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Alejandro Manzano Marín

@amanzanom.bsky.social

1.8K followers 440 following 270 posts

Senior Scientist 👨🏽‍🔬 @dome-vienna.bsky.social, @univie.ac.at 🇲🇽🇪🇺(🇦🇹🇫🇷🇪🇸) Symbionts, bacteria, insects, leeches, viruses, bioinformatics, evolution, genomics. Opinions are my very own. #SymbioSky https://besymblab.univie.ac.at/ https://ecoevo.social/@amanzanom

besymblab.univie.ac.at

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · Apr 22

After many years in the making (and an eternal cycle of adding new data....) our work on the discordance among phylogenomic datasets in #aphids is out!

@dome-vienna.bsky.social @inrae-france.bsky.social 🧪 #EvolSky

doi.org/10.1101/2024...

Phylogenetic trees displaying incongruence between reconstructions based on aphid and endosymbiotic bacteriasequences

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

MEEhubs @meehubs.bsky.social · 5d

We’re back! ✨ The next #MeeHubs26 is coming with 7 hubs across the globe and incredible lineups at each. Can’t wait to share more soon! meehubs.org

Home

meehubs.org

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Roni Odai @rodai.bsky.social · 10d

Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances

~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers

Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses

New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered

Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Viral AlphaFold Database of monomers and homodimers reveals conserved protein folds in viruses of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes

VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Jack Tamisiea @jack-tamisiea.bsky.social · 10d

437 million years ago in what is now Wisconsin, the earliest known leeches were terrorizing trilobites. Instead of sucking blood, these critters were likely engulfing invertebrates whole or vacuuming out their insides!

Latest for @nytimes.com on a fantastic #fossil: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/s...

This Leech Had an Appetite for Something Other Than Blood

www.nytimes.com

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 12d

Can't be that intense, but trying to cover some of these often overlooked entities when talking about virus ecology and evolution (the thematic of the course) with further reading for those that want to dig deeper into these cool viruses...

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 12d

Great! I have all three, thanks!

Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Tami Lieberman @contaminatedsci.bsky.social · 12d

Precisely calling mutations across hundreds of bacterial isolates has been hard, requiring manual filtering and expertise.

Until now, using AccuSNV.

Herui Liao trained an ML model based on our previous meticulously called SNVs.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

High-accuracy SNV calling for bacterial isolates using deep learning with AccuSNV

Accurate detection of mutations within bacterial species is critical for fundamental studies of microbial evolution, reconstructing transmission events, and identifying antimicrobial resistance mutati...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Peer Community Journal @peercomjournal.bsky.social · 13d

Last Friday, we published the 500th article of Peer Community Journal! 🥳

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 13d

I think I have it covered, but have a feeling I am missing a recent work on the former..... can't seem to remember the citation... or maybe I'm making it up in my head.... Thanks for any pointers here

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 13d

Hey #SymbioSky! (@symbionticism.bsky.social, @amelialindsey.bsky.social, @shropshirejd.bsky.social???)

I'm preparing material for a lecture on phages of beneficial endosymbionts. Looking for an up-to-date review on #phageWO and/or #Wolbachia....

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 23d

#Symbionts with eroded genomes adjust gene expression according to host life-stage and environment

#SymbioSky

@kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Symbionts with eroded genomes adjust gene expression according to host life-stage and environment | EMBO reports

imageimageThe symbionts of Donaciinae, despite having severely eroded genomes of around 0.5 Mbp, exhibit specific transcriptional responses that allow them to react to changes both within and across h...

doi.org

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 23d

Evolution and comparative #genomics of #tick- #associated Francisella #endosymbionts: insights into metabolic pathways and historical biogeographic patterns

#SymbioSky

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Evolution and comparative genomics of tick-associated Francisella endosymbionts: insights into metabolic pathways and historical biogeographic patterns

Ticks (Ixodida) are the second most important vectors of infectious diseases in vertebrates, after mosquitoes. They also maintain mutualistic relationships with bacteria, such as endosymbionts that pr...

doi.org

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 23d

The facultative intracellular #symbiont #Lariskella is neutral for lifetime fitness and spreads through #cytoplasmicIncompatibility in the leaffooted bug, Leptoglossus zonatus

#SymbioSky

doi.org/10.3389/fmic...

Frontiers | The facultative intracellular symbiont Lariskella is neutral for lifetime fitness and spreads through cytoplasmic incompatibility in the leaffooted bug, Leptoglossus zonatus

The maternally-inherited, intracellular bacterium Lariskella (Alphaproteobacteria: Midichloreaceae) has been widely detected in arthropods including true bug...

doi.org

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 23d

Diversity and spread of #cytoplasmicIncompatibility genes among maternally inherited #symbionts

#SymbioSky

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Diversity and spread of cytoplasmic incompatibility genes among maternally inherited symbionts

Author summary Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a reproductive strategy used by certain bacteria to promote their spread within arthropod populations. These bacteria, inherited through the mother, ...

doi.org

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 24d

Reposting for #SymbioSky

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 25d

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

A host organelle (in sea slugs) integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

www.cell.com

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 24d

reposting for #giantVirus feed

Andrian Gajigan @adi-gajigan.bsky.social · 25d

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail
nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63463-6

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail - Nature Communications

Rodrigues and Queiroz et al. report the discovery of Naiavirus, the largest enveloped virus, isolated from a Brazil biome. With an oval capsid and flexible tail, its giant genome holds many novel gene...

nature.com

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · 27d

Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant #symbiont, #Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae)

@ngerardo.bsky.social & many others I wouldn't find here....

#SymbioSky #MicroSky #EvolSky

doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant symbiont, Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae) - Communications Biology

Comprehensive analysis of Escovopsis fungi across the Americas traces its evolution, distribution, and adaptations, providing insights into their complex symbiotic relationship with ants.

doi.org

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Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · Sep 11

On the topic of new additions to the lab, Pegah (@pegah-kalatehjari.bsky.social) joined the group last month. She will delve into symbiont transmission in #leeches working under the #SymBirth_FWF1k project (doi.org/10.55776/TAI...). Exciting times ahead!

#SymbioSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · Sep 11

#Hirudo orientalis made it to the lab: an exciting new symbiotic system!

Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Aileen Berasategui @berasymbionts.bsky.social · Sep 8

🚨 Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (📅 March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards.
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky 🦠

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

www.embl.org

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Rob Waterhouse @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · Sep 6

Molecular evolution of dietary shifts in ladybirds 🐞 expansions of digestive & detoxifying #gene families in the herbivorous ladybirds, & absence of most plant cell wall-degrading enzymes in the ladybirds from the transition to carnivory link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Molecular evolution of dietary shifts in ladybird beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): from fungivory to carnivory and herbivory - BMC Biology

Background Dietary shifts are major evolutionary steps that shape ecological niches and biodiversity. The beetle family Coccinellidae, commonly known as ladybirds, first transitioned from a fungivorou...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Alejandro Manzano Marín

Piotr Lukasik @sympiotr.bsky.social · Aug 28

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