L. Felipe Benites
@lfelipeb.bsky.social
Postdoc at @Beyond_ASU | Gardener and Evolutionary Biologist | Astrobiology | Virus evolution | Children's book author | Experimental musician | Brasileiro.
https://lfbenites.com/
https://lfbenites.com/
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Strain-level diversity of #giantViruses infecting #chlorarachniophyte #algae in the subtropical North Pacific
by @fischerlab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
by @fischerlab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Strain-level diversity of giant viruses infecting chlorarachniophyte algae in the subtropical North Pacific
Giant DNA viruses are ubiquitous among unicellular eukaryotes and occur in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Despite intense metagenomic data mining, their strain-level diversity remai...
doi.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Strain-level diversity of #giantViruses infecting #chlorarachniophyte #algae in the subtropical North Pacific
by @fischerlab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
by @fischerlab.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Time to start planning for ASM Microbe 2026! Among the amazing sessions announced (see link), Chris and I are thrilled to be convening “From the Rhizosphere to Pollinators: Studying Agricultural Microbiomes Across Biological Scales”. We can’t wait to see you all there! More details coming soon!
Some fantastic sessions being planned for ASM Microbe 2026, including "Long-term Dynamics of Environmental Microbiomes", and "Eco-evolutionary Dynamics of Phages and Their Roles in Horizontal Gene Transfer". Get your abstract(s) ready, and join us June 4–7, 2026 in D.C. ! asm.org/events/asm-m...
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Time to start planning for ASM Microbe 2026! Among the amazing sessions announced (see link), Chris and I are thrilled to be convening “From the Rhizosphere to Pollinators: Studying Agricultural Microbiomes Across Biological Scales”. We can’t wait to see you all there! More details coming soon!
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
We have a new paper out, led by my PhD student Linda! Ni and Cu are common co-occurring contaminants. They are also synergistic in their toxicity. We examined the mechanisms of this synergism, finding that sulfur assimilation and Fe-S cluster biogenesis are targets.
We have a new paper out, led by my PhD student Linda! Ni and Cu are common co-occurring contaminants. They are also synergistic in their toxicity. We examined the mechanisms of this synergism, finding that sulfur assimilation and Fe-S cluster biogenesis are targets.
The molecular basis of the synergistic toxicity of nickel and copper, common environmental co-contaminants | Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Many environments are contaminated by metals. These metals are toxic to the microorganisms
that inhabit these environments and carry out important ecosystem services. While
much is known about bacteri...
journals.asm.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:24 PM
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
We have a new paper out, led by my PhD student Linda! Ni and Cu are common co-occurring contaminants. They are also synergistic in their toxicity. We examined the mechanisms of this synergism, finding that sulfur assimilation and Fe-S cluster biogenesis are targets.
We have a new paper out, led by my PhD student Linda! Ni and Cu are common co-occurring contaminants. They are also synergistic in their toxicity. We examined the mechanisms of this synergism, finding that sulfur assimilation and Fe-S cluster biogenesis are targets.
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine
Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...
www.science.org
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
New paper out: An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
14 years since we lost Lynn Margulis (November 22, 2011). Still can’t believe she’s gone.
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
November 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
14 years since we lost Lynn Margulis (November 22, 2011). Still can’t believe she’s gone.
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
A giant of biology, through her co-creation of the Gaia Hypothesis, & her endosymbiotic theory, she changed the way we see life, evolution, our planet, ourselves. I feel so privileged to have known her.
🧪
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Deadlline is soon!! Please repost!!
The School of Ocean Futures of ASU (where I am faculty) has two Presidential Graduate Assistantship fellowships for new PhD students to ensure ASU's inclusivity charter.
Students from underrepresented groups are encouraged to contact the faculty at SOF for potential synergies!
tinyurl.com/yjnvd25b
Students from underrepresented groups are encouraged to contact the faculty at SOF for potential synergies!
tinyurl.com/yjnvd25b
Presidential Graduate Assistantship Program | Office of the University Provost | ASU
provost.asu.edu
November 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Deadlline is soon!! Please repost!!
