Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Miguel Gómez-Raya

Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 1d

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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Erin Doherty @erinedoherty.bsky.social · 9d

Now online at @nature.com we show how the Panoptes defense system protects against viruses that attempt immune evasion - and expands our understanding of the role of oligonucleotides in immunity.

Check out this work co-led with @benadler.bsky.social here:

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

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature

Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

www.nature.com

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François Mayer @francoismayer.bsky.social · 9d

Our October issue is out now!

The images are negatively stained electron micrographs taken from archaella bundles isolated from the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.

Check the issue out here:
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

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Ben Morehouse @benmorehouse.bsky.social · 9d

Our story describing the Panoptes bacterial immune defense system is now finally peer-reviewed and published today! 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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cemess_vienna @cemess.bsky.social · 18d

Who fixes carbon in the dark ocean? A new study in @nature.com, led by @barbarabayer.bsky.social @univie.ac.at shows that ammonia‐oxidizing microbes contribute much less to dark carbon fixation than previously thought – leaving room for unknown players.
Read more: 🔗 dome.univie.ac.at/news-events/...

Who fixes carbon in the dark ocean?

A new study led by Barbara Bayer (CeMESS, University of Vienna) discovered that ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms contribute much less to carbon fixation in the ocean than previously assumed. The study...

dome.univie.ac.at

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Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 16d

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Martial Marbouty @mmarbout.bsky.social · 22d

You like phages ? In this publication, we use metaHiC and our new version of the MetaTOR pipeline to challenge the traditional view of phages with a narrow host range.
@rkoszul.bsky.social @natmicrobiol.nature.com @cnrs.fr @institutpasteur.bsky.social

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

Phages with a broad host range are common across ecosystems - Nature Microbiology

Proximity-ligation-based sequencing from 111 samples and 5 environments reveals that a substantial proportion of phages infect multiple species.

www.nature.com

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Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · 23d

#NewResearch

Structure of a functional archaellum in Bacteria of the Chloroflexota phylum

@archaellum.bsky.social @sgribaldo.bsky.social & co

#microsky 🧪🦠

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

Structure of a functional archaellum in Bacteria of the Chloroflexota phylum - Nature Microbiology

Bona fide gene clusters for archaella are widespread across a bacterial phylum and encode functional motility machinery.

www.nature.com

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Abdel Abdellaoui @dr-appie.bsky.social · 24d

The largest study on late life virginity, based on >400k individuals, out now in @pnas.org

Open access link: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Shoutout to shared first author @laurawesseldijk.bsky.social ❤️

Thread below 👇🏽

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Benjamin Wolfe @benwolfe.bsky.social · 24d

Such a delight to share our work on the evolution of a cheese rind fungus in @currentbiology.bsky.social.

This is the fantastic PhD work of @nicolasleonlouw.bsky.social and resulted from amazing collaborations, a wedding proposal(!), an undergrad course, & more!

🧵

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Long-term monitoring of a North American cheese cave reveals mechanisms and consequences of fungal adaptation

Using a unique longitudinal sampling approach, Louw et al. demonstrate how a cheese-associated Penicillium population has adapted in an artisan cheese production facility in Vermont, USA. Adaptation i...

www.cell.com

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Rodrigo Sánchez Martínez @rodrisanchez95.bsky.social · Sep 11

🦠➡️🧬 Community context matters!
In the second part of my PhD, we show how microbial complexity drives phage–bacteria ecology & evolution.
Check out the preprint 👇🏼

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · Sep 11

Biological context modulates virus-host dynamics and diversification https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.10.675297v1

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Jörg Vogel @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social · Sep 10

Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

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Institut Pasteur | 130 years of biomedical research @pasteur.fr · Sep 1

🎓 Applications for Institut Pasteur's PhD programs open Sept 1-Oct 20, 2025 for October 2026 entry.

Apply to up to 4 projects across 6 programs: PPU, PPU-IMAGINE @institutimagine.bsky.social, [email protected], PPU-EID @upcite.bsky.social & more 🧬

Register now ✍️ www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

Pasteur-Paris University International Doctoral Programme, The call for enrollment of students in October 2026 will be open from September 1st to October 20th, 2025

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MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · Aug 27

New research: With ancient origins & surprising flexibility, #BrownAlgae reveal a compelling story of sex chromosome evolution. This could rewrite how we view sex determination. Learn more: s.gwdg.de/YDoZ3L
Congrats to @agalip.bsky.social & Josue Barrera for their work in @natecoevo.nature.com

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Sonja-Verena Albers @archaellum.bsky.social · Aug 20

🚨 Imagine a bacterium that refuses to follow the textbook:
It grows as tangled filaments, divides unevenly, reshapes its own membranes… and even builds grappling hooks.
Meet Litorilinea aerophila — and here’s why it blew our minds.

