Svetlana Dodonova

Thank you, Naomichi! ☺️

EMBL scientists have new detailed info about Asgard archaea DNA structures offering important clues to more complex cell evolution.

With #cryoEM, scientists found both open and closed chomatin structures with a possible role in regulating chromatin.

doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...

Thank you, Ben! Very kind! 🤗🤗

Thank you, Ken! 😊

We just chose an Asgard with good genome completeness, encoding several histones ☺️ It’s been a while since we chose it for this project 👵🏻😊

Thank you, Sonja!🤗

Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

We are looking for motivated #postdocs to join the lab! Biochemistry/microbiology/cryo-EM experience? Excited by #cryo-EM/ET, #chromatin? ❄️🧬🧫
Interdisciplinary projects, top EMBL facilities!
Email CV + short cover letter → svetlana.dodonova@embl.de
Info about the group: www.embl.org/groups/dodon...

A comparison of the structures of dArc1 (capsid: 6TAP; pentamer: 6TAR), the retrovirus HIV (capsid: 3J3Q; pentamer: 7URN), and the retrotransposon Ty3 (6R24). Pentamers are shown in orange, and hexamers in yellow in the upper panel. In the lower panel, pentamers are shown with monomers colored in different shades of orange.

How did a brain gene end up behaving like a virus? Research has shown that there is an evolutionary connection between Arc, retroviruses, and virus-like genetic elements called retrotransposons.
More at Molecule of the Month: pdb101.rcsb.org/motm...

🚨 Imagine a bacterium that refuses to follow the textbook:
It grows as tangled filaments, divides unevenly, reshapes its own membranes… and even builds grappling hooks.
Meet Litorilinea aerophila — and here’s why it blew our minds.

Beautiful work! 🤩

Thank you!

Thank you! 🙏☺️

Thank you, Hauke! ☺️☺️

Thank you, Naomichi! 😊

Thank you, Ben!! Very kind!☺️🤗🤗

Thank you 😊

And big thanks of course to all involved: the Quail lab @embl.org, and the @damelab.bsky.social

Thank you, Jan! 🤗

Thank you! 😊

We’ve uncovered Asgard chromatin structures formed by a Hodarchaeal histone : closed hypernucleosome conserved in archaea and an open form resembling the H3-H4 eukaryotic octasome. Fantastic work by @harshranawat.bsky.social!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Chromatin #Asgard #Archaea #cryoEM

Mark in your calendars! The Molecular Biology of Archaea meeting (MBoA) 2026!

Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.

EvoChromo: Evolutionary approaches to research in chromatin Chromatin is the complex of DNA, RNA and protein that is found making up the chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. Chromatin is essential for proper genome function and is involved in chromosome segregati…

Registrations are now open for the next @embo.org EvoChromo meeting in December.
meetings.embo.org/event/24-evo...

Join us in beautiful Costa Brava to discuss chromatin evolution!

Co-organized with @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social @sandraduharcourt.bsky.social @levine-lab.bsky.social and Nick Irwin

Happy Birthday!! 🎁 And the Sulfocake looks amazing! 🤩

We had an amazing and sunny ☀️ day today with Sonja-Verena Albers @archaellum.bsky.social who visited us at #embl! It was a wonderful talk on archaeal cell biology, and lots of inspiring discussions! Thank you for sharing your insights with us! #Archaea

📢 Last call for the EMBL International PhD Programme summer recruitment!

This is a fully funded PhD programme fostering creative approaches to questions in the molecular life sciences.

Join us in promoting scientific excellence throughout Europe. Apply now!

www.embl.org/about/info/e...

Returning from a great visit to the Dodonova lab at EMBL to discuss archaeal histones and hypernucleosomes. Nice also to see a tribute to the hypernucleosome on EMBL premises !#Archaeasky

A huge thanks to you Remus for an inspiring talk and engaging discussions! 🧬

Archaea aficionados around the world, APH is now on BlueSky! Follow us for virtual conference announcements and more 🦠

At its six sites EMBL’s many groups and teams work across the life sciences in interdisciplinary and collaborative ways.

Meet and join this community on Bluesky, with this EMBL starter pack 🦋

go.bsky.app/GbCJS2B