Look how beautiful is this capture by Enric Madrenas! The sea slug Elysia timida and its food and chloroplast source Acetabularia, a giant single celled algae. This sea slug can steal plastids from the algae and become a photosynthetic animal:
opistobranquis.info/en/guia/saco...
opistobranquis.info/en/guia/saco...
elysia-timida-12
Visit the post for more.
opistobranquis.info
November 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Look how beautiful is this capture by Enric Madrenas! The sea slug Elysia timida and its food and chloroplast source Acetabularia, a giant single celled algae. This sea slug can steal plastids from the algae and become a photosynthetic animal:
opistobranquis.info/en/guia/saco...
opistobranquis.info/en/guia/saco...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
The Europlanet Ireland & UK Hub is pleased to open a travel award call for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to attend a conference, meeting, or other event pertinent to their planetary science research in 2025. Please submit applications here: www.europlanet.org/ireland-uk-h... #Astrobiology
November 21, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The Europlanet Ireland & UK Hub is pleased to open a travel award call for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to attend a conference, meeting, or other event pertinent to their planetary science research in 2025. Please submit applications here: www.europlanet.org/ireland-uk-h... #Astrobiology
Our session on symbiosis and biointeractions for the #Astrobiology meeting #AbSciCon26 was accepted! Please share widely and submit your abstract by 14 of January 2026; Let's put more biology into Astrobiology!
agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon...
agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon...
November 21, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Our session on symbiosis and biointeractions for the #Astrobiology meeting #AbSciCon26 was accepted! Please share widely and submit your abstract by 14 of January 2026; Let's put more biology into Astrobiology!
agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon...
agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
The call for applications for 2026 European Advanced School in Philosophy of Life Sciences is now open! Deadline 15 Jan 2026, theme will be “philosophy of biology for a healthy planet”, all info here: www.kli.ac.at/en/events/ev... graduate students &early postdocs, do consider joining us! #philsci
Events | Event Calendar | Discover The KLI
The Konrad Lorenz Institute provides a stimulating and creative environment for fellows, visiting scholars, students, and external faculty.
www.kli.ac.at
November 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The call for applications for 2026 European Advanced School in Philosophy of Life Sciences is now open! Deadline 15 Jan 2026, theme will be “philosophy of biology for a healthy planet”, all info here: www.kli.ac.at/en/events/ev... graduate students &early postdocs, do consider joining us! #philsci
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2025, at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:
"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"
in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos.
#bayarea 🧪
"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"
in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos.
#bayarea 🧪
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM
On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2025, at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:
"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"
in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos.
#bayarea 🧪
"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"
in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos.
#bayarea 🧪
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
🚨vConTACT3 preprint live!🚨(Peer Review soon...!)
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
Scalable and systematic hierarchical virus taxonomy with vConTACT3
Viruses are key players in diverse ecosystems, but studying their impacts is technically and taxonomically challenging. Taxonomic complexities derive from undersampling, diverse DNA and RNA genomes wi...
doi.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
🚨vConTACT3 preprint live!🚨(Peer Review soon...!)
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Enjoying Portland’s fall moss before #EntSoc2025! Join me Sunday (8–8:20 AM, Room B114) for my talk on how space and species shape stingless bee colony microbiomes — part of the symposium 'Inside and Out: Roles of Environmental and Gut Symbioses' with lots of great talks!
November 7, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Enjoying Portland’s fall moss before #EntSoc2025! Join me Sunday (8–8:20 AM, Room B114) for my talk on how space and species shape stingless bee colony microbiomes — part of the symposium 'Inside and Out: Roles of Environmental and Gut Symbioses' with lots of great talks!
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
NYC and adjacent friends: I'm thrilled and terrified to be giving a public lecture in Manhattan at 6pm on Wednesday, 19 November. If you feel like coming into the city* for the evening, I'd love to see you there!
*Yes, NYC = "the city" for Jersey girls.
www.simonsfoundation.org/event/trade-...
*Yes, NYC = "the city" for Jersey girls.
www.simonsfoundation.org/event/trade-...
Trade, Borrow, or Steal: How Acquired Metabolism Drives Evolution
Trade, Borrow, or Steal: How Acquired Metabolism Drives Evolution on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
November 3, 2025 at 1:34 AM
NYC and adjacent friends: I'm thrilled and terrified to be giving a public lecture in Manhattan at 6pm on Wednesday, 19 November. If you feel like coming into the city* for the evening, I'd love to see you there!
*Yes, NYC = "the city" for Jersey girls.
www.simonsfoundation.org/event/trade-...
*Yes, NYC = "the city" for Jersey girls.
www.simonsfoundation.org/event/trade-...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
November 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Can proteins fold and function with half of the amino acid alphabet?
Using only 10 residues, we designed stable, mutation-resilient structures—no aromatics or basics involved.