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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Aug 15

Archaea-on-bacteria action! @romainstrock.bsky.social @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social &co show that many #archaea encode #peptidoglycan hydrolases, which specifically target #bacterial cell walls, experimentally confirming the killing capacity of 2 of these enzymes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4lrJBBa

$Left: Results of spotting various supernatants onto lawns of Halalkalibacterium halodurans, Phycicoccus endophyticus, and Virgibacillus salexigens. a,b: top fraction (>3 kDa) of supernatant from Haloferax volcanii expressing an intact (a) or catalytic mutant (b) version of Woldo; c,d: bottom fraction (<3 kDa) of supernatant from H. volcanii expressing an intact (c) or catalytic mutant (d) version of Woldo; e: unfiltered supernatant from Halogranum salarium B-1; f,g: top fraction (>3 kDa) of supernatant from H. volcanii expressing (f) Danwoldo or (g) and empty plasmid control; h,i: bottom fraction (<3 kDa) of supernatant from H. volcanii expressing (h) Danwoldo or (i) and empty plasmid control. Top right: Structural overlay of zoocin A from Streptococcus zooepidemicus (UniProt ID: O54308) and Woldo, a candidate PGH from Halogranum salarium B-1 (UniProt ID: J2ZZK6), highlighting homologous M23 domains but divergent cell wall binding domains. TRD: target recognition domain. PG: peptidoglycan. Bottom right: Images of bacterial cells following exposure to H. volcanii supernatants expressing Woldo, Danwoldo or the control (as above). Bacteria are stained using LIVE/DEAD BacLight bacterial viability staining kit with ingress of red dye into bacterial cells indicative of cells with terminally compromised cell wall integrity.$

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César de la Fuente @delafuentelab.bsky.social · Aug 12

(1/5)For over a century, the hunt for new antibiotics has focused almost exclusively on bacteria and fungi. Today, that paradigm shifts. By coupling state-of-the-art AI with the vast, largely uncharted diversity of Archaea, we open a new frontier for molecular discovery.

Deep learning reveals antibiotics in the archaeal proteome - Nature Microbiology

Use of artificial intelligence to mine proteomes of archaea led to the discovery of archaeasins, antimicrobials that kill drug-resistant bacteria in laboratory and animal models, offering a promising ...

www.nature.com

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Nature Reviews Immunology @natrevimmunol.nature.com · Jul 29

NEW Review from @soreklab.bsky.social @dinahoch.bsky.social explains how immune pathways manipulate the availability of nucleotides, chemically modify nucleotides to generate immune signalling molecules, and produce altered nucleotides that poison viral replication
#immunosky #microsky #phagesky

Manipulation of the nucleotide pool in human, bacterial and plant immunity - Nature Reviews Immunology

Modification of the nucleotide pool is emerging as key to innate immunity in animals, plants and bacteria. This Review explains how immune pathways conserved from bacteria to humans manipulate the nuc...

www.nature.com

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David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · Jul 28

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times

Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution

www.science.org

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Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · Jul 24

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity.

We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social

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

www.science.org

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Samuel G. Huete @microbiomol.bsky.social · Jul 24

My first first-authored paper is now out ahead of print in #mBio. It was a loooong way between journals, but here we are with a result that I believe will be highly relevant for anyone interested in microbiology and evolution! 🦠🧬
👇
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

journals.asm.org

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Daniela Barillà @danielabarilla.bsky.social · Jul 22

And the story is published now!🍾
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Open access link: rdcu.be/exnOc

Many years in the making, great collaboration with @archaellum.bsky.social & @tunglejic.bsky.social

Thanks @ukri.org BBSRC & @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding, reviewers & editor!! 🙏
#microsky #archaeasky

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Miguel Gómez-Raya @miguelgrv.bsky.social · Jul 7

rdcu.be/evcPn

Gene expression and co-expression heterogeneity patterns and biodemography analyses during the cell cycle encourage aging studies in archaea

rdcu.be

Reposted by Miguel Gómez-Raya

AIRE-TEAM @aire-team.bsky.social · Jul 7

Transcription gets more noisy and co-expression more heterogeneous when S. islandicus cells age (in G2)
#aging #archaea #transcriptomes #networks
Thanks to Miguel Gomez Raya Vilanova :) and all great co-authors: Annette Baudisch, Claudio Franceschi, Yuping Dai, @jerometeu.bsky.social

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Miguel Gómez-Raya @miguelgrv.bsky.social · Jul 7

#ArchaeaSky
#MicroSky

AIRE-TEAM @aire-team.bsky.social · Jul 7

Archaeal cell have a hard start in life, dying in excess around cell division, and then, their risk of dying decreases.
Is it aging? Is it #ontogenescence?
Do archaeal cells age?
Can archaeal cells rejuvenate by asymetric cell division?
#archaea #aging #rejuvenation Thanks @mkrupovic.bsky.social

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