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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Chaitanya Gokhale @gokhalecs.bsky.social · Jul 24

Very proud that @gauravathreya.bsky.social's brilliant work based on his Master's thesis is out as his first paper in @asn-amnat.bsky.social. Interested in host-symbiont interdependence, eukaryogenesis, evolutionary transitions in individuality, and some great theory to back it?...check out the🧵👇

Gaurav Athreya @gauravathreya.bsky.social · Jul 23

Interested in host-symbiont interdependence, eukaryogenesis, and evolutionary transitions in individuality? my first paper just came out! With @gokhalecs.bsky.social and Pete Czuppon, we study when & how individuality emerges in a host-endosymbiont collective doi.org/10.1086/737588 a short thread🧵:

figure 1 from https://doi.org/10.1086/737588 describing (a) our conceptualisation of an evolutionary transition in individuality, (b) an interpretation of the traits that we consider in our mathematical model, and (c) a graphical representation of the population dynamics in the model.

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Martin Loose @nartimsoole.bsky.social · Jul 2

One of the most exciting discoveries from our lab so far is now online as a preprint!

Read a story on how the ParMR and Min systems started to collaborate to create the CorMR cytoskeleton, which now controls cell shape in multicellular cyanobacteria:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolutionary repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cyanobacterial cell shape

Bacteria, despite their diversity, use conserved cytoskeletal systems for their intracellular organization. In unicellular bacteria, the ParMRC DNA partitioning apparatus is well known for forming act...

www.biorxiv.org

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Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · Jun 24

How does agency change as life evolves from single cells to complex bodies? This review by Stuart Newman and colleagues examines the surprising roles of development, microbes, and even cancer in reshaping what organisms can do. @multicellgenome.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1...

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Jun 24

1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

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SPP2389 - Emergent Functions of Bacterial Multicellularity @spp2389.bsky.social · Jun 24

We loved hearing @khammerschmidt.bsky.social talk about evolution at the #MultiBac2025 conference this January - check out the @asm.org report on the origins of early microbial life!

Katrin Hammerschmidt @khammerschmidt.bsky.social · Jun 24

Happy to have been part of EVOLUTION & MECHANISMS GOVERNING MULTICELLULARITY—one of 3 workshops behind @asm.org’s new report. Big questions, great conversations—looking back on origins of microbial life and what lies ahead. Highly recommended read: asm.org/reports/earl...
#MicroSky #MEvoSky #EvoSky

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Katrin Hammerschmidt @khammerschmidt.bsky.social · Jun 24

Happy to have been part of EVOLUTION & MECHANISMS GOVERNING MULTICELLULARITY—one of 3 workshops behind @asm.org’s new report. Big questions, great conversations—looking back on origins of microbial life and what lies ahead. Highly recommended read: asm.org/reports/earl...
#MicroSky #MEvoSky #EvoSky

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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Kaçar Lab at UW-Madison @kacarlab.bsky.social · Jun 2

New preprint: eukaryotic origins! 🥁

We propose that iron -not oxygen- may have delayed the rise of complex life. Our model reframes the “oxygen delay” puzzle: the gap between atmospheric O2 and early eukaryotic fossils may reflect iron-mediated stress, not for O2:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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EMBO @embo.org · Jun 3

Abstract submission extended to 1 July – Submit your work now!

EMBO @embo.org · Apr 22

Learn about the origins and #evolution of #multicellularity at EMBO Workshop "Evolution and origins of multicellularity across the tree of life" in Barcelona, ES, 9–11 Oct

Abstract submission by 1 June
Registration by 20 July

meetings.embo.org/event/25-mul...
#EMBOmulticellularity #EMBOevents 🧪

Evolution and origins of multicellularity across the tree of life

The study of the origins and evolution of multicellularity in different lineages has recently captured the attention of many research groups and is fueling the generation of numerous innovative resea…

meetings.embo.org

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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Matthew Herron @matthewherron.bsky.social · Jun 2

Kimberly Chen, a former postdoc in my lab, has published a new article in Genome Biology and Evolution. Selection on mixed populations of Chlamydomonas resulted in the evolution of multicellular structures, all from 2 of 10 founder strains. www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-...
doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Genetic Predisposition Toward Multicellularity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Abstract. The evolution from unicellular to multicellular organisms facilitates further phenotypic innovations, notably cellular differentiation. Multiple

doi.org

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Bram van Dijk 🏳️‍🌈 @bramvandijk.bsky.social · Jun 3

This is still open for another week or so! Please apply :)

Bram van Dijk 🏳️‍🌈 @bramvandijk.bsky.social · May 9

🧩 PhD Position – Origins of Darwinian Inheritance 🧩

This joint PhD project between the @rug.nl (Rampal Etienne & Martijn Egas) and @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social (Bram van Dijk) explores how simple prebiotic systems could evolve reliable information transfer.

Apply here: shorturl.at/WgYMF

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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo @multicellgenome.bsky.social · Apr 20

#multicellularity lovers: the website for the EMBO workshop in multicellularity is live. Barcelona is waiting for you! #protistsonsky

Marta Álvarez-Presas @martaalvarez.bsky.social · Apr 19

The website for our EMBO workshop is live now. Don't miss this opportunity to join us in a meeting that aims gathering all experts working on multicellularity. We will welcome you in the nice Barcelona in October! @multicellgenome.bsky.social @prbb.org @embo.org meetings.embo.org/event/25-mul...

