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Mukund Thattai

@thattai.bsky.social

450 followers 170 following 37 posts

Physicist fascinated by biology, trying to understand how cells work. Also: public engagement, science and culture, puzzles.

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Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Nov 19

My most prized possession, and my deepest regret.

Carl Sagan is the reason I became a scientist, it was a dream come true to be accepted into his class.

But he was suffering from cancer, and unable to teach. I never met him. He died a year later, aged 62.

Sagan would have been 90 this November.

Letter from Carl Sagan dated December 5, 1995.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · 7d

It was a pleasure talking to Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula of IITM for his podcast.

Our conversation went far beyond career advice, covering how living systems work, the role of math in the life sciences, and where groundbreaking discoveries in biology come from.

youtu.be/wZeUX3G13pk?...

CRISPR, Vaccines & Biotech: Exploring Life Sciences with Prof. Mukund Thattai | Episode 22

YouTube video by Prof Mahesh Panchagnula

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 26

Clearly these are spherical harmonics...

Representation of spherical harmonics as lobed objects, indexed by l, m.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 24

Gutting the humanities will not save the sciences. This piece is worth reflecting on: "The broad liberal arts education Carl Sagan received at the University of Chicago played an important role in his development as a scientist and intellectual."
www.loc.gov/collections/...

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

It's a great time to be studying eukaryogenesis, with so much new experimental data from diverse species. I want to thank several folks with whom I've been discussing these ideas for many years, especially @buzzbaum.bsky.social, @gautamdey.bsky.social, @ishier.bsky.social, @dackslabecb.bsky.social.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

Open questions remain. Intracellular membranes have not so far been confirmed in Asgard archaea. And what of the origin of other eukaryotic organelles? Could they be stabilised versions of ancient tubular carriers? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

A Tubules-First Model for the Origin of Eukaryotic Membrane Traffic

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

A closer look shows that in present-day eukaryotes these Asgard ESPs are involved in the generation of tubular carriers at the ER, endosomes/TGN, and at the plasma membrane. In the review I discuss several new studies showing that Asgard versions of these proteins can indeed generate tubules!

Diagram showing Asgard ESP homologs involved in the generation of tubular membrane carriers in modern eukaryotes. The left panel lists sequential stages of carrier generation: initiation, cargo loading, tubulation, scission, tethering, and fusion, with associated protein complexes such as Arf GTPases, BAR domain proteins, ESCRTs, and SNAREs. The right panel shows a stylized eukaryotic cell, indicating sites where tubular carriers are found in present-day eukaryotes (ER exit site, endosome/TGN, plasma membrane).

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

Asgard archaeal genomes encode many eukaryotic signature proteins, previously thought to be restricted to eukaryotes. In modern eukaryotes several of these ESPs are involved in membrane traffic. But Asgard archaea lack canonical vesicle coats. So what were these proteins doing in FECA?

AlphaFold-based structural alignments of Asgard archaeal (red) and eukaryotic (blue) homologs of membrane trafficking proteins. Shown are COPII component Sec24, TRAPP subunit TRAPPC3, AP2 μ and σ subunits, ESCRTIII protein CHMP1B, retromer component VPS29, BAR domain protein Arfaptin, and CORVET/HOPS subunit VPS16. Each pair except CORVET/HOPS show strong structural similarity despite the evolutionary distance.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

Eukaryotes arose via a merger between archaea and bacteria, with eukaryotic traits emerging gradually on the path from FECA (the archaeal first eukaryotic common ancestor) to LECA (last eukaryotic common ancestor). What if FECA was already an atypical archaeon with rudimentary eukaryote-like traits?

A simplified evolutionary tree showing how eukaryotes arose from a merger between Asgard archaea (green) and α-proteobacteria (brown). Key nodes include LUCA (last universal common ancestor), FECA (archaeal first eukaryotic common ancestor), FMCA (first mitochondrial common ancestor) and LECA (last eukaryotic common ancestor). The mitochondrial endosymbiosis event is highlighted.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

I set out to review the evolution of eukaryotic intracellular traffic, but along the way a new hypothesis came into focus: maybe the earliest membrane carriers were tubules, not coated vesicles!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Here’s the idea. 🧵

A schematic showing two models for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell plan starting from an archaeal ancestor. The "inside-out" and "outside-in" models both lead to an intermediate stage with internal and plasma membranes connected by tubules. The sequence continues through the formation of an endomembrane lumen, followed by the emergence of membrane contact sites and tubular carriers, and finally coated vesicles and stable compartments.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jul 6

The week after that, I'll be at Statphys29 in Florence.

At both meetings I'll speak about new work on the evolution of complex vesicle traffic networks in proto-eukaryotes.

Looking forward to catching up with many old friends on this trip!

statphys29.org/plenary-and-...

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jul 6

I'll be in Kyoto all week, at the joint meeting of the Asian International Conference on Mathematical Biology & Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology.

It features a broad lineup of topics and interesting talks, with speakers from across Asia and the world. pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/acm...

pub.confit.atlas.jp

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jul 6

New efforts in conservation and venom research are helping humans and snakes co-exist. So many interesting facts I did not know, in this great piece by Indulekha Aravind.
www.thehindu.com/society/indi...

