Your students arrive in Curaçao earlier than you and say: We are bored. Can we do that extra diel cycle sampling that we talked about 🤔 ? Your only answer as a PI: Sure 😬 The outcome? Sleep-deprived students and an excellent work on the #coral holobiont rhythmicity 🪸🦠⏰ #symbiosis #microbiome

This effort was a 'tour de force' only made possible by my incredible lab @ambonacolta.bsky.social and @fonamental.bsky.social. Absolutely thrilled to get this part of my Ph.D. dissertation out, thank you everyone involved!

Lastly, we explored microbiome structure 🦠 through time. Broadly, the microbial composition is largely stable through time, with notable taxon-specific changes through day/night light cycles. During the day carbohydrate catabolizers show enrichment, while night hours feature methylotrophs.

Similar to the host, the symbiont Breviolum showed diel regulated transcription, although more subtle. Time-specific functions were recovered, showing metabolite transfer and nitrogen/carbohydrate metabolism through daytime, while cellular division and reorganization/turnover during the dark hours.

In the coral host, we observed dawn as a molecular surge in RNA metabolism 🧬, midday exhibits high phosphate regulation 🔋, dusk reflects lipid & amino acid metabolism ♻️, and midnight shows mRNA catabolism & mitochondrial reorganization 🗂️. Most striking, we recovered ~30% transcripts as rhythmic.

🚨New Preprint Alert🚨 P. strigosa, a reef-building coral shows tightly regulated transcriptional control over natural diel cycles. #CoralReefs #Symbiosky #bioinformatics #marinemicrobes #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

10/ Huge thanks to this amazing team! @fonamental.bsky.social @polcapdevila.bsky.social @elpiratavell.bsky.social @medrecover.bsky.social over.bsky.social @icmcsic.bsky.social @szndohrn.bsky.social @ub.edu @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social #MedCalRes @ageinves.bsky.social @cienciagob.bsky.social

9/ Bryozoans are key habitat-formers, yet often overlooked in climate research. Our work shows they’re at risk under future ocean conditions. 🌊 We need more long-term, multi-stressor studies in natural settings. Stay tuned for the ongoing HOLOCHANGE and MedAcidWarm projects!

8/ This is the first study to document long-term microbiome and skeletal responses to combined ocean acidification & warming in bryozoans in the wild. We reveal: ✅ Complex, species-specific strategies ⚠️ Signs of vulnerability under future ocean conditions

7/ What about long-term effects? We monitored Pentapora populations over 5 years: 📉 Bryozoan cover declined ☠️ Necrosis increased 🌡️ Warming & acidification together accelerated mortality

6/ But not all are good news... We also observed: 📉 Loss of key microbial genera ☠️Rise of opportunists & anaerobes These microbial shifts may signal early dysbiosis — an early warning of declining host health.

5/ 🦠 Microbial communities: We found species-specific core microbiomes, conserved across both pH conditions. This stability suggests potential acclimatization capacity in both species despite environmental stress.

4/ 🧱 Mineral & skeletal structure: The two species showed opposing strategies to low pH. 🦪 P. ottomuelleriana reduced Mg-calcite & zooid volume 🪸 M. truncata thickened its skeleton → Different energy trade-offs to maintain calcification under stress

3/ We focused on two species: 🦪 Pentapora ottomuelleriana (fast-growing, encrusting) 🪸 Myriapora truncata (slow-growing, erect) They naturally occur inside & outside a Mediterranean CO₂ vent. 🌋 We also used 3D micro-CT scans to visualize how their skeletons change.

2/ Why bryozoans? 🪸 They build reef-like structures 🌍 They're widespread + ecologically important 🦠 But largely understudied—especially their microbiomes! We studied them at a volcanic CO₂ vent & a control site in Ischia Island, a "time machine" for future oceans.

