Reference: Płoszka Z., Nowak K.H., Tischer M., Michalik A., Kolasa M.R., Łukasik P. (2025): Dissecting multitrophic interactions: The relationships among Entomophthora, their dipteran hosts, and associated bacteria. J Invertebrate Pathology 213: 108425 doi.org/10.1016/j.ji... Congrats all!

Highlights: • Molecular records for Entomophthora’s new host clades from an unexplored bioregion - Greenland • Confirmed high host-specificity of the pathogens; • Provided the first records of bacteria seemingly associating with pathogen-killed flies; • Validated multi-target sequencing approach

A new paper by our team @ioes-ju.bsky.social just published in J Invert Pathol @jinvertpathol.bsky.social! In Diptera-#Entomophthora system, we show how simultaneously #sequencing #insect, #fungal #pathogen, and bacterial marker genes can aid biodiversity and biological interaction discovery.

The newly assembled planthopper-Bartonellaceae genomes range in size from <2 Mb to 158 kb. The one most reduced lacks any essential amino acid biosynthesis genes, contrasting with all other insect-associated bacteria with ultra-reduced genomes, or other genes with obvious importance to hosts! 2/2

New preprint from our lab! We show that #Bartonellaceae bacteria, mostly known as mammalian #pathogens, also colonizes #planthoppers. The planthopper #symbionts typically resemble related ant symbionts in nutritional functions, but show a much greater breadth of #genome sizes and functions. 1/2

Now this is really cool! Double-extreme #genome reduction in #endosymbionts from #planthoppers. They go all the way down to ca. 50 kbps!!! 1/2 doi.org/10.1101/2025... Work by @annamichalik.bsky.social, @sympiotr.bsky.social, and others not here #SymbioSky

It was great to host in Kraków Dr. João Araújo from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen. During his visit, João gave a fascinating talk entitled “The diversity and evolution of Ophiocordyceps fungi through zombies and symbionts“.

Save the date 📅: The PhD Summer School on Host-microbe Symbioses is taking place from 6-19 of July in Oeiras, Portugal. Registration is opening soon! Learn more 👉 gimm.idloom.events/phd-summer-s... @gimmfoundation.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @crc1182.bsky.social #CIFAR #CBR

Call for Papers: Genomics in Symbiosis We are excited to invite you to contribute to the special collection of BMC Genomics: Genomics in Symbiosis. We welcome manuscripts that explore the genomics of symbiotic interactions across all domains of life #SymbioSky www.biomedcentral.com/collections/...

We are very proud to announce our new paper published in mSystems, in which we described unique bacterial association and transmission mechanisms alongside other unique symbiosis evolutionary patterns! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Our preprint describing the unusual strategy of #symbiont transmission and previously unreported level of genome reduction and reorganization in a #planthopper symbiotic system has just been published - with @diecasfranco @sympiotr et al doi.org/10.1101/2023...  #SymbioSky #EvoSky #EvoBiol