This is a dinoflagellate called Noctiluca scintillans, also known as ‘sea sparkle’. When it appears in large numbers (a bloom) they can bioluminescence when disturbed, making the sea flash blue! This is something I’ve unfortunately never seen, but it’s on my wish list! 1/2 #marineplankton 🦑

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

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...

Registration is now open! The 4th edition of the Mendel Early Career Symposium will take place on 21-22 May at the GMI, part of the @viennabiocenter.bsky.social. This two-day event brings together researchers across career stages to discuss the latest research in all areas of plant science.

The day is finally here!! On behalf of all the co-organizers the Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes website is open. comparativegenomics2026.com Invited speakers will be added to the website in the coming weeks. Watch this (well, that^) space!

Discovery of a photophobic response in #Apusomonads reveals insights into Opisthokont origins phys.org/news/2026-02... New #ISEPpapers! Photophobic response in Podomonas kaiyoae is mediated by coordination of cilia, actin filaments: Aika Shibata et al. www.nature.com/articles/s42... #Protists

Reading in journal club Shelton et al. Fungal ecology in the age of 'omics @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy. buff.ly/vK3GmK5

Excited to share this detailed biophysical study of #PhaseSeparation in the Pyrenoid, an algal microcompartment that fixes a third of the Earth's #CO2 🌏. We combine methods across scales, in vitro 🧪 and in vivo 🦠 Thanks for the very fun collaboration! 🤗 #PlantScience 🌾 #TeamTomo 🔬 #LivingPhysics 🧬🧶

Using #FungiFriday to plug our special issue from last summer, packed with interesting mycology reviews, primers and other pieces...🍄👇 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Calling all OrthoFinder users! We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny. GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... github.com/lauriebelch/... (1/10)

Excited to share a new piece of work in @embojournal.org Parasitoid wasps hijack a bacterial gene that governs venoms against host. Coauthors include @rokaslab.bsky.social and others. Read more from: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

It's not always that sunny, but Uppsala Uni–especially the Evo Biol Centre (EBC)–is a great place to set up your lab. Apply to join us!

Check out our new review in Nature Reviews Genetics on de novo emerged genes and proteins. How they emerge, are lost and persist - and how de novo emerged proteins relate to randomized proteins! @bornberglab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The last word on Ctenophores versus Sponges (not). www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Here we go again! Join us in Vienna, May 21–22, for two days of plant science—talks, discussions, and celebration of what makes plants both beautiful and essential 💚Full program + registration here: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve... Come be part of it — each of you counts!

Genetic modification in dinoflagellate algae: Some successes, many failures www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #protists

First paper of my PhD published 🎉 doi.org/10.1186/s129... It's about immunity in acoel worms and its link to photosymbiosis. There's evolution and immune gene expression, but also mortality, dysbiosis, and host responses upon pathogen exposure. With @hejnol.bsky.social and @rimskaya.bsky.social!

Emerging fungal pathogens have detrimental impacts on crops, animals, and humans. This study demonstrates that the fungal transition from saprotroph to opportunistic human pathogen is likely facilitated by adaptive translation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Eukan: a fully automated nuclear genome annotation pipeline for less studied and divergent eukaryotes academic.oup.com/nargab/artic... #protists

This is a very special paper for me. I had the idea of combining transcription factor binding with chromatin in 2016/8. It took some time, but thanks to Fred and Vikas, we can finally share the story in @plos.org Genetics looking at chromatin states in Arabidopsis and Marchantia. #PlantScience

Genome editing in brown algae! 🧬🪸🌿 Now out in Cell Reports Methods! Excited to share this highly efficient, transgene-free CRISPR–Cas genome editing protocol for brown algae, requiring no cloning and no specialized equipment. doi.org/10.1016/j.cr... #CRISPR #BrownAlgae @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

🔬🔦Our Imaging spotlight from @hiralshah.bsky.social & team highlights their U-ExM atlas of planktonic eukaryotes, including details on how you can explore this wonderful resource. Plus, check out Hiral’s top tips on getting started with expansion microscopy. focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/20/i...

Dominant contribution of Asgard archaea to eukaryogenesis. tldr; Best guess, ~ 50% of conserved eukaryotic protein families are from from Asgard archaea! #science #biology #evolution #nature #bioinformatics www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The symbiont-harboring trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei is Parasite of the Month. 🙂 authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Application deadline for this postdoc position in my group closing next week 🦠 thank you all who have shared so far!

