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...

A new family of rolling-circle replication endonucleases widespread in archaeal viruses and plasmids #microbiology #virology #viruses #archaea academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Beyond methanogenesis: expanding roles for methanogenic archaea #microbiology #methanogens #methane #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social www.cell.com/trends/micro...

This one means a lot. Our paper, “Large extrachromosomal replicons are widespread across bacterial lineages and show coordinated replication termination and spatial coupling with the chromosome,” is out! doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Des étudiants antisemites occupent l’université d’Anvers!

Asymmetric divergence of genome organization and transcription beyond LUCA #microbiology #genetics #genome #MicroSky doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

A family of ribosome hibernation factors widespread in Archaea | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72341-8

A new family of rolling-circle replication endonucleases widespread in archaeal viruses and plasmids. This family is unrelated to the HUH superfamily Reps, but distantly related to the bacterial Rep_trans enzymes. @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

New #ISEPpapers #preprint by @deemteam.bsky.social: Re-evaluating the eukaryotic Tree of Life with independent phylogenomic data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Eukaryotes #TreeOfLife #Phylogeny #Phylogenomics #Bioinformatics #Algae

Single-cell RNA-seq of the rare virosphere reveals the native hosts of giant viruses in the marine environment www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This was The Beatles’ final public performance — their legendary rooftop concert on January 30, 1969.The show wasn’t publicly announced, so it took everyone by complete surprise. Crowds quickly gathered on the streets and nearby rooftops as the Fab Four rocked Savile Row

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

Extensive array of endogenous giant viral elements in a polar alga shows dynamic transcriptional response to abiotic stress: Current Biology https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00249-6?rss=yes

Excited to share our lab's new paper in Current Biology featuring MS student Sydney Schultz's work. We show that a polar alga carries large amount of giant viral DNA in its genome, and many of the viral genes respond to stress - with implications for host adaptation. www.cell.com/current-biol...

🧬 8th DNA Polymerases Meeting 📅 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2026, Paris An international conference on DNA polymerases: replication, repair, genome integrity, and applications in PCR, sequencing, genome editing and diagnostics. Register now ↘️ www.8th-dna-polymerases.conferences-pasteur.org

Extensive lateral gene transfer between proto‐eukaryotes and Heimdallarchaeia suggests their close association during eukaryogenesis - Forterre - 2025 - mLife - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Looking for living ancestors has always been misleading. Chimps are not our ancestors. The same for Asgard. Their ancestors simply exchanged many genes with out ancestors. If you are interested this topic, read my mLife 2025 paper and our mLife 2022 papers for the true story.

#FemmeVieLiberté ! 5 footballeuses iraniennes obtiennent l'asile politique en #Australie suite aux menaces exercées contre elles par le régime islamiste pour ne pas avoir chanté l'hymne iranien lors de leur 1er match en coupe d'Asie. #football #Iran www.france24.com/fr/sports/20...

L'équipe de foot féminine iranienne refuse de chanter l'hymne national lors de la Coupe d'Asie des nations www.franceinfo.fr/monde/iran/g...

Unfortunately, most people who are not biologists (journalists include) never heard about ribosomes and don’t know what they are!! In a recent talk in front of a « general public » I asked « do you know what is a ribosome ? » No one knows.

Ribosome centric perspective on the evolution of life. @mkrupovic.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

On the nature of the earliest known lifeforms doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

1/5 Happy by a recent biorxiv pre-print about DARNA (PD-T7-3) anti-phage defense system. This system is activated by binding to ssDNA, presented by phage SSB, to cleave tRNA in the anti-codon loop. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life #microbiology #virology #virus #eukaryotes #MicroSky @cellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867426000553?dgcid=rss_sd_all

La question n'est pas seulement de savoir qui peut réaliser la circoncision, mais pour quel motif. La circoncision d'un mineur ne devrait être autorisée que pour une raison médicale. Sinon, elle s'apparente à une mutilation génitale pratiquée sur un enfant. www.lavenir.net/actu/2026/02...

Nice phylogeny (Figure 1) showing that the rare Asgard tubulin (present in 1% of genome) branch within the diversity of Eukaryotic tubulin, indicating HGT from Proto-eukaryotes to Asgard, as we already suggested in Da Cunha et al. (mlife. 2022) and Forterre (mlife 2025) (not cited in this preprint.

Nice phylogeny (Figure 1) showing that the rare Asgard tubulin (present in 1% of genome) branch within the diversity of Eukaryotic tubulin, indicating HGT from Proto-eukaryotes to Asgard, as we already suggested in Da Cunha et al. (mlife. 2022) and Forterre (mlife 2025) (not cited in this preprint.

Giant Virus Discovered in Japanese Pond May Hint at Multicellular Life's Origins A newly isolated giant virus, ushikuvirus, is closely related to clandestinovirus and shows a unique capsid surface structure and host cell interactions 🧪 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

✨ Hier au Bar des Sciences : cap sur LUCA, le Last Universal Common Ancestor, ancêtre commun de toutes les formes de vie. Une plongée dans les origines du vivant et les débats actuels. Merci à Patrick Forterre, prof de #biologie à @univparissaclay.bsky.social pour ses éclairages sur LUCA. #science

Le public pose des questions sur l'origine et l'évolution de Luca dans ce Bar des Sciences avec Patrick Forterre, professeur de biologie et ancien directeur de l' @institutpasteur.bsky.social à l' @univparissaclay.bsky.social #biologie #science #Paris

ribosomologists take note 👇 #CryoEM #CryoET #teamtomo

~50 kb genomes, 4× smaller than the genomes of 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 sp. 👀 and ~3× smaller than the 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 genome 👀. Elio called 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 ...👇 #SymbioSky

@carolinamicro.bsky.social Huang & @lbobay.bsky.social investigated genomic rearrangements across 121 microbial species, showing that rearrangements occur at a variable pace across bacteria and archaea, pointing to different selective constraints. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag002 #genome #evolution

Five years after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines started, it seems the mystery of why the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines led to a rare but deadly side effect of unusual blood clots and bleeding has finally been solved. 
 It's a fascinating case of molecular mimicry that may help make vaccine safer.🧪

Check out our latest preprint from @jnvmartinson.bsky.social and @leosong.bsky.social! 🌟🦠 We found that conjugative plasmids can actively eliminate recipient bacteria that resist plasmid acquisition. 🧵

Archaeal G-quadruplexes: a novel model for understanding unusual DNA/RNA structures across the tree of life url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏 glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)

Note for those interested in Asgard archaea - please join us on the morning of July 10th for a ‘building a community’ discussion!

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.

𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 chromosome replicationists take note 👇 tsutomu katayama's lab tackles one of the last remaining puzzles of DnaB loading by DnaA to 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘊 after opening. for bi-directional replication, 𝘁𝘄𝗼 DnaB helicases have to be loaded (in case you forgot). thx for pointing this out, wiep 🙏 #MicroSky

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason | Science https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ads6733?af=R

Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes | Nature Reviews Genetics https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-025-00929-9

Iron Sulfides Produced by Thermococcales: An Iron Detoxification Mechanism enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Nice, the authors still use the name Asgard archaea and not Promethearchaeati!