Finally out! We measured mutations in tetraploid potato. Highlights: - higher mutation rates in L1 than L2 - even higher rates and a distinct oxidative stress signature outside of meristems - lower mutation rates in genes everywhere we looked More 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2514507122

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Just under a month left—apply by December 5 through the link on my website!

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny. #ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Our lab’s variegated peperomia makes green flecks on leaves, but only on the abaxial side. It’s the typical sandwich: L1 green-L2 yellow-L3 green, so guessing flecks are L1-derived cells dividing periclinally into L2. But how only on the abaxial side? Something to do with the super thick epidermis?

Just for fun, here's a game I like to call "Find the neuron" with examples of olfactory sensory neuron images from Šmít et al 2017 (doi.org/10.7554/eLif...) and Filoreta ramosa, a free-living syncytial amoeba from a salt marsh.

My PhD work is up on bioRxiv! Read all about the #actin and #microtubule #cytoskeleton of the Rhizarian #amoeba Filoreta ramosa here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Autumn is just the best

This is glorious! And diatoms are as weird as ever!

Happy to have contributed to this great article: #Protist genomics: key to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Congrats Alexandra Schoenle et al. #ProtistsOnSky authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Highlighted paper! Daisuke Yamagishi, et al. open a new front in the drive to understand photosymbiosis in protists. Article➡️ doi.org/10.1111/jeu.... #protistsonsky

An amoeba movie I made: "hungry" #protistsonsky #amoeba

I contributed an essay and some images to the new Living Futures series, an outgrowth of the fantastic Living Histories series organized by Sri Biswas and others. medium.com/@thelhseries... iyerbiswas.com/outreach/liv... 1/3

Poor dude can't catch dinner #protistsonsky #amoeba

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

Another bog friend #protistsonsky

The inside of our net was coated with these tiny jelly balls. I asked @blancobercial.bsky.social if they were some kind of ctenophore, but he said (enthusiastically) "No! These are #Rhizaria!" He is holding a single cell here. #marinelife #protistsonsky

Evidence for #recombination, and maybe #meiosis, in free-living #Rhizaria! I wish the results were clearer. As so often we raised more questions than we could answer :) If you are into #sex and the #meiosis-toolkit, this is an important read! #ProtistsOnSky link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper out in @pnas.org We followed cells migrating along signalling gradients in 3D, and found they collectively behave as a living droplet - a self-propelling fluid that grows. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.16.654244v1

A quick craft project: hand-cut phase annuli from construction paper to fit an "adopted" microscope that was missing ph1 ph2 and ph3

Acanthocystis (maybe?) from the same bog sample. Sometimes amoebae don't need phase contrast, especially if they're full of zoochlorellae/plastids! #protistsonsky #bogblog

A lucky find- Lesquereusia in the middle of division! When finished, it will fill the second test (shell) that it built. Local bog sample. #testateamoebae #protistsonsky

It was a very productive week in lab! We now have Naegleria fowleri (brain-eating amoeba) cultures growing, in addition to the Naegleria gruberi (harmless relative) cultures we have been using as a model. Put side-by-side, it is impossible to tell them apart.

🧠🦠🚨 New preprint alert! We’ve built the first trait database for Amoebozoa, and showcase ecological insights and evolutionary patterns. If you're into protists, soil ecology, or functional biodiversity - this is for you! #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🧵👇

Asgard archaea have actin - but what about microtubules? Where do they come from? 🧐 Our new paper www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... by @xujwet.bsky.social & @florianwollweber.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Schleper & Wieczorek labs, describes tiny Asgard microtubules! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 1/6

SHUT UP! Did I just see this? *rubs eyes*. How amazing are these amoebae??? This is a timelapse and I adore seeing their pseudopodia stretch out as they head towards each other. Was it the food? Was it defence? Was it love? What do you think? 🦑 #plankton #protistsonsky

@amoebadiscovery.bsky.social made an iteresting interview with me about #heliozoa and #centrohelids - I think these organisms are really important, understudied and gorgeous 😍 Also lots other intresting reading and beatiful pictures! #protistsonsky link: tinyurl.com/adiscovery1

Some federal employees who accepted Trump’s buyout offer are now being notified that their buyout has been denied, and they are being terminated instead.

Anyone have any good long pork slow cooker recipes? Looking to satisfy a craving for billionaire. #eattherich #muskrat

An #amoeba watercolor that I turned into stickers 🩵 #SciArt

It's not always amoebae and protists, I paint plants too #nepenthes #SciArt

More #SciArt watercolor doodles of #amoeba with filopodia and reticulopodia

On days like today, a little #SciArt goes a long way.

Happy #MicroscopyMonday! The last rainbow amoeba poster I made seemed a little too subtle, so here’s a new version! Download any of my posters at: katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science/prin...