Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Jelena Godrijan 🫧❾🌊🦋 @godi.bsky.social · 3d

⚠️New paper ➡️ isolating >600 freshwater microbes using dilution-to-extinction and low-nutrient, lake-mimicking media.

🤯Expands cultured diversity to ~70 % of detected genera and enables physiological studies of streamlined oligotrophs.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#protistsonsky

Bringing the uncultivated microbial majority of freshwater ecosystems into culture - Nature Communications

A large fraction of aquatic bacteria remains uncultured. Here, the authors cultivated 627 strains of abundant freshwater bacteria from 14 European lakes, thus generating a collection that includes many previously uncultured, oligotrophic bacteria that may serve as model organisms.

www.nature.com

1 25 65

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Flora Vincent @floravincent.bsky.social · 9d

Dear all, registration for the upcoming EMBO/EMBL Symposium on "the cellular mechanics of symbiosis" is now OPEN 🤩 ! Feel free to register ! www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #ProtistsOnSky #SymbioSky
@hassansalem.bsky.social @berasymbionts.bsky.social @embl.org

The cellular mechanics of symbiosis: sensing friend from foe

www.embl.org

26 44

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

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

1 27 54

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Workshops @evomics.bsky.social · Sep 2

Apply now to the Workshop on Genomics 2026, which will take place 11-24 January, in the beautiful town of Český Krumlov, Czechia. Deadline: 20th of October, but applicants will be informed on a rolling basis. Spread the word among colleagues! 🙆🏽‍♀️ evomics.org/apply-worksh... #evomics2026

11 12

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Vesna Grujcic @vesnagrujcic.bsky.social · Aug 30

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

4 50 120

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · Aug 15

FANTASIA's paper is finally out! Check it out if you're interested in alternative methods to homology for functional annotation in nonmodel organisms 🦐🐙🪱🧬🐝🪲
@gemmaeling.bsky.social @amrojasm.bsky.social @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social
@csic.es www.nature.com/articles/s42...

FANTASIA leverages language models to decode the functional dark proteome across the animal tree of life

Communications Biology - FANTASIA, a protein language model-based tool, enables large-scale functional annotation across ~1000 animal proteomes, revealing novel gene functions in both model and...

www.nature.com

2 30 57

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Tomas Machacek @trichotom.bsky.social · Aug 10

First stop of our @4euplusalliance.bsky.social project: Poland! 🐌🦆
We met with @ankarn.bsky.social (thank you! 🙏🏻) to exchange knowledge on bird schistosomes and swimmer's itch and, mainly, share our experience with water filtration and #eDNA detection. 🧬

2 4

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · May 18

The 11th Polish Evolutionary Conference is coming to Warsaw! Join us to share your research and connect with others in the field. Check out a fantastic lineup of invited speakers!

🗓️ Abstract submission deadline extended to May 31!

More info & registration 👉 pec2025.biol.uw.edu.pl

#PEC2025

3 5

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · May 1

📢 Deadline extended to May 5!
Join our #ESEB2025 symposium on symbioses in microbial eukaryotes - from the origin of organelles to their roles in ecosystem functioning. Share your work and meet our great speakers @cstairs.bsky.social & @benkinsjenkins.bsky.social

#ESEB25 #Symbiosis #ProtistOnSky

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · Apr 14

🚨 Just under two weeks left to submit your abstract for ESEB2025 - don’t miss the chance to be part of the Symposium on the Evolution of Symbiosis and Interactions in Microbial Eukaryotes 🦠🔬

📅 Abstract deadline: April 25, 2025
🔗 More: eseb2025.com/list-of-symposia
#ESEB25 #Symbiosis #ProtistOnSky

4 10

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · Apr 14

🚨 Just under two weeks left to submit your abstract for ESEB2025 - don’t miss the chance to be part of the Symposium on the Evolution of Symbiosis and Interactions in Microbial Eukaryotes 🦠🔬

📅 Abstract deadline: April 25, 2025
🔗 More: eseb2025.com/list-of-symposia
#ESEB25 #Symbiosis #ProtistOnSky

1 8 17

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Institute of Evolutionary Biology UW @ibe-warszawa.bsky.social · Mar 23

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the University of Warsaw #DOKO event yesterday! It was wonderful to meet so many people keen to learn more about UW, its courses, and our student organisations 🧪🦴🦠🔬

5 11

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · Mar 9

Happy to share that the ESEB2025 Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology @eseb2025.bsky.social will feature our symposium on the Evolution of Symbiosis and Interactions in Microbial Eukaryotes! 🦠🔬

More info: eseb2025.com/list-of-symp...

