⏰ The countdown is on! Only 7 days remain to register for CGUE2026. Five days of cutting-edge science, inspiring discussions and networking with the international community studying the evolution and diversity of unicellular eukaryotes. #ComparativeGenomics #Protistology #Protists #Microbiology

Check out the draft program for the Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes meeting! Want to attend? Are you a speaker? Registration is open until May 4, please do this sooner rather than later to help us in the organization of the meeting comparativegenomics2026.com/program/

We stumbled upon an unusual gene called 'rqua' in the genome of some freshwater sponges. In microbes, this gene confers the ability to make a ubiquinone analog - rhodoquinone - which can help the respiratory chain run without oxygen.

Huge news 🌍🧬 The Protist 10,000 Genomes Project is joining the Earth BioGenome Project. Protists may represent the majority of eukaryotic diversity — yet only a tiny fraction have reference genomes. Time to change that. 🚀✨ Learn more 👉 ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/p10k/ #EBP #Protists #Genomics #TreeOfLife

I am happy to share the unfinished but nevertheless fascinating autobiography of the late Thomas Cavalier-Smith, written in 2020, shortly before Tom passed away in 2021. I thank Ema Cavalier-Smith for sharing the text with me. I recently finished curating […] [Original post on biologists.social]

Have a novel protist's genome or transcriptome and want to predict it's mitochondrial proteome? Look no further than CoMR, this handy bioinformatic workflow to help you: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #phylogenetics

Check out our latest pre-print of our favourite pets - the breviates. This work was led by Zhezhen Yi in collaboration with @andrewjroger.bsky.social and many others! By studying diverse breviates we were able to see how different metabolic pathways can evolved in response to low-oxygen.

New preprint out! Using ~75k environmental OTUs + 77 fossil calibrations, we reconstructed a Proterozoic timeline of eukaryote evolution. Our results show crown eukaryotes were already diversifying >1.6 Ga, long before the first undisputed fossils (~1.05 Ga). 🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Save the date! The next instalment of Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes is a GO! Join us next year for a programme of talks, posters, ECR/networking activities. Website and registration details to follow in the coming weeks. See you October 5-10 2026 in beautiful San Feliu!!

Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky

Now completely published :) Really proud of this paper led with Karla at @cstairs.bsky.social lab. doi.org/10.1093/isme...

For some three billion years, unicellular organisms ruled Earth. Then, around one billion years ago, a new chapter of life began go.nature.com/3JyRV4S

New lab pre-print up! "Twelve species of human parasites make up half the literature on microbial eukaryotes" doi.org/10.1101/2025... We (led by UG Joanna Lepper and with @hbrappap.bsky.social) quantified all mentions of protist species in the scientific literature 🧵 #protistsonsky #microsky

Check out our recent publication on breviate protists and their microbial communities. In this study, led by PhD student Karla and postdoc Julie, we found that breviate growth under anoxia might be dependent on the metabolic capabilities of the prokaryotes they live with. doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Got lucky to spot some adorable puffins hanging out in the Faroe Islands 🐧🐧📸🪶

The first issue of Amoeba Discovery is here! This marks the beginning of a new magazine for exploration, creativity, and collaboration across #protistsonsky. Endless thanks to @zlatogursky.bsky.social for the stunning cover illustration! Read the full (free) issue: stefanluketa.com/amoeba-disco...

A little forest acrobat, busy doing squirrel things 🐿️📸 #RedSquirrel #Mammals #Canon

Attention ancient environmental DNA folks. In our recent preprint, we provide coordinates of microbial-like regions (contaminated or evolutionary conserved or convergent) for 4,294 eukaryotic reference genomes.

12600 cranes gathered in Skåne this weekend. It's a magical sight for bird lovers 🕊️

Registration is now open for the Protistology Nordics meeting 12–13 May in Jyväskylä #protistsonsky www.jyu.fi/en/events/pr...

