jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman
@jhuisman.bsky.social
930 followers 320 following 26 posts
HFSP Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT | Mobile genetic elements and microbial communities
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
Have you ever wondered what increasing environmental stress will do to microbial communities?

In our new preprint, @martinadalbello.bsky.social, Jeff Gore and I studied the impact of salinity on microbial community composition and function. 🧵 (1/5)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Microbial communities demonstrate robustness in stressful environments due to predictable composition shifts
Environmental stress reduces species growth rates, but its impact on the function of microbial communities is less clear. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that increasing salinity stress shifts com...
www.biorxiv.org
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
meehubs.bsky.social
MEEhubs @meehubs.bsky.social · 1d
We’re back! ✨ The next #MeeHubs26 is coming with 7 hubs across the globe and incredible lineups at each. Can’t wait to share more soon! meehubs.org
Home
meehubs.org
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
maddyseale.bsky.social
Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · 1d
Wonderful to see this beautiful image on the cover of Science this week highlighting a paper that uses high resolution imaging to show the spatial patterns of bacterial attraction to glutamine from roots.
Paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Perspective here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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baym.lol
Michael Baym @baym.lol · 7d
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zaminiqbal.bsky.social
Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 13d
Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n
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agathe-couturier.bsky.social
Agathe couturier @agathe-couturier.bsky.social · 21d
Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes.

@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes
Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena
academic.oup.com
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
benwolfe.bsky.social
Benjamin Wolfe @benwolfe.bsky.social · 22d
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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Reposted by Jana Huisman
isme-microbes.bsky.social
ISME - International Society for Microbial Ecology @isme-microbes.bsky.social · 28d
✈️ Calling all grad students & postdocs in microbial ecology!
Want to work, train, or collaborate abroad? ISME’s Scholar Mobility Fund can help you get there.
📅 Apply by 1 October
🌍 Open to applicants worldwide (esp. outside NA & Europe!)
Details: isme-microbes.org/isme-scholar...
#MicrobialEcology
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
jrpenades.bsky.social
José R Penadés @jrpenades.bsky.social · 29d
Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social
lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species.
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Chimeric infective particles expand species boundaries in phage-inducible chromosomal island mobilization
Capsid-forming PICIs (cf-PICIs) produce their own capsids and exploit phage tails from unrelated species to transfer their DNA across bacterial hosts. This tail piracy enables broad dissemination and ...
www.cell.com
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · 29d
I've used ecoevorxiv.org for perspectives / reviews and liked it.
EcoEvoRxiv
ecoevorxiv.org
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jperkel.bsky.social
Jeffrey Perkel (he/him) @jperkel.bsky.social · Aug 29
Mammoths in Mexico! A fascinating read by @rpocisv.bsky.social @science.org on the discovery and analysis of a massive Pleistocene fossil trove beneath an airport in Mexico City. 🧬 🦣 🇲🇽 www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
Mammoths in Mexico? Huge bone trove reveals giant beasts thrived in warmth, too
Fossils found while building airport contain first mammoth DNA from tropical location
www.science.org
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
microbiologysociety.org
Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · Aug 14
We are recruiting for an Editor to join the Journal of Medical Microbiology (JMM)! We’re looking for Editors with some previous editorial experience to handle JMM’s One Health - Emerging, Zoonotic and Environmental Disease section. Find out more and apply here: microb.io/4lnPPBU 🦠
Journal of Medical Microbiology Editor for One Health - Emerging, Zoonotic and Environmental Diseases: Call for expressions of interest
12 August 2025
microb.io
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
willpjsmith.bsky.social
Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · Aug 31
Does your lab perform killing assays?
TL;DR: we’ve identified a problem that can bias the outcome of killing assays, making antagonism look stronger than it really is.
Adding a simple extra step can mitigate this bias!

Out now at #MicrobioJ www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

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Type VI secretion system activity at lethal antibiotic concentrations leads to overestimation of weapon potency
Competition assays are a mainstay of modern microbiology, offering a simple and cost-effective means to quantify microbe–microbe interactions in vitro. Here, we demonstrate a key weakness of this meth...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
jcatchen.bsky.social
Julian Catchen @jcatchen.bsky.social · Aug 26
Our EEB department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hiring an assistant professor in evo-devo. See go.illinois.edu/EEBAsstProf for details. Please share!
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
In the course of this work, we generated an extensive dataset of "salinity performance curves" for more than 80 bacterial isolates (60 species). We find clear family-level patterns in the relation between max growth rate and salinity.

Stay tuned for more work on this in the near future! (5/5)
The figure from a paper, showing a phylogenetic tree on the left and a data matrix on the right. The phylogenetic tree depicts the relation between different marine bacteria, with choice clades highlighted in color. The data matrix shows the measured maximum growth rate as a function of medium salinity for each taxon.
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
We demonstrate these dynamics in natural aquatic communities propagated in the lab, pairwise competitions between natural isolates, and in metagenomic data of communities sampled across salinity gradients in estuarine environments.