1/ Our new paper is out today in @commsbio.nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com 🚨 🔗https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08524-8 We studied how two Mediterranean bryozoan species respond to ocean acidification & warming using a natural underwater CO₂ vent as a climate change lab. 🌊🧫 🧵⬇️

Has it lost its mind? Can it see or is it blind? Don’t worry — we’re not judging anyone. We’re just amazed by the protagonist of this week’s #MidweekMicrobe. Make some noise for a true Ironman: the euglenozoan Euglena mutabilis! 🤘 🦠 📷 Gerd Guenther

Very excited to have my work in the Peninsula Gallery located in Sidney, BC. #metalart #sculptures #metalsculpture #metalwork #metalartist #artist #fabrication #metalworking #metalartwork #custom #handcrafted #artwork #metalfab #scrapart #artworks #cephalopod #nautilus #humboldtsquid #cameroceras

📣 ¡#IBE_Barcelona participa en 🎬 #CSICdeCine 2025! El 19 de septiembre se proyectará la película Flow en el edificio #CMIMA, y contaremos con la participación de Javier del Campo, investigador principal del #IBE, en el debate científico. 🍿🎞️ 👉https://shorturl.at/TMwlP

🏆 Javier del Campo, principal investigator at @delcampolab.bsky.social‬ (#IBE_Barcelona), has been awarded the Hutner Award at the 16th International Congress of Protistology (ICOP/ISOP 2025) — a recognition of his impactful work in the field of protistology.🦠🧬🪸 👉https://shorturl.at/5Lz6L

Platyproteum noduliferae is a marine alveolate, discovered in the intestinal tract of the host Phascolosoma noduliferum (a peanut worm🥜🪱 ) in the western coast of Hok kaido, Japan by Yokouchi et al #Midweekmicrobe 📷 Yokouchi et al 2022

Last week we attended the Jornades de Biologia Evolutiva, organized by the @scb.iec.cat 🧫 @matteoagazzi.bsky.social and @rociomozo.bsky.social did a great job presenting their advances on their coral HMW and HiC data generation and Suessiales de novo transcriptomics projects🧬🤩 Keep it up folks!☺️

It is an honor to receive the #ISOP Hutner Award to a researcher within 15 years of his PhD who has made outstanding contributions in protistology 😊 I would like to thank my mentors (Ramon Massana, @multicellgenome.bsky.social, @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social) and my past and present students 🙏

Another memorable #ISOP with an amazing group of protistologists! #ICOP25 #ProtistsOnSky

Check out this month’s #ISOP Member Spotlight featuring Patrick Keeling! We discuss the major challenges facing science today, the importance of storytelling in protistology, and Patrick’s experience with his long-running undergraduate protistology course at UBC #ProtistsOnSky

Thanks @varshamathur.bsky.social for the invitation to give a talk on corals 🪸 and their #protists at the “Interactions and Evolution of Organisms Seminar” at @univie.ac.at. I had a great time with you folks! 🙌 #protistsonsky

La maravillosa red microscópica que sostiene la vida en los océanos y explica el origen de los animales🦠🪸🌟 Con motivo del #DíaMundialdelosOcéanos, esta semana exploramos los protistas, los micoorganismos que están en la base de sus redes tróficas.🧵 👉https://shorturl.at/ea5OP

Los equipos de @multicellgenome.bsky.social , #Beaplab_ibe y @delcampolab.bsky.social hablan con Ana Lozano - beneficiaria de la Ayuda @csic.es - Fundación BBVA de Comunicación Científica- de su investigación en el del #IBE_Barcelona sobre los protistas: "La materia oscura del océano".🦠🌊🔬

🦠La maravillosa red microscópica que sostiene la vida en los océanos y explica el origen de los animales 🌊En la superficie puede haber más de 100.000 especies de protistas, cuyos linajes están por ubicar en el árbol de la vida Reportaje de Ana Lozano 👇 http://tiny.cc/3rgm001

Hey you, hurry up! You're just in time for a trip to the Late Cretaceous🌍 🦖 Sea levels are high and dinosaurs rule the Earth… but we’re here for a different kind of dino. This #MidweekMicrobe, meet the fossil dinoflagellate Desmocysta hadra!🦠 ⛏️

With the help of @bradweilerdives.bsky.social and @fonamental.bsky.social !!

