Our microbial ancestors were probably oxygen-tolerant www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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/...

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

Scientists are one step closer to understanding the origins of complex life on Earth after shedding new light on a mystery about our microbial ancestors. https://cnn.it/4srOEWd

Fun new paper out today - a collaboration led by @stephkoe.bsky.social and @ettema.bsky.social found lots of new Euk-like proteins in Asgard Archaea www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Anyone have any new Asgards to read? If not, we have a new one coming on Monday haha.

🧵 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...

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...

#NatMicroPicks Aerobic archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor? 🦠🫁 The ancestor of eukaryotes may have combined hydrogen metabolism with aerobic respiration, shaping early cellular complexity. #MicroSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nature research paper: Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor go.nature.com/4rSfRRw

By combining the ecological and evolutionary analyses, we present a Heimdallarchaeia-centric model for the origin of eukaryotes, based on our expanded genomic catalogue. #eukaryogenesis 9/12

Cytochrome c oxidase subunits in Heimdallarchaeia show sequence homology and structural similarity to eukaryotic Complex IV. Thus, providing a new perspective of the increasing complexity of the electron transport chain in these archaea. 8/12

Sequence and structural analysis of [NiFel-hydrogenases and flanking Complex I-like subunits identified 19 novel subgroups (doubling groups 3 and 4). Extensive structural analyses across Asgardarchaeota may further bridge the evolution of group 4 [NiFel-hydrogenases and Complex I. 7/12

Our findings show the current closest archaeal order to eukaryotes, Hodarchaeales, has been identified primarily in shallow coastal sediments and encode cytochrome c oxidase, heme biosynthesis, & responses to reactive oxygen species. Hodarchaeales also co-occur with Alphaproteobacteria. 6/12

At long last! Check out the link to our publication in @nature.com to learn more. doi.org/10.1038/s415... 12/12

Cross-post on LinkedIn, since everyone is on LinkedIn these days: www.linkedin.com/posts/jamesl...

We found [NiFe]-hydrogenase complexes with structural architectures very similar to that of respiratory complex I. It's been known for a long time that [NiFe]-hydrogenase and complex I are evolutionarily related, but prior work showed that the configuration of their subunits differed (e.g., MBH)

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Obtaining these MAGs involved >10 TB of new sequencing to build the largest known deep-sea genomic database. We also incorporated previous sequencing from the Guaymas Basin and Bohai Sea. This effort to identify Asgard archaea included 44 samples, >13,839 MAGs, and 34.5 billion reads (15 TB). 5/12

Here, we nearly double the number of Asgardarchaeota MAGs, including 136 Heimdallarchaeia (49 Hodarchaeales), along with several novel lineages. We also introduce a new class, Ranarchaeia. 4/12

Our massive genomic expansion of Asgard archaea reveals oxygen tolerance and potential aerobic respiration in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor! #Asgardarchaeota 2/12

Hot eukaryogenesis news (is there any other kind?) - hydrogen production and aerobic respiration may have been present in the Asgard-eukaryotic ancestor - paper in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New research in @nature.com funded by our Life Sciences division: "Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10128-z

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor

Some of our earliest microbial ancestors, the Asgard archaea, were able to use oxygen, says new study in @nature.com. It may solve a mystery about how complex life first arose. #AsgardArchaea #MicrobialEcology #Eukaryogenesis #TexasScience @utmsi.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social

One of the biggest questions in biology is how complex cells evolved about 2 billion years ago. Here's my new story on how scientists are solving the mystery of eukaryotes like us. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qMbo22

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...

Carl Zimmer wrote a nice article highlighting our new paper that came out today. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/s...

Beyond thrilled to share that our study has been published! This project encompasses years of work, including my thesis research on Asgard archaea in the @archaeal.bsky.social lab at @utmsi.bsky.social and @texasscience.bsky.social!!! #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky 1/12

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...

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...

Asgard archaeal origin of microtubules www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Another giant step backwards for the health of the planet. Another giant step forward for those who need even more money. Both oil and coal are too valuable, as substrates, to be burning. Shame to the greed. www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/t...

Whoa!!! That’s awesome. #Liam

Finally, we reconstructed the labyrinthic evolutionary history of HORBEC, from two ancient modules to the wide diversity that we observe in contemporary organisms.

HORBEC are found in most prokaryotes, and are particularly diverse in Archaea. Phylogenetic analyses indicate a complex evolutionary history. However, we show that respiratory complex I (Nuo/Fpo) was likely present in the LUCA, challenging current hypotheses on the ancestral energetic metabolism.

We then show that HORBEC exhibit an impressive modularity, achieved by tinkering protein domains, swapping components or even whole parts of complexes. This modularity led to a variety of coupled reactions and cellular localizations.

We analyzed the distribution of 31 HORBEC in over 4,000 bacterial and archaeal genomes. We propose a homogeneous nomenclature of HORBEC and their components and developed a tool, HORBEC-Finder, for automatic annotation from genomes(try it here! doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...).

HORBEC are involved in most energy-converting pathways, from respiration to methanogenesis. Despite their central role in bioenergetic metabolism, a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of these systems has been lacking.

A myriad of oxidoreductase complexes, including hydrogenases and respiratory complex I form a wide evolutionary network by sharing homologue components. We call them HORBEC for Homologous Oxidoreductases involved in Redox balance and Energy conservation.

Passioned by #bioenergetics? Do not miss our new article on the evolutionary history of oxidoreductases with G. Borrel and @sgribaldo.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @pasteur.fr @cnrs.fr @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @natecoevo.nature.com (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

It was a straight up execution.

NEW: ICE officers in Minn executed a man they were holding on ground. I'm not exaggerating. This is real footage published in Minnesotta Star Tribune. Officers surround man. They are beating them. Then you hear shot as one ICE officer executes the man. Every officer involved MUST be charged!

these are the 7 house democrats who voted to give ICE another $10 billion on thursday btw

Yay for the archaeal community! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We have been trying to get genomic data release on NCBI since August, 3 papers are now on hold until we get a response. Literally haven't gotten a response since August. There's needs to be an alternative. This system seems broken.

@markowenmartin.bsky.social congrats on your retirement!