#ESEB2025 #Symbiosis #ProtistOnSky

4 13

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Fabien Burki @fburki.bsky.social · Jan 19

Stoked about this manuscript, many years in the making. We present an original resource of ~700 highly curated plastid MAGs of marine pelagic algae. Among these we found a novel deep branching group of plastid genomes; we informally call them leptophytes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

4 51 130

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Micah Dunthorn @micahdunthorn.bsky.social · Jan 13

Position as an Associate Professor in Zoology at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Associate Professor in Zoology (268410) | University of Oslo

Job title: Associate Professor in Zoology (268410), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Sunday, February 23, 2025

www.jobbnorge.no

4 3

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Lenka Kuglerová @kuglerovastripe.bsky.social · Jan 9

I have a two year postdoc position in freshwater biodiversity and extreme evens open in my lab. Please share and apply!

www.slu.se/en/about-slu...

Jobs and vacancies at SLU. | slu.se

Jobs and vacancies at SLU. Read more about each job by clicking the job title. Please, follow the instructions closely when applying.

www.slu.se

12 8

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Micah Dunthorn @micahdunthorn.bsky.social · Dec 20

International Society of Protistologists is funding two symposia at the 16th International Congress of Protistology in Seoul, South Korea. Proposals are due 30 January 2025
#protist #protistsonsky
protistologists.org/programs/fun...

Funding - International Society of Protistologists

Student support, seed money, and more. Got a tip for a program that funds protist research? Contact the Vice President. Society funding: The Holz-Conner Travel Fund provides funding for travel […]

protistologists.org

1 11 20

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · Dec 24

🎄✨ Warmest Christmas wishes to our dear friends and collaborators! Wesołych Świąt! 🎅🎁✨
Here’s a festive glimpse from our lab's Christmas event - celebrating the season together. Wishing you joy and success in the coming year! 🌟

1 6

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

ISEP @isepprotists.bsky.social · Dec 22

New #ISEPpapers! Reduced plastid genomes of colorless facultative pathogens Prototheca (Chlorophyta) & retained for membrane transport genes bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... by @ankarn.bsky.social

#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Plastids #Parasites #ProtistsOnSky #Genomics #Evolution #Biology

figure from the paper based on an evolutionary tree of a specific group of microbes

6 8

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Francis Mairet @fmairet.bsky.social · Dec 13

Taking advantage of the release of Clémence Boucher's 2nd paper on the toxins of the haptophyte Prymnesium parvum
doi.org/10.1016/j.al...
to promote also her first article on mixotrophy
doi.org/10.1016/j.ha...
with a cool video (2x speed) of Prymnesium phagocytosing a cryptophyte. #protistsonsky

2 7

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

A. Murat Eren (Meren) @merenbey.bsky.social · Dec 16

We are very happy to announce a free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR symposium in Oldenburg to discuss integrated microbial 'omics and learn applications of anvi'o.

More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...

Please apply and/or circulate 😇

2 62 71

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Lukas VF Novak @animalculum.bsky.social · Dec 11

Advanced genetic techniques & #microscopy offer new insights into anaerobic ciliate + methanogen #symbiosis phys.org/news/2024-10...

Methanogenic #symbionts of anaerobic #ciliates are host, habitat specific academic.oup.com/ismej/articl... #protists by @micrott.bsky.social @symbiosisrox.bsky.social

electron and fluorescence microscopy pictures of complex microbial cells

1 9 35

Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · Nov 29

Finally, some fantastic news for Polish science today!
The Prime Minister @donald-tusk.bsky.social and Minister of Finance @andrzej-domanski.bsky.social have announced a 500 million PLN top-up for 🇵🇱 Poland's major research grant agency, @ncngovpl.bsky.social, in 2025!

Narodowe Centrum Nauki @ncn.gov.pl · Nov 29

Premier @donald-tusk.bsky.social zapowiedział, że #NCN otrzyma 500 mln złotych w obligacjach! @kancelariapremiera.bsky.social
@andrzej-domanski.bsky.social
@ministerstwonauki.bsky.social ncn.gov.pl/aktualnosci/...

6

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · Nov 25

"Reconstructing the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes"

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

In this Consensus View, we put forth the status quo and an agreed path forward to reconstruct LECA’s gene content.

🧪

Genetic contributions to LECA.

LECA’s gene repertoire was chimeric, containing genes derived from the Asgardarchaeota-derived host cell, mitochondrial endosymbiont, and potentially other prokaryotic sources, along with a set of eukaryote-specific genes that evolved after the divergence of eukaryotes from prokaryotes.

19 40

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

John Burns @burnsajohn.bsky.social · Nov 24

Drama when a ciliate colony encounters a zoop. #protistaday #protistsonsky #marinelife

1 13 65

Reposted by Anna Karnkowska

Fabien Burki @fburki.bsky.social · Nov 23

This really is an excellent paper. It shows that plastid protein import machinery can be inherited through serial transfer, and that we should not expect additional membranes in tertiary plastids. In other words, serial transfers got easier to explain

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Plastid translocon recycling in dinoflagellates demonstrates the portability of complex plastids between hosts

The plastids of photosynthetic organisms on land are predominantly “primary plastids,” derived from an ancient endosymbiosis of a cyanobacterium. Conv…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 12 24