New paper from the lab from Sriram Garg in my group. We introduce a general substitution matrix for structural phylogenetics. I think this is a big deal, so read on below if you think deep history is important. academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

UK immigration policy is destabilising international academics’ careers. The effort of staying compliant with fluctuating regulations diminishes the mental space for teaching, research and building belonging, say Zahra Sharifonnasabu et al
www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/uk-i...

Our paper on testing #Alphafold predictions and structural phylogenetics of a #photosystem subunit is now published in @pplplantarum.bsky.social. Work by @tomdongmin.bsky.social, with JW Murray & D Pretorius at Imperial. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @qmulse.bsky.social @qmul.ac.uk 🌳

Our paper: Structure and evolution of photosystem I in the early-branching cyanobacterium Anthocerotibacter panamensis is out now in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Great collab with the labs of Ming-Yang Ho and Chris Girsiel.

One heterodimeric lineage becomes the ancestor to the chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll synthesis enzymes now only found in bacteria; the other lineage becomes nitrogenase in a methanogenic ancestor. It has interesting implications depending on various plausible scenarios 😀

This is my reading then. An ancestral homodimeric reductase in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis diverges, one lineage becomes CfbD in archaeal methanogenesis, the other duplicates. The new evolving heterodimers, still involved in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis diverges into two new lineages...

I just see the paper! Wow, this is indeed fascinating. You guys suggest that CbfD is ancestral to all other Nif proteins, right? Then would you say that tetrapyrrole biosenthesis is the ancestral function of this family of enzymes all in all? 😊

Happy to present the lab latest work, today from the green-side. The ultimate PSII assembly intermediate that directly precedes incorporation of the Mn4O5Ca cluster and formation of the OEC. Psb32 binds to PsbV, challenging the assumption the extrinsic subunits all associate spontaneously in-vivo.

Our work applying #AlphaFold prediction and structural phylogenetics to the D1 subunit of #photosystem II is now on BioRxiv! This project was spearheaded by @tomdongmin.bsky.social in my lab, in collab with D. Pretorius and J. W. Murray. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #photosynthesis

It’s on! The first step to bring the evolution of photosystem into 3D with structure prediction.

Fascinating study. "Oxidative adaptations in prokaryotes imply the oxygenic #photosynthesis before the crown group Cyanobacteria" Although, one only needs to look at the #evolution of photosystem II to understand what happened... 😃
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ad...

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Reminder: We have made a Researchers on Cyanobacteria Starter Pack. If you would like to be included, please let us know.
go.bsky.app/BBgq3df

Several PhD opportunities are available to join my group, the Molecular Evolution Lab at QMUL! 🌴 If you’re interested in the origin and evolution of #photosynthesis or #cyanobacteria, or in applying #SynBio to photosynthetic enzymes, get in touch! cardonalab.uk/joinus Please share! Thank you.

Interesting! www.cell.com/current-biol... but just as I predicted (suspected) based on a few published observations: doi.org/10.1016/j.bb... 😄

I’m a photosynthesis researcher! I work on resolving the evolution of photosynthesis and on evolving new types of photosynthesis. I might be able to help