Asgard #archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors?
New review (also for newcomers to the field!) by Christa Schleper and Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
🧵 1/10 New paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com from my postdoc at @mib-wur.bsky.social! 🎉
How eukaryote-like was the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes? Sequence searches alone can't tell us — so we used protein structure prediction to look deeper. 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fun new paper out today - a collaboration led by @stephkoe.bsky.social and @ettema.bsky.social found lots of new Euk-like proteins in Asgard Archaea
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
Justice sure took a long while…
apnews.com/article/henr...
We are excited to be recruiting a new tenure track group leader in the Structural Studies Division at MRC LMB! It is an amazing place to start your own lab.
@mrclmb.bsky.social
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Congrats @thibautbrunet.bsky.social!!
Convergent MurJ flippase inhibition by phage lysis proteins www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@embl.org at its best: collaborative, open, transformative, and just the right amount of crazy. Dreaming of mechanistic cell biology *in the natural environment*? Dream no more, rent the AML.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jepb...
#WeFreezeOnTheBeach #ProtistsOnSky 🦠🌍🧪
Our department at Genentech is hiring. We're looking for a freshly-minted PhD (0-3 years) protein biochemist / structural biologist to join as a Sr Scientist. A rare opportunity to join our group leader job family at a more junior level than we usually hire.
Job opening for Research Group Leader in Structural Studies at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, focusing on macromolecular structures.
Are you a structural biologist pushing the boundaries of molecular science with an ambitious research programme?
Join our Structural Studies Division as a tenure-track Group Leader, with core funding, world-leading facilities & enthusiastic colleagues.
Apply by 16 MAR
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan Löwe, @danieltamarit.bsky.social and many others we discovered and characterized several Asgard tubulin genes and propose that microtubule architecture and dynamics evolved in Asgard archaea prior to eukaryogenesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A distinct class of conjugative megaplasmids includes potential vehicles for prophage dissemination https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.21.707213v1
Since last year, I've been making a RELION GUI that supports viewing, navigating and running jobs in a way completely compatible with the original RELION pipeline. Now it's working nicely for both SPA and tomography! Please try it out - github.com/hanjinliu/hi...
#NatMicroPicks
Aerobic archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor? 🦠🫁
The ancestor of eukaryotes may have combined hydrogen metabolism with aerobic respiration, shaping early cellular complexity.
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Open Postdoc position in our lab!
#actin #Huntingtin #cryoET #cellbio
If you enjoy working at the interface of cell biology, structural biology, and quantitative imaging, this could be an excellent fit.
ista.ac.at/en/job/postd...
Please share and feel free to reach out if there are questions!
New paper from my group in @science.org : "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complementary strand" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Outstanding work by @edogia.bsky.social
The ISME20 abstract submission deadline has been extended to 22 February. Microbial ecologists worldwide are invited to submit abstracts for oral, short talk, or poster presentations and contribute to the ISME20 programme.
isme-microbes.org/isme20-abstr...
#ISME20 #MicrobialEcology
Contractile Injection Systems - Hot Springs - cryoET: Read the final version of our paper here:
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
#microsky #teamtomo
Proud and excited to share our work with the community! Helen @helenfoster.bsky.social Foster et al. study how #cilia axonemes are built. 👀 Don't miss the gorgeous and insightful movies by @margotriggi.bsky.social, they really show our discoveries in full action!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Honored to be a finalist for the 2026 Blavanik Awards in the UK in Life Sciences. I’m grateful to past and present lab members, collaborators, colleagues and mentors, who made it possible. It’s even better to share this from
Vietnam while celebrating the Tet holidays with family.
Long in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome!
Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins.
bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG
This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected!
1/n 🧵
We’re hiring: Research Group Leader in computational biology.
Are you generating more research ideas than you can explore? Lead cutting-edge AI & biology research at EMBL-EBI.
Apply by 11 April 2026: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
#ScienceCareers @ewaldlab.org @embl.org
Postdoc position on Asgard archaea in Thiago’s new lab for someone well trained in biochemistry, cloning, and protein purification:
international.au.dk/about/profil...
Preprint on the permeability of Gram+ bacterial cell wall from a few months ago. Intriguing findings, elegant methodology. Cell wall is largely impermeable to molecule sizes of mNeonGreen (27kDa) and above. How do larger secreted proteins get through? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky
Up to 15-fold improvement in protein labeling for DNA-PAINT 🧬🔬. We are excited to present our latest work published in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Extremophile alert!
Registration is OPEN for the 2026 EMBO Archaeal workshop in Cambridge.
Spaces are limited, so register soon with an abstract if you’d like to give a talk.
If you can’t come in person, we are welcoming virtual attendees. So join us online where all talks will be screened!
🌀 How do spirochete bacteria swim through thick fluids like champions?
We solved T. denticola flagella structure - asymmetric proteins expand one side, compress the other for perfect corkscrew motion!
@debnathghosal.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.64898/202...
#StructuralBiology #CryoEM #Microbiology
Growth of methanogenic culture under different stress conditions
New preprint: “Proteomic stress response by a novel methanogen enriched from the Great Salt Lake”, first author William Christian. TLDR: we enriched a novel, euryarchaeotal, methyl-dismutating methanogen that grows at 16% salinity. biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.29.702513v2 🧵 🦠 #microsky