Evolution and origins of multicellularity across the tree of life

The study of the origins and evolution of multicellularity in different lineages has recently captured the attention of many research groups and is fueling the generation of numerous innovative resea…

meetings.embo.org

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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · May 7

Check out our latest work on the evolution of animal genome regulation out today in @nature.com. Nicely summarized below by @ianakim.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is a major output from our ERC-StG project Evocellmap @erc.europa.eu at @crg.eu

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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · May 7

Check out this amazing segment on Pittsburgh's WTAE about our EvolvingSTEM program. 🙏🏻 to anchor Shannon Perrine for telling our story and showcasing how we engage students grades 6-12 to learn w/ authentic experiments. Teachers and students see themselves as scientists! #SaveNSF #SupportNIH

EvolvingSTEM program @evolvingstem.bsky.social · May 7

WTAE filmed us in working with students at Pittsburgh Perry HS, one of more than 30 schools we partner with.

This feature shows the value of NIH & NSF funding at work.

Thanks: teacher Vicki Ammer, Prof. Cassie Quigley from Education, and our team, feat. Colton as local star.

Segment 1:

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Reposted by Katrin Hammerschmidt

Ignacio J. Melero-Jiménez @ignamelero.bsky.social · Apr 14

1/ In our new paper, we explored whether obligate mutualisms can survive abrupt stress via evolutionary rescue.

We found that evolutionary rescue is possible—but it comes at the cost of mutualism. @jfriedman.bsky.social

#microsky #evosky #mevosky

Mutualism breakdown underpins evolutionary rescue in an obligate cross-feeding bacterial consortium - Nature Communications

Rapid genetic adaptation to environmental change, or evolutionary rescue, can be constrained by a less adaptable mutualistic partner. Here, the authors explore evolutionary rescue in an obligate mutua...

www.nature.com

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Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · Apr 3

Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Tissue-like multicellular development triggered by mechanical compression in archaea

The advent of clonal multicellularity is a critical evolutionary milestone, seen often in eukaryotes, rarely in bacteria, and only once in archaea. We show that uniaxial compression induces clonal mul...

www.science.org

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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Apr 3

Our new preprint by @nanamikubota.bsky.social shows that P. aeruginosa, and likely many other bacteria carrying filamentous prophages (like V. parahaemolyticus), risk being exploited by these phages in a runaway process that reduces fitness of both host and virus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness

Many bacteria carry phage genome(s) in their chromosome (i.e., prophage), and this intertwines the fitness of the bacterium and the phage. Most Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains carry filamentous phages ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Apr 1

Super cool new paper by @sshekhr.bsky.social and @wallaceucsf.bsky.social showing that there are collective benefits to simple multicellularity in the *very* charismatic Stentor.

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

Great write up in the NYT by @jack-tamisiea.bsky.social! www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/s...

Eating ‘Family Style’ May Have Set the Stage for Life as We Know It (Gift Article)

Under microscopes, scientists found that giant single-cell organisms were able to vacuum up more food when they are stuck together.

www.nytimes.com

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Mar 19

1/35 New paper out! @jamesTstroud and I dive into why long-term studies are crucial for understanding evolution. They reveal processes impossible to detect in short timescales and capture rare events that transform our understanding of evolutionary dynamics.

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

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Peter Lind @peteralind.bsky.social · Mar 13

We have a 2-year postdoc position available in the Lind Lab at Umeå University, Sweden! Predicting and steering experimental evolution of antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Reposts appreciated.
umu.varbi.com/en/?jobtoken...

Postdoctor, 2 years, in predicting the evolution of antibiotic resistance

The Department of Molecular Biology seeks a postdoctoral researcher who will work with forecasting and steering experimental evolution of antibiotic resistance. The employment is full-time for two yea

umu.varbi.com

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E. Yağmur Erten @yagmurerten.bsky.social · Mar 5

A theoretical biology PhD position at the University of Leiden on the coevolution of aging and sociality with awesome @lottedevries.bsky.social please spread the word! www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/vacancies...

PhD Candidate in Theoretical Biology

The Institute of Environmental Sciences CML and Faculty of Science is looking for:[PhD Candidate in Theoretical Biology]Vacancy number: 15501 We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated Ph...

www.universiteitleiden.nl

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Mar 5

1/46 Hey folks, we have a new paper out on the MuLTEE. Strap in and I’ll tell you the story of how this “little paper on polyploidy” turned into the most data rich paper our lab has produced, largely thanks to the leadership and work ethic of @kaitong25.bsky.social.

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

Genome duplication in a long-term multicellularity evolution experiment - Nature

In the Multicellularity Long Term Evolution Experiment, diploid yeast evolve to be tetraploid under selection for larger multicellular size, revealing how whole-genome duplication can arise due to its...

www.nature.com

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MPI for Evolutionary Biology @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social · Feb 13

Workshop-Recap "Concepts in Evolutionary Biology"

From Feb 10–13, 2025, researchers gathered in Plön to discuss key concepts, present new findings & engage in lively debates. Big thanks to all participants—looking forward to the next edition!

#Evolution #EvoBio #Science交流 #ResearchCommunity

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Leonid Digel @leodigel.bsky.social · Feb 18

Published online! Everything you wanted to know about different cable bacteria and their electrical conductivity. @cemau.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Comparison of cable bacteria genera reveals details of their conduction machinery | EMBO reports

imageimageThis study uncovers key morphological and ultrastructural similarities between cable bacteria genera. The periplasmic conductive fibers display variable electrical conductivity, but conserve...

doi.org

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Jamie Hall @jpjhall.bsky.social · Feb 18

I'm delighted to announce that the 2025 @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" will be held in Liverpool 26-27 November 2025! Abstract submission will open soon... #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics - 2025 meeting

microbiologysociety.org

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Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · Feb 6

It's interesting, I recorded two interviews this week, and both asked me to comment on group selection vs inclusive fitness.

I was diplomatic, but honestly, I think the anti-group selection dogma stemming from the 60s is pretty embarrassing, highlighting a surprising lack of critical thinking.

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