Substrate-induced assembly and functional mechanism of the membrane protein insertase SecYEG-YidC @kedrov-lab.bsky.social, Roland Beckmann and coworkers link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A family of archaeal hibernation factors that bind in tandem and protect ribosomes in dormant cells www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

1/ Out today in Science (@science.org): a result a decade in the making, and one that changed how I think about what cells are doing when they grow. We found a bacterium that grows slower than it could. And we found the molecular switch that lets us reverse it.

Extension of the deadline for latecomers. Register to the Secretion Days in Marseille !

High-resolution transcriptome analysis reveals a multilayered and dynamic transcriptional architecture in the archaeal virus SSV1 | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.17.732947v1?rss=1

Meet AbpX, a biomatrix protein from the hyperthermophile Pyrodictium abyssi. It forms Ca²⁺-triggered fibrils via donor strand complementation. Using cryo-EM + X-ray, we built a full lattice model and place AbpX in a new TasA superfamily clade. A very nice collaborative project! tinyurl.com/mryzcz4n

A multilayered cell envelope of a member of the Chloroflexota offers an anchoring platform for the archaellum #microbiology #archaea #bacteria #MicroSky doi.org/10.3389/fmic...

Cultivation and molecular profiling reveal ammonia-oxidizing archaea as skin commensals #microbiology #archaea #ammonia #MicroSky @isme-microbes.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Archaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation @natcomms.nature.com #microbiology #archaea #eukaryotes #MicroSky doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Philipp Rieche, Marten Exterkate, Arnold Driessen et al show that the #lipid divide between #bacteria and #archaea is not as strict as previously thought as bacterial lipid synthesizing enzymes can use both stereo-forms of glycerol-phosphate. #MembraneBiology -> link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Transcription factor CCTF1 plays a decisive role in regulating the proteasome activity during archaeal cell division https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.729166v1

The T6SS is a widespread nanoweapon deployed by #bacteria, but why is it deployed heterogeneously? @cascaleslab.bsky.social &co show that #Ecoli adopt distinct #T6SS attacker "ON" & defender "OFF" roles to optimize survival, a key strategy in microbial warfare @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3S5dL45

I'm happy to share the first pre-print of out Lab! 🎉 Introducing ArchaeaHQ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We curated 21,644 genomes across all 4 archaeal kingdoms to bridge the gap in public datasets for computational biology What is inside ArchaeaHQ... (1/2)

@joshnhamm.bsky.social @ndombrowski.bsky.social @greening.bsky.social @luisvalentin.bsky.social et al. provide the first investigation into the enigmatic Terrarchaeota and insights into the evolution of high salt adaptation in Archaea. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag091 #evobio #molbio #microbeSky

Effects of sulfide on the activity of the ammonia-oxidizing archaeon Nitrosopumilus maritimus SCM1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #jcampubs

Active virus-host system in a Lokiarchaeon culture www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New preprint! Cell division has to happen at the right place but how Archaea pick that place is unknown. We now identified a three-protein system, Dip, that positions the divisome at midcell in H. volcanii and is broadly conserved across Archaea. A thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Some archaea like coffee too 🤓☕️ Using coffee waste as feedstock for continuous cultivation of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius #microbiology #archaea #coffee #Sulfolobus #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Do biofilms give an ecological advantage? Yes! A fantastic follow-up to our previous biofilm work in ammonia-oxidizing archaea: "Biofilm Lifestyle Drives Ecophysiological Niche Expansion in an Archaeal Soil Nitrifier" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Congratulations to all authors! #archaea

‘Wolfe, these things aren't even bacteria.’ The moment when only two people in the world knew about Archaea. Virginia Morell describes Carl Woese's discovery of a new branch of the tree of life, an idea that in 1997 when this was written, some still didn't accept. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This suggests that TFF systems are not mere surface filaments but can be functionalized for substrate scavenging! And if anyone remembers just like bindosomes that @archaellum.bsky.social described once!

we screened for proteins with a class III signal peptide cleavage site, a hallmark for pilins. And surprise archaea encode for several substrate binding proteins with a class III signal peptidase site!

But what could their function be? (4/n)

We find that archaea encode a striking diversity of TFF systems, up to 12 distinct systems per genome, exceeding the diversity typically observed in bacteria.

Back in 2016, Kira Makarova provided a first glimpse into the diversity of archaeal TFF systems. Since then, the archaeal domain has expanded substantially, with multiple newly described phyla. So we rescreened the genomes using MacSyFinder2 for various archaeal TFF systems (2/n)

You ever wondered whether your favorite archaeon has a surface structure or even an archaellum? Say no more! We screened for the presence of archaeal TFF machineries in all archaeal phyla and help you with that! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/n)

8 more days left to apply for this 3-year postdoc position. Please repost! The position offers a lot of freedom to test new ideas about how archaea and bacteria communicate & sense the extracellular environment.

