Pierre Gladieux

Predictors of protein evolution in the drosophilid immune system Abstract. The evolutionary dynamics of immune genes are shaped by diverse selective pressures, yet the relative roles of gene-level traits, functional spec

Predictors of protein evolution in the drosophilid immune system url: academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

#Drosohila #Immunity #fly #Evolution #Geneturnover #AdaptiveEvolution #Predictors #OrthologousGeneFamilies

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)

Genomic analyses in Drosophila do not support the classic allopatric model of speciation Abstract. The allopatric model of speciation has dominated our understanding of speciation biology and biogeography since the Modern Synthesis. It is uncon

Is speciation usually allopatric? Genomic analyses of 93 Drosophila species pairs show that gene flow during divergence is common—even among allopatric species—challenging the classic allopatric model of speciation. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

This is a beautiful paper examining the molecular genetics of facultative multicellularity in a marine black yeast.

I also love that they figure out the ecological context for the behavior (MC form when in sponges, where there are nutrients, & uni when starving!).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A must read for conservation geneticists on the utility (or not??) of using molecular diversity to predict adaptive potential 👇🏻

Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...

NLR-like immunity in bacteria

A new study from the Alex Gao lab. The scope of this work is incredible!!!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bacterial immune systems as causes and consequences of microbiome structure Bacterial immune systems have evolved in response to diverse molecular "parasites", yet their ecological roles remain poorly understood. This Essay explores how interactions between mobile genetic ele...

Very happy to see this piece out in @plosbiology.org, on the bacterial immune systems and microbial communities. It was a great team effort with Rafael Custodio, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social , @brownlab.bsky.social, and Edze Westra! 🦠🧫 #phagesky #mevosky

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Seeking a postdoc position?
​Balancing selection is a fascinating process: malaria resistance, self-incompatibility,etc. Yet, countless examples remain hidden in genomes!
​If this question intrigues you, the project led by Laure Segurel and Violaine Llaurens (Paris + Lyon) is perfect! urlr.me/Huj2De

An eco-evolutionary feedback loop promoting diversity. Ecological diversification is common in complex landscapes composed of multiple ecosystems connected by dispersal (e.g., fish radiations across multiple lakes or bird radiations across island archipelagos). After colonization of a novel environment, local adaptation in life history results in stronger intraspecific competition, which, in the presence of ecological opportunity, induces disruptive selection. As a consequence, ecological diversification driven by niche specialization occurs, increasing phenotypic diversity within populations or species diversity in case barriers to gene flow evolve. In either case, functional diversity is enhanced, which, in turn, can positively influence dispersal and thereby the rate of colonization of novel environments. Although our model does not explicitly incorporate spatial structure, the evolutionary trajectories are assumed to begin from a colonization event, which is implicitly linked to dispersal across the landscape.

When colonizing a new habitat, organisms adapt to maximize their reproductive success via #LifeHistory #evolution. @ecoevodevolab.bsky.social @cbank.bsky.social show that life history evolution facilitates niche diversification across a range of theoretical models @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4p7YT0a

Revisiting the evidence for long-lived balancing selection in humans. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687682v1

Genomic traits associated with pathogenicity.

Lifestyles shape genome size and gene content in fungal pathogens.
buff.ly/tec1Tds

Plant–plant interactions in wheat mixtures modulate mean and variance of susceptibility to Septoria tritici blotch Wheat varietal mixtures modulate the mean and variance of Septoria tritici blotch disease symptoms through specific plant–plant interactions, with mixtures

Thrilled to share that the first chapter of my PhD thesis has just been published!

Our study shows that interactions between wheat varieties can modulate both the mean and variance of susceptibility to Septoria tritici blotch. 🌱↔️🌱

📖 Read the full article here:
doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

invasive Datura ?

Tracking the evolutionary trajectory of a young hybrid plant pathogen A common mechanism by which emerging plant pathogens gain the ability to infect new hosts is hybridization. Despite its widespread occurrence, the outcomes of hybridization remain largely unpredictabl...

Tracking the evolutionary trajectory of a young hybrid plant pathogen. New preprint on how triticale powdery mildew evolved in the ~25 years since its emergence. Congrats to @jigisha1.bsky.social and all coauthors! doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A research team led by the @leibnizipk.bsky.social has revealed that modern barley has a “mosaic origin”, meaning it stems from several wild populations across the Fertile Crescent. The findings were published in @nature.com.

➡️Paper: tinyurl.com/ytzyn4re
➡️PR: tinyurl.com/5e2v7cp5

Viral effectors trigger innate immunity across the tree of life | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Viruses are ubiquitous biological entities that exert immense selective pressures on their hosts, driving the evolution of diverse innate immune mechanisms across all domains of life. While innate imm...

Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) indirectly detects pathogen effector activity on the host cell.

Kevin Barthes,Tanita Wein and I examine how prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses deploy similar effectors that activate ETI, underscoring its central role across the tree of life.

tinyurl.com/mr3a3xh2

Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection Bacterial defense systems present considerable barriers to both phage infection and plasmid transformation. These systems target mobile genetic elements, limiting the efficacy of bacteriophage-based t...

Preprint: De-novo design of proteins that inhibit bacterial defenses

Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications

Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵

Preprint: “Structural modeling reveals viral proteins that manipulate host immune signaling”

Using AI-guided structural modeling, we find new families of viral proteins that sequester or cleave host immune signaling molecules

Congrats Nitzan Tal!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Identifying phage proteins that activate the bacterial innate immune system Bacteria have evolved sophisticated antiphage systems that halt phage replication upon detecting specific phage triggers. Identifying phage triggers is crucial to our understanding of immune signaling...

#phagesky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Functional amyloid proteins confer defence against predatory bacteria Nature - Escherichia coli uses curli fibres, oligomers of the functional amyloid CsgA, as a barrier to protect against the predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Myxococcus xanthus in a...

Words cannot describe how excited I am to share the findings from the second half of my postdoc in @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social's lab where we discover that bacteria use functional amyloids to defend themselves from predatory bacteria. rdcu.be/euu5Y. See thread for details on this epic adventure 1/.

I enjoyed Carl Bergstrom's @carlbergstrom.com talk today @unswbabs.bsky.social on the current 'Peer review meltdown' phenomenon. Misery loves company, so I was glad to find out I'm not the only editor struggling to find reviewers. Carl et al. have narrow it down to a few factors including ->

Our structural core gene pipeline Unicode is now published at GBE
📄 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Please also check out @dongwookkim.bsky.social’s
🧵 bsky.app/profile/dong...

Repeated loss of function at HD mating-type genes and of recombination in anther-smut fungi - Nature Communications Basidiomycete fungi typically have two mating-type loci located on different chromosomes. Here, Lucotte et al. report the convergent loss-of-function of mating-type genes across several species of phy...

Our new paper is out!
We observed a loss of function in mating compatibility for HD genes for the first time in basidiomycete fungi, and new evolutionary strata in the absence of sexually antagonistic selection!
@tatianagiraud.bsky.social
More details here 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Population genomics and molecular epidemiology of wheat powdery mildew in Europe Agricultural diseases are a major threat to sustainable food production. This study of wheat powdery mildew, a disease caused by the fungus Blumeria graminis, shows that the population structure can b...

Very happy to see our paper online: "Population genomics and molecular epidemiology of wheat powdery mildew in Europe". Congrats to @jigisha1.bsky.social and all coauthors! doi.org/10.1371/jour...

I am delighted to share our latest review on the processes involved in disease control within varietal mixtures.
To read the article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

La pomme, reine des vergers et des pesticides Afin de lutter contre la maladie de la tavelure, les pommiers sont les cultures les plus traitées en France. Comment réduire cette dépendance aux traitements ?

Nous avons publié une présentation de Venturia inaequalis, le champignon responsable de la tavelure du pommier, ainsi que de son impact sur la production de pommes. Découvrez les enjeux de cette maladie et les défis qu'elle pose pour la filière arboricole ! 🍏🌿

theconversation.com/la-pomme-rei...

Structure‐guided insights into the biology of fungal effectors Phytopathogenic fungi cause enormous yield losses in many crops, threatening both agricultural production and global food security. To infect plants, they secrete effectors targeting various cellular...

Structure-guided insights into the biology of fungal effectors

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Coexistence Theory for Microbial Ecology, and Vice Versa Classical models from theoretical ecology are seeing increasing uptake in microbial ecology, but there remains rich potential for closer cross-pollination. Here we explore opportunities for stronger ....

In our new paper we discuss how modern coexistence theory can help microbial ecologists tackle fundamental & applied questions, and how microbial systems can help to push coexistence theory forward! With Andrew Letten and Dave Armitage (@darmitage.bsky.social). doi.org/10.1111/1462...

Schematic of our transposon screen

Three 2025 papers (so far). First: we used transposons to disrupt most genes of the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium knowlesi, revealing the essential genes for survival, either in general or under antimalarial drugs, providing clues to how parasites can be killed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reprogrammable RNA-targeting CRISPR systems evolved from RNA toxin-antitoxins Hybrid structure-sequence mining and biochemical/structural characterization trace the evolutionary origins of CRISPR-Cas13, elucidating how their RNA-guided mechanism likely evolved from an ancient scaffold comprising an RNase toxin and an ncRNA…

Now online! Reprogrammable RNA-targeting CRISPR systems evolved from RNA toxin-antitoxins