Epimutations: raw material for evolution? Nabeel Ganem & @psarkies.bsky.social explore how epimutations mediating transgenerational epigenetic inheritance compare to DNA sequence mutations w.r.t. influence on drift and natural selection link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🔬 Diatoms’ secret superpower revealed in scientific first. Scientists at the MBA used tiny single-cell microelectrodes to watch individual diatoms in action.  👉 Read the full story - https://www.mba.ac.uk/diatoms-reveal-hidden-rapid-adaptability-in-carbon-uptake-in-scientific-first/

If you're interested in biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems, there's just a few days to apply for our PhD project: Ecological Surveillance using High-Throughput Quantitative Imaging at @uniofbath.bsky.social . Deadline: January 16th! Apply: is.gd/svXBcr Image: www.planktoscope.org/how-it-works

Isadonna Tengganu and Ke Hu develop transfection and ExM protocols for Chromera velia, enabling direct comparisons with its parasitic apicomplexan relative, Toxoplasma gondi. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

We have an open POSTDOC position to explore Marchantia immune receptor biology that is closing on the 18th of Jan. Apply using the link below, and/or email me for more details. www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

New lab preprint - Delora Baptista tested AlphaFold 2 and 3 for the prediction of structures of host-pathogen interactions and then applied these to study convergence of binding and molecular mimicry in host-pathogen vs. host-host interactions. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others

With the new year, is my time to say bye to @gmivienna.bsky.social as I move to @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social in Tuebingen. I will start my solo Group Leader career as a Emmy Norther fellow. Thanks to everyone that helped on the way. I will be advertising PhD and Postdoc positions soon, stay tuned!

Auxenochlorella UTEX250A, the first green algae with HR academic.oup.com/plcell/artic...

Why do some planktonic protists develop a gelatinous matrix? We suggest that this original adaptation is a strategy to cope with ocean oligotrophy: doi.org/10.1111/1462... Led by @n-llopis-m.bsky.social, and thanks to all co-authors, I'm very happy to finally see it out! #protistsonsky

This Highlight was written by Ioanna Kotari (@janekay27.bsky.social) in the scope of the SMBE Fellows Program. Learn more about the SMBE Fellows Program here: www.smbe.org/smbe-fellows...

Now Open: E-STEEM Postdoc Call 2026 20+ fully funded 4 year-postdoc positions for females in STEM (and Economics) at the University of Vienna. careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e... Application Deadline: March 2, 2026 Select your desired Host. Anyone interested in my lab, please get in touch.

How a parasite gave up sex to find more hosts—and why its victory won't last phys.org/news/2026-01... Host range expansion of asexual parasite can be explained by loss of adaptions in Muller’s Ratchet www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Protists #Microbes #Parasites #Giardia #Evolution

Open Senior Bioinformatician position at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Tree of Life, to work on the Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative with @marakat.bsky.social and me. 📅 Apply by January 18 🔗 sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco... Please share with anyone who might be interested!

Are you very busy but still want to learn what Aphelids are and why they are important to understand the evolution of Fungi? Then check out our “Quick guide” on Aphelids published in collaboration with @deemteam.bsky.social, Sergey and Guifré. #protistsonsky doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

🎄 Just published 🎉! Our ongoing genome sequencing of the basal dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina uncovered a new lineage of endogenized Polinton-like viruses, OmPLV. Notably, OmPLV encodes ... [cont] #VirEvol #MicroSky #Mevosky #SymbioSky #ProtistsOnSky

How did organs originated in the evolution of multicellularity? Despite their obvious importance, we still lack a theory of evolutionary organogenesis. Here's a @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper on how the placenta can offer answers @multicellgenome.bsky.social www.researchgate.net/profile/Oliv...

Organisers - Victoria Shabardina | @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social - @ankarn.bsky.social | University of Warsaw Invited Speaker - @vikramalva.bsky.social | @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of: A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids. A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202... #ProtistsOnSky

This is still one of my very most favorite biological videos ever. Vampyrella lateritia, a predatory amoeba: "OM NOM NOM NOM" I'm absolutely fascinated by and how single cell organisms can display behaviors like target localization, pursuit, and predation.

Happy to share a new preprint exploring the unusual biochemistry of a "weirdly" diverged cytochrome c in malaria parasites that exemplifies a lineage common to many apicomplexan parasites. @uofubiochem.bsky.social @uuhsresearch.bsky.social @uofutahcihd.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation 🧪🌍 W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

We’re excited to announce the opening of the Geneva Expansion Microscopy Facility (GenExM)! GenExM is a full-service U-ExM platform (U-ExM, Cryo-ExM, iU-ExM), delivering nanoscale imaging. Led by Dr. Olivier Mercey, GenExM welcomes academic & industrial collaborations. 👉 www.unige.ch/genexm/

#phylo #phylogenetics