Application deadline is today! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! 🧪 #protistsonsky @uniofbath.bsky.social

RNA xkcd.com/3056

Looking at bioinformaticians’ profiles these days, you'd think everyone has decades of experience in cutting-edge single-cell and AI-driven bioinformatics. But something’s missing… 👇

Winter break reading 🍄 Protists are still the best, but fungi are a close second!

This Great Tit knows how to work the camera 📸🪶 #Birds #BirdPhotography #GreatTit #Canon

4th meeting of Protistology Nordics will be at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland from 12– 13 May 2025 www.jyu.fi/en/events/pr... #protist #protistsonsky @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social

The rare beauty of a white deer in the wild 🦌✨ #Mammals #Nature #Wildlife #Photography #Canon

An alert European hare enjoying the greenery🐇🌿 #mammals #photography #nature #wildlife #canon

It was only a matter of time. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

White Wagtail 🪶 Kullaberg Nature Reserve, Sweden 📷 Canon R7 + RF 100-400mm

I am looking for an ERC-funded postdoc to work on spatial proteomics of microalgae (red algae and glaucophytes). The ideal candidate will have experience with mass spec and data analysis (R), but above all a keen interest in broad eukaryote evolution and protists #protistsonsky (1/2)

Are you or do you know someone interested in symbiosis research? Anaeramoeba is an exciting organism to explore symbiosis in a low-oxygen environment. Less than a week (December 6) to apply for the PhD position in my group! uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Please share widely!

Please share! Applications due Dec 15th for a starting date in Sep 2025.

Women are under-represented at senior levels in #academia globally, & across all #science 🧪 disciplines, as shown by these "scissor-shaped curves" ✂️ So how can we ever achieve #gender #equality? We discuss various strategies in this #Cell Commentary #WomeninSTEM www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... 🧵 1/

Excited to share “Bin Chicken”, substantially improving genome recovery through rational metagenomic assembly. Applied to public 🌍 metagenomes, it recovered 24,000 novel species 🦠, including 6 novel phyla. doi.org/10.1101/2024... @wwood @rhysnewell @CMR_QUT 🧵1/6

Looking to the mysterious life of the tiny people of my parents' backyard pond through a toy microscope, then later the hacker(wo)man feeling of trying to understand it with bioinformatics 🔬🦠🧬

Starter pack for metagenomics and microbial genomics lovers. go.bsky.app/MFipoLH

First post!! Does anyone in Europe have an axenic or monoxenic culture of Stentor, Blepharisma or Spirostomum they would be willing to share? Please DM me :) #protists #ciliates

I put together a 'protists and friends' starter pack! For anyone interested in hearing about current research spanning diverse topics microbial eukaryotic (ie protist++) biology. This list is super incomplete so please tag/comment folks and I'll add! go.bsky.app/HQhnxbC #protistsonsky 🦠🧪

Bluesky for Science Starter packs for genomics, bioinformatics, #Rstats, Nextflow. Moderation lists. Feeds. Let's rebuild the old scitwitter community and keep this place nice blog.stephenturner.us/p/bluesky-fo... 🧬🖥️🧪

Want to be amazed by how a symbiont can be located at the center of a cell while still being an epibiont! Please read and be amazed by the symbiosis between Anaerameoba and sulfate-reducing bacteria! Now out in Nature Communications (open access)! rdcu.be/dZGNe (1/11)

Geometriphylogenetics xkcd.com/3010

New preprint! #UExM for >200 microbial eukaryotes, all 1670 volumes available via FIJI/Mobie! Thank you to everyone that made it possible especially Armando and @hiralshah.bsky.social , @gautamdey.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social, and @dudinlab.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/PlanExM1

Oxford Nanopore LC2024 tech update albertvilella.substack.com/p/oxford-nan...

Happy Valentine’s Day nerds! ❤️🦠🔬🧫💻❤️

Happy Christmas, Have a great holiday season! 🎄

"We need to support those who have the necessary knowledge to isolate and culture protists from the environment and to train new generations of scientists who could find this field of research attractive...so they are ready to take over and lead the protist culturing renaissance." #ProtistsOnSky