We find the same patterns across all these scales (4/5)
Part of Figure 3 of the described paper. Panel A shows an overview of the experimental strategy, highlighting that 2 species were combined at different ratios and propagated over 4 salinities for 7 cycles. Panels B and D show that the final abundance of the faster growing species was higher when propagated at high salinity than at low salinity. Panels C and E show the growth rates of the two competed species as a function of salinity and highlight how the community growth rate ever more approximates that of the faster growing species at higher salinity.
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
This robustness of the community growth rate results from a shift in community composition towards species with higher growth rates at higher salinity.

Modeling shows that this is a general principle, expected for any stressor that reduces the growth rate of most species! (3/5)
Figure 2 of the described paper, showing the results of a Lotka-Volterra model with environmental mortality. As salinity increases, the relative abundance of the faster growing species at steady state increases. At the same time, the community growth rate starts to approximate the growth rate of the faster growing species more and more.
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
We found that the mean growth rate of the community was surprisingly robust to increasing salinity compared to the growth rates of individual bacteria.

Growth was maintained even when community diversity decreased, highlighting a dilemma in how to assess ecosystem health and functioning. (2/5)
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 25
Have you ever wondered what increasing environmental stress will do to microbial communities?

In our new preprint, @martinadalbello.bsky.social, Jeff Gore and I studied the impact of salinity on microbial community composition and function. 🧵 (1/5)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Microbial communities demonstrate robustness in stressful environments due to predictable composition shifts
Environmental stress reduces species growth rates, but its impact on the function of microbial communities is less clear. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that increasing salinity stress shifts com...
www.biorxiv.org
3 24 60
jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 22
A great collaboration that would not have been possible without Shotaro Torii, Htet Kyi Wynn, Irene Voellmy, Michael Huber, @charliegan.bsky.social, @trj2.bsky.social and @viralexplorers.bsky.social
The first Figure of the paper, showing the longitudinal measurements of wastewater viral loads for Norovirus, Enterovirus and SARS-CoV-2. Also shown is the incidence of clinical cases during the same timeperiod. Arrows indicate when the stringency of non-pharmaceutical interventions (shown in panel B) either increased or decreased.
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jhuisman.bsky.social
Jana Huisman @jhuisman.bsky.social · Aug 22
Our paper on the transmission dynamics of Noro- and Enterovirus during the COVID-19 pandemic just came out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We measured wastewater viral loads, estimated Re and assessed the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the transmission of these pathogens.
Transmission dynamics of Norovirus GII and Enterovirus in Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021–2022) as evidenced in wastewater
Noroviruses and enteroviruses are major causes of endemic gastrointestinal disease associated with substantial disease burden. However, viral gastroen…
www.sciencedirect.com
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
cbo.bsky.social
C. Brandon Ogbunu @cbo.bsky.social · Jul 27
Biologist folk (especially in evolutionary biology and/or ecology, but it don’t matter):

Can you give me your favorite examples of trade offs in biology? Organism or system don’t matter. Primary literature or reviews preferred.
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
contaminatedsci.bsky.social
Tami Lieberman @contaminatedsci.bsky.social · Jul 22
We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome.

See thread for more information and reach out!
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
nanditagarud.bsky.social
Nandita Garud @nanditagarud.bsky.social · Jul 22
I am seeking a postdoc for my group at UCLA. We work at the intersection of population genetics x microbiome (garud.eeb.ucla.edu). If interested, please message me!
Garud Lab
garud.eeb.ucla.edu
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Reposted by Jana Huisman
plosbiology.org
PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Jul 15
Mutations generate variation, critical for #evolution, but #MutationBias restricts the choice of mutation type. @deepaagashe.bsky.social &co use #Ecoli strains with different mutation biases to show that changing an old bias should yield more beneficial mutations @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46LjCRt
Schematic of the key prediction tested in this work. As the transversion (Tv) mutation bias of WT E. coli is shifted away from the ancestral bias, the resulting distribution of fitness effects (DFE) is predicted to change. Specifically, it should shift left with a bias reinforcement, with a lower fraction of beneficial mutations. In contrast, reversing the ancestral bias is predicted to cause right-shifted DFEs with higher proportions of beneficial mutations.
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bjesseshapiro.bsky.social
Jesse Shapiro @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social · Jul 1
One of my favourite serendipitous results from the lab came about because we were long-read sequencing bacterial:

Vibrio cholerae, which is "supposed to" have TWO circular chromosomes (3 + 1 million base pairs) often has just ONE fused chromosome (4 Mbp).

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

(1/n)
Prevalent chromosome fusion in Vibrio cholerae O1 - Nature Communications
The pathogenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae typically has two circular chromosomes. Here, Cuénod et al. analyse 467 clinical isolates and identify several independent chromosome fusion events that are li...
www.nature.com
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