancing their energy metabolism. Illustrates how dietary components mediate microbial interactions & influence gut ecology and metabolism

Minimally processed and ultraprocessed diets, when following healthy guidelines, both affect weight and cardiometabolic health similarly, though minimally processed diets led to slightly better weight and fat loss. Overall diet quality, not just processing level, determines health outcomes.👇 😇

Can oral vaccination with competitor bacteria enable pathogen exclusion & strain replacement in gut? It prevents/displaces pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli in mice, relying on adaptive immunity & niche competition, unveiling a path for microbiota-based therapies www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New online! The human skin microbiome: from metagenomes to therapeutics

Mutualism stabilises biopolymer degradation by expanding ecological niches, limiting resource exploitation through substrate-specific enzymes, enabling cooperative breakdown; & can be used to design efficient synthetic consortia for biopolymer conversion doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Outcome of soil microbiome transplants is controlled more by selective pressures of recipient soil environment (habitat filtering) than original composition of transplanted community, emphasising habitat’s characteristics, not microbiota origin, determine transplant success👇  doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Evolution and evolvability of rifampicin resistance across the bacterial tree of life www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs

Mutualism between degraders and nondegraders stabilizes the function of a natural biopolymer-degrading community www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs

Keep an 👁️ on PAENIMICIN Novel 11-residue depsi-lipopeptide found in synthetic-bioinformatic screen of Paenibacillaceae Binds phosphate and hydroxyl groups on lipid A in Gram- bacteria and teichoic acids in Gram+ bacteria → broad spectrum activity in vivo efficacy, favorable PK, no nephrotoxicity

🦠 ENDOCRINOLOGY? RORDEP1/2 secreted by gut commensal 𝘙𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 mimic exercise hormone irisin → systemic effects on host metabolism ⭡ thermogenesis, insulin signaling, glycolysis ↓ gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis These peptides may be candidate biologics for obesity and type 2 diabetes

What is genomic structure & lifecycle of crAssphage & how does it persist & replicate in gut bacteria? Its a linear DNA element with phage & plasmid features, persisting as infectious virus and stable plasmid form, explaining its abundance & coexistence w/o host integration. doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...

You can get an accurate estimate of total bacterial biomass from stool metagenomes by simply normalizing by host read count, without needing any additional measurements. Excellent work by UW Master's student Gechlang Tang in @asm.org #mSystems Journal. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... 🧵

@kaletalab.bsky.social lab metabolic model reveals diminished exchange of nutrients between host and gut microbiome in diabetes with more competition in microbial communities upon elevated glucose ➡️ www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Plant pathogen bacterium replaced its ancestral antibacterial secretion system with a new functional one, revealing bacterial adaptability. This work highlights evolutionary innovation in microbial competition, crucial for understanding pathogen survival and plant disease dynamics. rdcu.be/eyz8W

Brilliant piece of work from Markus Arnoldini and Jonas Cremer into how much your gut bacteria really do for you! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Human gut microbiota metabolize many GPCR-targeted drugs, altering their activity and effectiveness. This work reports the microbiome’s role in drug response variability and emphasizes incorporating gut microbial composition into personalized medicine and drug development strategies. rdcu.be/eyz6F

My colleagues at Nature Biomedical Engineering @natbiomedeng.nature.com are hiring an associate or senior editor. Ideal applicant will have expertise in immunology, immunotherapy, or immuno-oncology. Please feel to ask me questions! springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

To all post-docs: The Genome Biology dept ‪@embl.org has an Independent faculty position. Fantastic place to set up your lab –great package: core funding, fantastic Ph.D. students, cutting edge core facilities & great colleagues. Closing date Sept 19th embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...