📅 Avui, #BiodiversityDay, posem el focus en un tresor invisible: la biodiversitat genòmica. 🧬Cada espècie amaga un genoma únic que ens ajuda a conservar-la i entendre el món viu. 🌿A @catbiogenoma.bsky.social treballem per seqüenciar la vida del nostre territori #biodiversity #Genomics

Congrats to @joanakrause.bsky.social for getting the first prize for the best poster presentation!🪸🦠

Today we have been celebrating Biodiversity day at #UIBiodiversityDay2025 in Palma de Mallorca with talks from @rociomozo.bsky.social, @jnonell.bsky.social, @fonamental.bsky.social and a poster presentation from @joanakrause.bsky.social

For this past week, @matteoagazzi.bsky.social has been co-organizing a workshop on HiC and HMW data generation in Mallorca. He also shared his recent experience with the protocols🧬

#UIBiodiversityDay2025 | 🌊🌳 Un centenar de científics de tot l’Estat es reuneixen a la #UIB per compartir avenços en la conservació de la #biodiversitat. #CBB @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @imedea.bsky.social @csic.es @fundaciobit.bsky.social @ba.ieo.es 🔗 diari.uib.cat/Hemeroteca/L...

📣#BiodiversityDay2025 Today the CBB-#UIBuniversitat & the #IBE co-organize the 2️⃣Biodiversity Interdisciplinary Meeting where #genomics is a central topic. Discover why⬇️  👉https://www.ibe.upf-csic.es/es/home/-/asset_publisher/T2caeLMECPvW/content/international-day-for-biodiversity-at-ibe/maximized

Thanks to @biodiversa.eu and the Observatori del Patrimoni Natural i la Biodiversitat for the invitation to yesterday’s interesting discussion panel on #eDNA 🧬🦠🪸🐠 What a beautiful venue! 😊

🧬2n dia de WORKSHOP a la @uib.cat ! Generació de Genomes de Referència: Resolució de problemes en l’extracció d’ADN d’alt pes molecular i Hi-C 🙌Comencem la resolució de problemes pràctics: trouble shooting de hmw DNA extraction !

🧬Avui toca workshop temàtic a la @uib.cat! ➡️Generació de Genomes de Referència: Resolució de problemes en l’extracció d’ADN d’alt pes molecular i Hi-C

Després de la presentació inicial de Lluís Moragues, Michael Quail del @sangerinstitute.bsky.social ens ha parlat i ha resolt dubtes sobre les metodologies de HiC!

🙏 Thanks to all co-authors: Tatsuya Unuma, Joana Krause-Massaguer (@joanakrause.bsky.social‬), and Javier del Campo (@fonamental.bsky.social / @delcampolab.bsky.social)!

𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘴 is named for its host (𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘴 𝘫𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘴), while the species epithet 𝘨𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘢 draws from the Japanese pop icon Gudetama, a lazy egg, highlighting the parasite’s link to the ovaries. The name captures both ecological context and cultural ties to Japan 🇯🇵

🌊 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘢’s close relationship to these marine host–associated clades has interesting implications for apicoplast evolution, which we hope to explore further in the future ☀️

🧬 rrn operon phylogeny revealed this parasite to be closely related to apicomplexans of marine fish 🐟 (ichthyocolids) and corals 🪸(corallicolids), while organelle phylogenetics hint at a closer relationship with Eleutheroschizon, an apicomplexan associated with a marine Polychaete 🪱

🆕 Out now in JEM (@jeukmicro.bsky.social‬)! Using rrn gene and organelle phylogenies from recovered cysts, we describe 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘢, an apicomplexan parasite found in the ovaries of the Japanese sea cucumber 🥚 🥒 🇯🇵 dx.doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #ProtistsOnSky

I'm really glad to do my PhD in this group of amazing researchers!🙌🙌

We have a new PhD student! @jnonell.bsky.social did his MSc in the lab already, and now his PhD will focus on unveiling clues about the dark proteome and evolutionary history of the coral holobiont🪸🦠 Welcome “computer guy”, we’re very happy to have you with us!💻 #corals #microbiome #symbiosis

Eleutheroschizon duboscqi is a marine protococcidian that parasites the polychaete Scoloplos arminger🪱 . It grows epicellularly, enclosed in a two-membrane parasitophorous sac derived from the host cell, that ends in a protein-rich tail #Midweekmicrobe 📷 Valigurová et al. 2015

What a week, huh? For those who missed it, the Iberian Peninsula experienced a power outage this Monday that lasted 12 hours! Luckily for us, this #MidweekMicrobe brings in an expert in alternative energy generation: the foraminifera Hauerina diversa🌿 ☀️ 📷 François Le Coze