🚨Hear, hear, fellow microbial cell biologists!🚨 🦠 Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Biology will be represented again at this year’s CELL BIO (ASCB-EMBO) meeting! The deadline to be considered for a talk in our Minisymposium is June 9. Help us spread the word! www.ascb.org/cellbio2026/

Bridging the lipid divide: archaeal ESCRT-III binds phosphoinositol and polarises the cytokinetic membrane www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

👋 It’s been four weeks since our fantastic SFB 131 symposium, which featured an amazing line up and great participants. 🎬 Watch the video to relive the vibe!

Grab a coffee and enjoy reading up on CO metabolism in methanotrophs! Freshwater ANME (own work): www.nature.com/articles/s41... Marine ANME (@Orphan lab): www.nature.com/articles/s41... Big thanks to our collaborators at QUT! @sjmcilroy.bsky.social (Heyu/Andy/Gene!) @cuwelte.bsky.social

🚨 Archaea alert 🚨!! We’re back this Wednesday, April 22nd, at 10 AM EST / 4 PM CET with two exciting research talks! You won’t want to miss this so check your email for the Zoom link or visit the link in our bio for more info on how to join the community 🦠

One of biggest mysteries in biology: how did complex eukaryotic cells evolve from simple microbes? ~1.8 billion years ago, an archaeal cell likely merged with a bacterium to form the first eukaryotic cell, but can we ever find direct evidence of this transformative event? 🦠 🚶‍♂️

An Asgard archaeon from a modern analog of ancient microbial mats: Current Biology https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00330-1?rss=yes

An Asgard archaeon from a modern analog of ancient microbial mats (Current Biology) Beautiful microscopy of an Asgard archaeon, in the same family as Lokiarchaea, in syntrophy with a sulfate-reducing bacteria Very very nice paper we saw in preprint form: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Today I stole some reading from our youngest daughter (9yo)...and guess what??? #archaea were there!!! See special issue from Science et Vie Junior on Microbes, with a lot of interesting articles (not only for Kids...)...(in French) Step by step #archées #archaea #archaeasky

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...

Cultivating the Ancestors… in Motion What electron microscope images hint at, but can only be seen in videos: how 'Asgard' archaea move.

Great week at the ARCTECH Midterm Meeting in Graz! PhD candidates trained at the Medizinische Universität Graz on #microbiome research, #RStats, and omics. Thanks to all partners for an inspiring and collaborative meeting! #Archaea #DataScience #HorizonEurope #DoctoralNetwork #EuropeanResearch

Hong's @bdyxwh.bsky.social paper is out with help from @sshamphavi.bsky.social and @archaellum.bsky.social. We discovered a link between nuclear actin and YAP/TAZ: G-actin forms a complex with YAP-TEAD for transcription. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

🧬 How do Crenarchaeota make and use polyphosphate? In our new JBC paper we identify a new polyphosphate kinase family (PPK3) — a distinct heteromeric enzyme doi.org/10.1016/j.jb... 🔬 A missing piece of the puzzle. #Archaea #Biochemistry #Microbiology #Polyphosphate

The textbooks say #archaea are non-pathogenic. True. But maybe we’re not as irrelevant as you thought.

🚨 PhD Position in Plant Molecular Biology 🌱 We are looking for a motivated PhD student to join our team to study root protective barriers. If you are interested in confocal microscopy, cell wall biology, and plant development, this project might be for you! Please share! #PlantScience #PlantSciJob

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...

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself! bluesky-map.theo.io I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

This work started as a bachelor project and @1nussi1.bsky.social and @felixgrunberger.bsky.social showed that CsmR is a very interesting regulator important for controlling motiliy and cellshape in Haloferax volcanii. The preprint is out now: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Phosphorylation-driven conformational switching of the ArnA–ArnB complex involved in archaeal motility regulation #microbiology #archaea #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky doi.org/10.3389/fmic...

A reminder to sign up for the 2026 EMBO archaeal meeting im Cambridge: meetings.embo.org/event/26-arc.... Registration is open. We are looking forward to hosting you!

Ordering of cell cycle events by regulated proteolysis is not just for eukaryotes: @buzzbaum.bsky.social et al define mechanisms underlying switch-like degradation of archaeal ESCRT-III CvdB in Sulfolobus Thanks to @reviewcommons.org for another #RefereedPreprint link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@archaellum.bsky.social lab reveals how #cdiAMP and 4 RCK proteins shape osmotic stress responses in H. volcanii 🧬🦠. In highly halophilic #archaea, c-di-AMP coordinates ion balance and cell volume—mirroring bacterial strategies for environmental stress adaptation. 👉 buff.ly/ApWkCtg