Chromatin organization in Asgard archaea: histones, SMC complexes, and the archaeal roots of eukaryotic chromatin #microbiology #genetics #genome #chromatin #archaea #eukaryotes #MicroSky @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New review in @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social on the fascinating world of chromatin organization in Asgard archaea. Very nice joint effort with @jvhooff.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We have just published a short note on archaeal phylogeny: complex mixture models support a deep placement of Methanonatronarchaeia within Euryarchaea and indicate that three recently described groups (Halorutilales, Afararchaeaceae, and Ordosarchaeia) are actually the same. shorturl.at/5GMpU

New paper in mSystems! 🧵 - how much of your metagenome is actually bacterial/archaeal DNA? For many samples, nobody knows. We built SingleM prokaryotic_fraction (SPF) to answer this, then ran it on >100,000 public metagenomes. 🧬🖥️🦠 Here's what we found 👇 doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01062-25

Having a hard time keeping up with the fast-moving field of origin of eukaryotes/Asgards archaea? Our new perspective article can help, we review the status of research over the last decade and where it's going. The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life | PNAS https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2516062123

Asgard archaea on CBC radio. ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premie...

ICYMI: New online! Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea

Out Now! Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling #MicroSky

New online! Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea

Asgard archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors? link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Read our review about the "Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea" in @natrevmicro.nature.com here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... By @kassipan.bsky.social @stephkoe.bsky.social @micropat.bsky.social & @gerbenz.bsky.social

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...

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...

🧵 1/10 New paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com from my postdoc at @mib-wur.bsky.social! 🎉 How eukaryote-like was the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes? Sequence searches alone can't tell us — so we used protein structure prediction to look deeper. 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Last year, we proposed a model of plasmid evolution via fusion and fragmentation (via mge mediated recombination) generating mosaics, by studying historical isolates. Excited to see a MASSIVE paper from @jrpenades.bsky.social , @epcrocha.bsky.social expanding on this www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Explore how genetics, evolution and ecology intertwine at EMBO Workshop "Evolving together: From genomics to biological interactions" in #Taipei, TW, 24–27 Apr 2026. Abstract submission/Registration by 20 Jan/28 Feb https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-bio-interactions#Taipei#EMBOEvoGenBio #EMBOevents 🧪

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...

New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...

We are happy to share our newest preprint on a novel strain of Ca. Lokiarchaeum ossiferum, that contains an active provirus, capable of excision and independent replication! We propose a novel virus family: Fylgjaviridae. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan Löwe, @danieltamarit.bsky.social and many others we discovered and characterized several Asgard tubulin genes and propose that microtubule architecture and dynamics evolved in Asgard archaea prior to eukaryogenesis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Active virus-host system in a Lokiarchaeon culture https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.13.705702v1

Today we published a Correction on our 2023 @nature.com paper reporting the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Corrected paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Importantly, the re-analyses of the corrected dataset are consistent with the original findings.

Postdoc position on Asgard archaea in Thiago’s new lab for someone well trained in biochemistry, cloning, and protein purification: international.au.dk/about/profil...

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. As we recently joined BlueSky, we want to repost this story for all newcomers! We sat down with @radler92.bsky.social to get more insight into the unique videos from his recent preprint on Promethearchaeota (formerly Asgard archaea). doi.org/10.1101/2025... (Videos and info below)

🧪🦠🌊 Curious on #niche differentiation of marine #AOA #Nitrosopumilus and #Nitrosopelagicus? #Urea is (part of) the answer! Very happy this fun study led by @mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social is out: shorturl.at/wajjh Big shout out to Joerdis and Hannah for pushing this over the finish line!

🔮Introducing OXtal – a new all-atom diffusion model for crystal structure prediction! We tackle a grand challenge in computational chemistry: predicting the structure of crystalline solids directly from their chemical composition. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.06987 Blog Post: oxtal.github.io 1/8

AITHYRA is seeking a PROCUREMENT MANAGER to establish and oversee our procurement processes, ensuring seamless support for our scientific teams. aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/5kc6uod5... Application deadline: 11.1.2026 #AITHYRA #ProcurementManager

AITHYRA is seeking a SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATOR to join our dynamic team and play a pivotal role in our mission. aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/6vqx92se Application deadline: 11.1.2026 #AITHYRA #ScientificIllustrator

🎄🧬 It’s December – time for an 'Immunocalendar': “CRISPR CRISPR KNÄUSCHEN”! Every day we open a new door onto a different prokaryotic immune system, with extra love for archaeal hosts. Crafted by the Zink Group within our department :) Have a wonderful Christmas time! ✨

Asgard on the move ! Watch our videos! Biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.30.690169v1

#Archaea, #DPANN, #phylogenetic_reconciliation New preprint online! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Phylogenetic reconciliation supports a methanogenic ancestor of the Archaea and a derived origin for host-associated lineages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687807v1

We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2

🧙‍♀️ Something is brewing in the WitChi cauldron… After some excellent peer review feedback, a new update of WitChi is taking shape, refining how we detect and prune compositional bias in phylogenomic alignments. Stay tuned for the next release! 🧙‍♀️ Can’t model it? Prune it! github.com/stephkoest/w...

Glad to share our paper out today @NatureEcoEvo: “Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor”. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky #archaeasky

#MicroSky #mevoSky

Never thought I’d do real E. coli research, so far I used if only for cloning & protist snacks in my MSc 😅 But here I am simulating chromosomes & shuffling motifs. Watching @loreoliv.bsky.social and the lab turn those predictions into real data was pure magic.✨ Grateful to be part of this team!

Folddisco finds similar (dis)continuous 3D motifs in large protein structure databases. Its efficient index enables fast uncharacterized active site annotation, protein conformational state analysis and PPI interface comparison. 1/9🧶🧬 📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🌐 search.foldseek.com/folddisco

📢 New preprint alert! We used comparative genomics on 72,000+ bacterial genomes to uncover the genetic basis of microbial adaptation to multicellular hosts—plants and animals alike. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

I'm happy to announce the latest release of the GlobDB, available at globdb.org. The GlobDB is a database of "species dereplicated" microbial genomes, and as of release 226 contains twice the number of species-representative genomes (306,260) than the latest GTDB release.

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...

Exciting new research! Matthias Horn & Lukas Helmlinger from #CeMESS uncover how chlamydiae thrive in social amoebae by skipping their extracellular stage. Read their groundbreaking study in Current Biology (@currentbiology.bsky.social): 🔗 cemess.univie.ac.at/news/detail-...

Excited to share our first paper on the symbiosis between chlamydiae and social amoebae showing in detail the adaptations of endosymbionts to the social life style of their host! 🎉

a midsummer night's dream or understanding chromosome organization's deep evolutionary roots #MicroSky #Archaea #ArchaeaSky #ProtistsOnSky et al.

#NewResearch 🚨Out Now Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors, by @bbaker24.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social and team #MicroSky #Archaea 🦠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New postdoc position in our lab (2 y+): evolutionary genomics of integrons and MGEs with focus on vibrio-phage interactions. Great environment @pasteur.fr for science, career building. Super collaborators @celineloot.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @fredoleroux.bsky.social 3 weeks to apply!