A minimalist foundation for ancient biology and synthetic design. tinyurl.com/37t8br4v
#ProteinDesign #OriginsOfLife
Using only 10 residues, we designed stable, mutation-resilient structures—no aromatics or basics involved.
A minimalist foundation for ancient biology and synthetic design. tinyurl.com/37t8br4v
#ProteinDesign #OriginsOfLife
Ancient amino acid sets enable stable protein folds
Early proteins likely arose from a chemically limited set of amino acids available through prebiotic chemistry, raising a central question in molecular evolution: could such primitive compositions yie...
tinyurl.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Can proteins fold and function with half of the amino acid alphabet?
Using only 10 residues, we designed stable, mutation-resilient structures—no aromatics or basics involved.
A minimalist foundation for ancient biology and synthetic design. tinyurl.com/37t8br4v
#ProteinDesign #OriginsOfLife
Using only 10 residues, we designed stable, mutation-resilient structures—no aromatics or basics involved.
A minimalist foundation for ancient biology and synthetic design. tinyurl.com/37t8br4v
#ProteinDesign #OriginsOfLife
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Our lab website is up!
gonzalezpech-lab.com
gonzalezpech-lab.com
The Microbial Symbiosis Laboratory @TXST
gonzalezpech-lab.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Our lab website is up!
gonzalezpech-lab.com
gonzalezpech-lab.com
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Hi folks! Is anyone recruiting masters students that pay a livable stipend? I have an excellent senior who is an incredible researcher and seeking a position. She is top notch and really interested in mechanistic questions- currently working on Aiptasia, Astrangia and Nematostella.
October 21, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Hi folks! Is anyone recruiting masters students that pay a livable stipend? I have an excellent senior who is an incredible researcher and seeking a position. She is top notch and really interested in mechanistic questions- currently working on Aiptasia, Astrangia and Nematostella.
Here’s my #protist pico tank in the office. It’s home to Laurencia, Codium, Lobophora, Heterosiphonia, Valonia, and my favorite of all, the giant single-celled Acetabularia, also known as the Mermaid’s Wine Glass.
October 17, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Here’s my #protist pico tank in the office. It’s home to Laurencia, Codium, Lobophora, Heterosiphonia, Valonia, and my favorite of all, the giant single-celled Acetabularia, also known as the Mermaid’s Wine Glass.
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
If you are planning to attend GSA Connects 2025 by
@geosociety.bsky.social next week, stop by the 'New Advances in Geobiology' session!
I will be talking about the evolution of skeletons as revealed by fossil biomolecules and biosignatures 🔬🧪🧬! #paleontology #fossils #astrobiology
@geosociety.bsky.social next week, stop by the 'New Advances in Geobiology' session!
I will be talking about the evolution of skeletons as revealed by fossil biomolecules and biosignatures 🔬🧪🧬! #paleontology #fossils #astrobiology
October 17, 2025 at 8:27 PM
If you are planning to attend GSA Connects 2025 by
@geosociety.bsky.social next week, stop by the 'New Advances in Geobiology' session!
I will be talking about the evolution of skeletons as revealed by fossil biomolecules and biosignatures 🔬🧪🧬! #paleontology #fossils #astrobiology
@geosociety.bsky.social next week, stop by the 'New Advances in Geobiology' session!
I will be talking about the evolution of skeletons as revealed by fossil biomolecules and biosignatures 🔬🧪🧬! #paleontology #fossils #astrobiology
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Our work on viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their DPANN symbionts is out today in Nature Microbiology!
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their nanosized DPANN symbionts reveal intricate nested interactions - Nature Microbiology
An exploration of the viromes of haloarchaea and their ultra-small DPANN symbionts reveals plasmid-derived satellites of viruses from both archaeal groups, highlighting the complexity of nested symbio...
www.nature.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Our work on viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their DPANN symbionts is out today in Nature Microbiology!
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by L. Felipe Benites
We have recently shown the large potential of organellar genome-resolved metagenomics by assembling 100s of new marine plastid MAGs (ptMAGs), including revealing the new deep-branching algal group leptophytes: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life
Marine algae support the entire ocean ecosystem and greatly impact planetary biology. The availability of algae in culture poorly represents their large environmental diversity, and we still have a li...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:33 AM
We have recently shown the large potential of organellar genome-resolved metagenomics by assembling 100s of new marine plastid MAGs (ptMAGs), including revealing the new deep-branching algal group leptophytes: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...