Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · Jun 11

our new bioRxiv. Light-harvesting by antenna-containing xanthorhodopsin from an Antarctic cyanobacterium www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · 24d

Structural basis for color tuning and passive ion conductance in red-shifted pump-fold channelrhodopsin ChR024 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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INOUE lab. (ISSP, Univ. Tokyo) @labinoue.bsky.social · 24d

A preprint on a newly discovered long-wavelength-absorbing rhodopsin channel has been released. This molecule was identified based on machine-learning predictions that we have been developing with Prof. Ichiro Takeuchi’s group at Nagoya University🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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The Marine Biological Association @thembauk.bsky.social · 12h

Be part of our global network of students, scientists, and ocean advocates.

✅ Bulletin with news, events & opportunities
✅ [UK’s largest marine library
✅ Access to the JMBA
✅ Exclusive training, events & discounts

Find out more - mba.ac.uk/our-membership/

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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · 1d

#SymbioSky #MicroSky #ProtistsOnSky
the plot thickens 👇 as we all suspected and feared(?), organellogenesis is not straightforward, but rather, well,... a thicket ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Figure 7. Graphical representation of the key events that lead to plastid organellogenesis. Novel features identified in Sinophysis are highlighted below the well-studied features.
source: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.680570v1

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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · 2d

𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 fans take note 👇

"𝘗. 𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢 senses EPS trails using type IV pili and adhesins during biofilm formation"

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#MicroSky

figure from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02087-4

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Steve Haddock @stevehaddock.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks again for all your votes on #ctenophore orientation.

Although Option 2 won in a landslide, the mouth is actually on “top” in this photo, next to option 1.

These results strongly support my hypothesis— or more properly — fail to disprove my expectations.

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Steve Haddock @stevehaddock.bsky.social · 7d

For CTENOPHORE DAY, a little survey:
Which end of this fishing Pleurobrachia is the mouth on? Please just "vote" in the comments — no definitive answers. 🦑🧪🌊

P.S. this is one of my earliest #ctenophore photos, shot on film in a home-built kreisel.

P.P.S. Legit data-gathering for a future paper.

A spherical comb jelly floating against a dark background, with its tentacles deployed, tentilla (side branches) fanned out. There is a number 1 above the body and number 2 below the body. Photo by S. Haddock taken around 1990.

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Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 2d

Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 2d

SAR11 ecotypes across ocean basins change with depth due to changes in light and oxygen academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs 🌊

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Kaçar Lab at UW-Madison @kacarlab.bsky.social · 2d

Planetary microbiology explores how ancient microbial innovations reshaped our planet and continue to guide our search for life on Mars, Europa, and across the cosmos.

New editorial from the lab: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org

Planetary microbiology: microbes, planets, and the search for life | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Life on Earth has existed for nearly 4 billion years, and for most of that time, it was microbial (1). The diverse world we see around us today owes its entire existence to a few foundational events c...

journals.asm.org

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Julia Frunzke @frunzkelab.bsky.social · 7d

Just returning from a fantastic symposium celebrating my former postdoc mentor, Julia Vorholt, on receiving the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize! Huge congratulations to Julia — and to the Novo Nordisk Foundation on an outstanding choice!

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Asaf Levy @asaflevylab.bsky.social · 2d

Very well deserved prize for Prof. Vorholt, one of my favorite productive and humble scientists! and what a great meating it was!

Julia Frunzke @frunzkelab.bsky.social · 7d

Just returning from a fantastic symposium celebrating my former postdoc mentor, Julia Vorholt, on receiving the Novonesis Biotechnology Prize! Huge congratulations to Julia — and to the Novo Nordisk Foundation on an outstanding choice!

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 2d

Glad to share a collaboration with Yicen Lin's group at Kunming University of Science and Technology published in ISME Journal

Synergistic biodegradation of polyethylene by experimentally evolved bacterial biofilms
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

#MicrobiomeEcology at #LeidenBiology

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Fondation Tara Océan @fondationtaraocean.bsky.social · 2d

#Dérive test : marins, chercheurs et artiste vivent au rythme des #glaciers. Nuits agitées, #banquise qui se fracture, paysages qui se réinventent à chaque réveil. Plongez dans leurs récits ➡️polaire.https://fondationtaraocean.org/polaire/derive-test-banquise-tara-polar-station/

Dérive test de Tara Polar Station : 4 semaines dans la banquise

En juin 2025, Tara Polar Station a quitté Lorient pour rejoindre le grand Nord. Durant 4 semaines, elle a effectué une première courte dérive test au cœur de la banquise. Conçue comme une station pola...

fondationtaraocean.org

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Nature @nature.com · 2d

Analyses of RNA expression reveal molecules underpinning the cancer-associated process of skeletal-muscle wasting

go.nature.com/4gZI2Kh

Clues to why the weight-loss condition cachexia arises when cancer occurs

Analyses of RNA expression reveal molecules underpinning the cancer-associated process of skeletal-muscle wasting, a condition called cachexia.

go.nature.com

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BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · 2d

Gut microbiota–mediated lipid accumulation as a driver of evolutionary adaptation to blue light toxicity in Drosophila www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Gut microbiota–mediated lipid accumulation as a driver of evolutionary adaptation to blue light toxicity in Drosophila - Communications Biology

Laboratory selection for tolerance to blue light toxicity in Drosophila revealed that gut microbiota–mediated obesity, marked by midgut elongation and increased beneficial bacteria, is a key evolutionary adaptation.

www.nature.com

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Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations @kranzuschlab.bsky.social ! So well deserved. And a great reason to re-read the many many incredible papers that completely changed our perspective on bacterial and eukaryotic immunity.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute @danafarber.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to Philip J. Kranzusch, Ph.D., Professor of Cancer Immunology and Virology, who was one of three scientists awarded top honors at the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.

Watch to learn more about his work: bit.ly/4pZUDkF

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BejaLab @bejalab.bsky.social · Nov 13

Oceanic photosynthesis is directly affected by cyanophage NblA proteins www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Tominaga K. (tomiken) @pacyc184.bsky.social · 3d

Phage lysis protein LysM acts as a wedge to block MurJ conformational changes | Science Advances https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.ady8083?af=R

Phage lysis protein LysM acts as a wedge to block MurJ conformational changes

Structural analysis reveals how a phage protein blocks a lipid II flippase to prevent bacterial cell wall synthesis.

www.science.org

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Jörg Vogel @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social · 3d

Two group leader positions available in the broader areas of RNA science, RNA technologies, and RNA medicine. Attractive packages and a great environment. Come and join us at Helmholtz RNA Würzburg, Bavaria.

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Roni Odai @rodai.bsky.social · 9d

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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Cathy Hernandez @cathyhernandez.bsky.social · 3d

Very happy to share that I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina in January! My group will be working on environmental phage ecology and evolution, and I am recruiting for the upcoming year (more info below).

A graphic advertising phage ecology and evolution research at the University of South Carolina, showing a central image of a tide pool flanked by a photo of an agar plate containing diverse microbes and a TEM image of a virus particle.

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Asaf Levy @asaflevylab.bsky.social · 3d

This is hilarious for Nobel week.
The headstones of two late Yale chemists who shared the department at the same period.
One has his CV written on the headstones
The other: Nobel Laureate etc.

And the funny story about Onsager's son adding "* ETC" after many years:
freakonomics.com/2009/09/etc-...

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Ashley Sullivan @aesully98.bsky.social · 8d

A little late to the Panoptes party, but I’m delighted to share that our paper is published! 👁️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature

The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

www.nature.com

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