Vasily Zlatogursky
@zlatogursky.bsky.social
Protistology whatever it means. Views are mine
Pinned
Promethea = PROvora + MEteora + HEmimastigophora. The new supergroup, unifying previously “orphan” lineages with gene-rich mitogenomes. Position of #telonemids is still uncertain. #protistsonsky tinyurl.com/yk9xkt49
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
🎉 There are currently 4 opportunities to join the Holt lab in beautiful Bath! 🎉
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
November 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
🎉 There are currently 4 opportunities to join the Holt lab in beautiful Bath! 🎉
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
If you're interested in protists, parasites, and/or biodiversity then please check out our website:
theholtlab.com/posts/ln5-21...
🚨 Deadlines vary between project.
✉️ Please reach out if you have any questions!
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
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 Vasily Zlatogursky
📢 Paper alert 📢
Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)
Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)
November 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
📢 Paper alert 📢
Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)
Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis - Nature Ecology & Evolution
In Caenorhabditis tropicalis, three toxin–antidote elements arose via gene duplication from the essential tRNA-synthetase subunit FARS-3. The ancestral antidote probably acquired affinity for FARS-3, ...
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
New #ISEPpapers! Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code www.cell.com/current-biol... #Protists #TreeOfLife #Evolution #Microbes #Genetics
November 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
New #ISEPpapers! Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code www.cell.com/current-biol... #Protists #TreeOfLife #Evolution #Microbes #Genetics
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
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 Vasily Zlatogursky
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
November 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Weird word of the day: "kleptosquamy." The testate amoeba Awerintzewia cyclostoma steals scales from other amoeboid organisms to build its own shell. This one has robbed Quadrulella, Netzelia, various euglyphids, and even an Acanthocystis. Kleptosquamy! #amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #biology #nature
November 21, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Weird word of the day: "kleptosquamy." The testate amoeba Awerintzewia cyclostoma steals scales from other amoeboid organisms to build its own shell. This one has robbed Quadrulella, Netzelia, various euglyphids, and even an Acanthocystis. Kleptosquamy! #amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #biology #nature
VERY cool!
✨ A study in nature.com from our Faculty at @unikarlova.cuni.cz reveals Solarion arienae, a rare #protist forming a newly identified eukaryotic supersroup Disparia. A unique window into early #eukaryotic cell #evolution. 🌍🔬👏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 AM
VERY cool!
😍👍🦠
Very happy to see this out there ! Amazing work by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social @amyweeks.bsky.social & @cellraiser.bsky.social!
All #ProtistsOnSky are amazing, but when I bumbed into @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social & her poster 2y ago at a #GRC conference, I got the urge to attempt #ExpnasionMicroscopy!
n/1
All #ProtistsOnSky are amazing, but when I bumbed into @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social & her poster 2y ago at a #GRC conference, I got the urge to attempt #ExpnasionMicroscopy!
n/1
How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926
November 19, 2025 at 8:22 AM
😍👍🦠
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage
Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration
in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single
eukaryotic group. Guest e...
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Very cool, little doubt though about the word "most". I have a feeling that (predatory) feeding on invertabrates is quite common. E. g. here (10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.09.003) they say "around one-half"
Codonobdella is a genus of leech found in the depths of Lake Baikal - there are three different species, and unlike most leeches which feed on vertebrate animals, Codonobdella is a parasite of amphipods
#Invertebrate 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#Invertebrate 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 17, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Very cool, little doubt though about the word "most". I have a feeling that (predatory) feeding on invertabrates is quite common. E. g. here (10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.09.003) they say "around one-half"
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Let me use this as an opportunity to talk about Jordi et al's very cool paper, now out in PNAS 🧪:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Let me use this as an opportunity to talk about Jordi et al's very cool paper, now out in PNAS 🧪:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Very excited to share this one! Our comprehensive structure, genetics and biophysics dissection of which flagellar dyneins and other proteins are needed for flagella to beat and drive cells swimming behaviours: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 8, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Very excited to share this one! Our comprehensive structure, genetics and biophysics dissection of which flagellar dyneins and other proteins are needed for flagella to beat and drive cells swimming behaviours: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Wound healing is a hallmark feature of all life, including single cells. In a new preprint, Ambika Nadkarni @biochembika.bsky.social investigates a new dimension in cellular wound healing: how cells recover AFTER the wound has been closed
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Oligonucleotide design meets big data:
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
November 7, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Oligonucleotide design meets big data:
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
We present oligoN-design, a simple, reproducible and versatile open-source tool to design specific primers and probes directly from large environmental DNA datasets.
🔗 DOI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👉 github.com/MiguelMSandi...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
We have a great PhD project supported by SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership at @uniofbath.bsky.social for 2026!
Come and apply cutting-edge sequencing approaches to tackle animal health in aquaculture! We'll be characterising protist parasites to learn more about their interactions and evolution
🐟
Come and apply cutting-edge sequencing approaches to tackle animal health in aquaculture! We'll be characterising protist parasites to learn more about their interactions and evolution
🐟
SWBio DTP PhD Project: Decoding Protist Parasites in Aquaculture with Single-Cell Sequencing at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - SWBio DTP PhD Project: Decoding Protist Parasites in Aquaculture with Single-Cell Sequencing at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM
We have a great PhD project supported by SWBio Doctoral Training Partnership at @uniofbath.bsky.social for 2026!
Come and apply cutting-edge sequencing approaches to tackle animal health in aquaculture! We'll be characterising protist parasites to learn more about their interactions and evolution
🐟
Come and apply cutting-edge sequencing approaches to tackle animal health in aquaculture! We'll be characterising protist parasites to learn more about their interactions and evolution
🐟
hah, I usually go for human eyelashes 🙃, but curious to try toothbrush bristles now!
I just wrote the following sentence in a manuscript: “Using pulled Pasteur pipettes, micropipettes, and tools made from toothbrush bristles superglued onto colored pencils, individual cells were isolated and washed in 0.22um-filtered ambient water…”
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
@burnsajohn.bsky.social 😂😂😂
November 7, 2025 at 8:28 AM
hah, I usually go for human eyelashes 🙃, but curious to try toothbrush bristles now!
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
The origins and molecular evolution of sperm https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685759v1
November 3, 2025 at 8:32 PM
The origins and molecular evolution of sperm https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685759v1
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
November 1, 2025 at 7:34 AM
✨X-ray crystallography reveals surprising twist in how proteins enter the unique photosynthetic organelles of Paulinella. The chromatophore targeting peptide (crTP) folds into a 3D structure, hinting that folded proteins cross peptidoglycan and inner membrane. (1/2)
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
academic.oup.com/plphys/artic...
Reposted by Vasily Zlatogursky
Absolutely stunning FIB-SEM, and a very cool story.
Perfect timing for the endosymbiosis portion of my Evo Cell Bio course where we just covered a paper on Paulinella...
Perfect timing for the endosymbiosis portion of my Evo Cell Bio course where we just covered a paper on Paulinella...
Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Absolutely stunning FIB-SEM, and a very cool story.
Perfect timing for the endosymbiosis portion of my Evo Cell Bio course where we just covered a paper on Paulinella...
Perfect timing for the endosymbiosis portion of my Evo Cell Bio course where we just covered a paper on Paulinella...