🌀 We solved the structure for T. denticola periplasmic flagella! I'm very happy to finally showcase this work. A huge collaborative effort between myself, @bindusmitapaul.bsky.social, @debnathghosal.bsky.social, Jack Kim, @banfieldlab.bsky.social, Eric Reynolds and the Chris Fenno lab. 🦠 Enjoy!

Today in Nature Communications, a team of IGI researchers from The Banfield Lab and Pam Ronald's labs uncover a new way to reduce methane emissions from rice by influencing the activity of rice paddy soil #microbes. Read more: https://ow.ly/45j150Y3WsI#microbes

🚨 New pre-print alert! Jumbo circular extrachromosomal elements of methane-oxidizing archaea with variably extensive metabolic and defense gene repertoires www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Excited to share our discovery of archaeal circular, jumbo extrachromosomal elements (up to ~535 kb genomes). One related, 409-kb genome is integrated in CH4-eating Methanoperedens, representing the largest integrative element in Archaea so far! Curious about what they are doing? See the paper

A new preprint from The Banfield Lab looks at mobile genetic elements with single-cell precision. Read here: https://ow.ly/hFBX50Y0nQA #microbiology

A new preprint on expanding the genetic code, from IGI's Jill Banfield, Peter Penev, and collaborators across the country: https://ow.ly/HiYO50XVNXR

New preprint out: Revealing the pervasive landscape of MGE-host interactions in situ with single-cell genomics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @mingyan-igi.bsky.social

🚨 Our Lab is HIRING! If you are interested in characterizing model microbiomes using genome-resolved methods, statistical/metabolic modeling, and/or machine learning please submit an application here: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05234 #postdoc #sciencejobs #biology #microbiome

Troubleshooting common errors in assemblies of long-read metagenomes - @merenbey.bsky.social @banfieldlab.bsky.social go.nature.com/44P7nSm

✨New preprint! 🧵1/4 Excited to share our work on AI-guided design of minimal RNA-guided nucleases. Amazing work by @petrskopintsev.bsky.social @isabelesain.bsky.social @evandeturk.bsky.social et al! Multi-lab collaboration @banfieldlab.bsky.social @jhdcate.bsky.social @jacobsenucla.bsky.social🧬 🔗👇

Out today in Science Magazine — First author Veronika Kivenson and PIs Jill Banfield (The Banfield Lab) and Alanna Schepartz team up to reveal a new genetic code in #archaea, with implications for #methane and #climate, and #bioengineering! Learn more: https://ow.ly/Kuem50Xurh0

Out now in Nature Communications: Convergent evolution of viral-like Borg archaeal extrachromosomal elements and giant eukaryotic viruses www.nature.com/articles/s41... @luisvalentin.bsky.social @lingdong-shi.bsky.social @martianmicrobe.bsky.social @mschoelmerich.bsky.social

New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Incredible science coming out from our lab. Congrats @kivenson.bsky.social 🎉

Fresh from the press! Congrats @diamondlab.bsky.social

Newest preprint from the group on megaplasmids in E. coli led by @assemblerag.bsky.social. In addition to our findings in metagenomic datasets, we identified an RNA-seq project from a giant panda gut sample with evidence of megaplasmids. We would like to include the data creators in our study.

The 2025 Banfield Retreat was fantastic 🦠 so many talented scientists in one place is a sure way to come up with some great ideas! @banfieldlab.bsky.social

🚨 Fresh from the press! We created and analyzed over 100 in vitro cyanobacterial consortia using well-characterized model cyanobacterial hosts to better understand how cyanobacteria recruit and interact with their microbiomes. Check it out: doi.org/10.1093/isme...

manuscript here! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Many of you gave me so much encouragement when I posted here earlier about my 10 year long passion project to make a microbial map of the ocean. Pinch me because I can't believe I get to update you that today that research was published in the journal SCIENCE! @science.org

Out now: Structure of an archaeal ribosome reveals a divergent active site and hibernation factor @jhdcate.bsky.social @banfieldlab.bsky.social @diptinayak.bsky.social & co #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In a recent paper, IGI's @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @doudna-lab.bsky.social and Jill Banfield @banfieldlab.bsky.social collaborate with UCLA's @jacobsenucla.bsky.social to create a new, tiny #CRISPR tool for quicker, easier plant genome editing! Read more in this Q&A with Steve: ow.ly/6Szs50VGElf

Most plasmids described in E. coli are small compared to the megaplasmids we identified here! Check out the preprint if you want to learn about these mysterious large elements and their potential functions 🧬. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this in @banfieldlab.bsky.social

Excited to share new research led by our very own @lingdong-shi.bsky.social showing that many archaeal 23S rRNAs are circularized in active ribosomes. Check out the preprint below.

Genomes from long-read metagenomic assemblies contain rampant errors, highlighting the pressing need for stricter evaluation methods in long-read assembly algorithms. Read more in our paper with the Eren group. @floriantrigodet.bsky.social @merenbey.bsky.social