Snakebite capital | What India must get right

Discover how experts in India are revolutionizing snakebite treatment and research to save lives and protect communities.

www.thehindu.com

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jun 21

A truly unexpected discovery, and an important insight into how "life finds a way"!

Shashi Thutupalli @stpalli.bsky.social · Jun 21

We have a new paper out on an issue that has been discussed for more than a century -- how can fundamental biophysical constraints on nutrient transport be overcome to solve one of the most significant challenges associated with the evolution of multicellularity?

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jun 17

Great puzzle @nedbat.com @wang.social. The trick was to find enough minus signs! Here's the answer: Replace each diagonal with a special point to its top left, and associate ALL edges below with a minus sign. The first three columns are X,Y,Z. This gives coordinates of each cube in the octahedron.

The solution to the puzzle involves modifying paths in an Nx3 array of squares. First, replace each diagonal step with a special point to its top left. Then associate a minus sign with every edge below that point. The first three columns correspond to X, Y, Z. The image shows examples of this transformation, with the original path on the left and the modified path on the right. Below the modified path is the coordinate of a specific cube in the octahedron, e.g. X-2Z is one positive step in the X direction and two negative steps in the Z direction. The path endpoints correspond to the specific "layer" of each cube in the octahedron (0 is the central cube, and 1, 2, 3 are successive layers). This construction clearly generalises to more dimensions (more columns to the right) and more layers (more rows on top).

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 24

My secret hypothesis

Sketch of T. Rex and references to papers regarding possible use of forelimbs. Caption: "My secret hypothesis: Tyrannosaurus Rex had a pouch in which it carried its young. Can you think of ways to test this? Let me know!"

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 24

Video of our #blrlitfest panel discussion "Light Year in Lines: How Science Speaks" is now online!

As I started by saying: only in Bangalore would the science session draw a bigger crowd than any other session at a litfest!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oq0...

Light Years in Lines: How Science Speaks

YouTube video by Bangalore Literature Festival (blrlitfest)

www.youtube.com

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 21

Bal Gangadhar Tilak looked to MIT as a model for India to emulate. Many MIT students interacted with Gandhi. MIT helped establish IITs in post-independence India.

These and other chapters in the long engagement between MIT and India are chronicled in Ross Bassett's book "The Technological Indian".

Photo of Jawaharlal Nehru and MIT President James Killian, 1949. Courtesy of the MIT Museum.

Cover of "The Technological Indian" by Ross Bassett.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 21

This is the first time the exhibit has been shown outside MIT. It grew out of a collaboration between MIT history professor Sana Aiyar, Ranu Boppana and Nureen Das.

Here's a sample from the exhibit: the 1958 yearbook photo of Almitra Patel, the first South Asian woman to receive a degree at MIT.

Ranu Boppana and Mukund Thattai, with other visitors at the exhibit.

Photograph of Almitra Patel from MIT yearbook, 1958. Image courtesy of Almitra H (Sidhwa) Patel.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 19

Bal Gangadhar Tilak looked to MIT as a model for India to emulate. Many MIT students interacted with Gandhi. MIT helped establish IITs in post-independence India.

These and other chapters in the long engagement between MIT and India are chronicled in Ross Bassett's book "The Technological Indian".

Photo of Jawaharlal Nehru and MIT President James Killian, 1949. Courtesy of the MIT Museum.

Cover of "The Technological Indian" by Ross Bassett.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 19

It was great to see the exhibit "South Asia and the Institute" at Science Gallery Bengaluru.

MIT played an outsized role in pre- and post-independence India, beginning with the first Indian student in 1882 (when MIT was barely two decades old!) digital-exhibits.libraries.mit.edu/s/south-asia...

digital-exhibits.libraries.mit.edu

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Jan 2

Raj Rewal, whose iconic brutalist Hall of Nations in New Delhi was demolished by the government in 2017, is also the architect of the National Centre for Biological Sciences campus. The nonagenarian recently shared his striking sketches from the 1960s: www.architecturaldigest.in/story/master....

Raj Rewal, Untitled Work, circa 1965, coloured ink on paper.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Dec 26

Quintumble - Dec 26, 2024

🎯 100 🟪 0 ⌛ 00:24

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Dec 24

Map of Asia, Africa and Europe, in the little-known Mollusc projection.

Clam shell with a pattern that resembles a map of continents around the Indian ocean.

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Dec 12

Technology shouts for itself; science is more abstract and subtle. We cannot assume that the value of science is self-evident to the public.

In "How Science Speaks", we will hear how scientists and science writers communicate complex ideas about the history and practice of science to non-experts.

Session information text - Light Years in Lines: How Science Speaks. Annapurni Subramaniam, Anil Ananthaswamy, Simon Singh, Venki Ramakrishnan, with Mukund Thattai. Sunday 15 December 4:45 PM. Waterfront, Lalit Ashok. Free Entry. blrlitfest.org.

Reposted by Mukund Thattai

Hiral Shah @hiralshah.bsky.social · Dec 9

Lots of excitement at the #MCBM workshop as participants image #UExM gels! NCBS pond is packed with biodiversity! Thanks @thattai.bsky.social, Sonia Sen & Anshika Singh for putting together a fantastic workshop. It has been a blast interacting with all the fantastic participants & TAs!