Petr Dvorak

Fottea 25/2 #ArticleOfTheWeek

🧬 The phylogenetic position of the genus Chrysococcus was identified!
🦠 Chrysococcus was placed in the oder Chrysosaccales, a lineage of incredible diversity - from naked amoebae to loricate flagellates.

⬇️ Read now
fottea.czechphycology.cz/artkey/fot-2...

A hitchhiker's guide to modern, practical cyanobacterial taxonomy There has been an explosion of new Cyanobacterial taxa described within the last two decades. Cyanobacteria exhibit incredible ecological versatility and morphological variability, and thousands of s...

Huzzaah. A hitchhiker's guide to modern, practical cyanobacterial taxonomy is out onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#cyanobacteria #taxonomy #phycology #genomics

Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The hidden toxicity of Pseudanabaena: A notable leap in cyanobacterial research Click on the article title to read more.

The hidden toxicity of Pseudanabaena: A notable leap in cyanobacterial research onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Come join the workshop!
Apply here: evomics.org/apply-worksh...
bsky.app/profile/jlst...

Genomic constraints shape the evolution of alternative routes to drug resistance in prokaryotes Background Variation within the prokaryotic pangenome is not random, and natural selection that favours particular combinations of genes appears to dominate over random drift. What is less clear is wh...

New preprint reveals bacteria can't just collect all resistance genes like Pokemon cards.
We found mutually exclusive evolutionary pathways to multidrug resistance in E. coli & P. aeruginosa - some resistance mechanisms actively prevent others from coexisting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Using herbarium collections to study genetic responses to global change Earth's c. 406 million herbarium specimens represent a largely untapped resource of genetic data that could transform our understanding of global plant populations. Advances in DNA sequencing have ma...

What can #herbarium collections tell us about genetic responses to global change? A lot!! 🌿

Check out our viewpoint, out now in @newphyt.bsky.social - genetic monitoring, extinctions, adaptation, GEAs, and more! ⬇️

doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Biofilm formation and dynamics in the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs

Biosignatures of diverse eukaryotic life from a Snowball Earth analogue environment in Antarctica - Nature Communications The supraglacial meltwater ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, analogues for proposed Cryogenian period eukaryotic refugia, are shown to host diverse and varied eukaryotic communities.

The supraglacial meltwater ponds of the #McMurdo Ice Shelf, analogues for proposed #Cryogenian period eukaryotic refugia, are shown to host diverse and varied eukaryotic communities.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧑‍🚀💫Our July issue is now live! Read it here ⬇️

nature.com/nrmicro/volumes/23/issues/7

Inside:

🛰️Phage satellites

🧬Mobile genetic element interactions and evolution in bacteria

💊Bacterial metabolism and antimicrobial resistance

🎯SARS-CoV-2 spike

...and more!

Dating the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis using La-Ce geochronology - Nature 138La-138Ce geochronology shows that La/Ce fractionation, and Ce oxidation, occurred at the time of deposition, placing the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis in the Mesoarchaean or earlier.

Dating the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis using La-Ce geochronology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out BASys2: advanced bacterial genome annotation, 800% faster upgrades! 대launched 20 years post-BASys, leveraging new tech & algorithms. PMID:40308209, Nucleic Acids Res 2025, @NAR_Open https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf360 #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪

Cyanobacterial Argonautes and Cas4 family nucleases cooperate to interfere with invading DNA Bobadilla Ugarte et al. have functionally, structurally, and biochemically characterized cyanobacterial APACE1 immune systems. In APACE1 systems, a pAgo protein mediates small DNA-guided DNA interference, whereas ACE1 contributes to guide DNA processing. This study broadens our mechanistic understanding of how diversified pAgo systems protect their bacterial hosts against invading DNA.

Cyanobacterial Argonautes and Cas4 family nucleases cooperate to interfere with invading DNA: Molecular Cell https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(25)00302-8?rss=yes

Major European institutes join race to save US science data As the administration of US President Donald Trump slashes budgets, crucial climate and other data sets could disappear.

Several research institutes in Germany are joining a worldwide grassroots effort to save science data sets that researchers fear could be deleted by US President Donald Trump’s administration, Nature has learnt.

https://go.nature.com/42uEw50

Annotation of 200 Insect Genomes with BRAKER for Consistent Comparisons across Species The annotation of genomes lags behind their sequencing and assembly. For example, of 5,092 insect species in GenBank, as one of the most widely used databases, only 375 currently have annotated genome...

Annotation of 200 insect genomes. Work driven by @stepbystepsolution.bsky.social and Mario Stanke within @gevol.bsky.social : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A paper published in @currentbiology.bsky.social by @scaralbi.bsky.social and colleagues in the Howe Group adds significantly to our understanding of bacterial evolution by showing how #cyanobacteria can rapidly develop resistance to a #herbicide. Read more: www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/news/howe-gr...

Uncalled4: a toolkit for nanopore signal alignment, analysis and visualization of DNA and RNA modifications.

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

This is figure 6, which is a simplified model of human demographic history, as inferred by cobraa.

A paper in Nature Genetics presents evidence for an extended period of structure in the history of all modern humans, in which two ancestral populations that diverged 1.5 million years ago came together in an admixture event 300 thousand years ago. https://go.nature.com/3RisxRp 🏺 🧬 🧪

Join us in at #ESEB2025 Barcelona for our symposium on microbial adaptation to changing conditions. Organised by @mtoll8.bsky.social @javierdelafuente.bsky.social and me. Amazing invited speakers @saramitri.bsky.social and Itzik Mizrahi!! @eseb2025.bsky.social

Given the discussion today. #EthicalPublishing is possible.

Our ethos for many years now:

1. All papers preprinted along with data.
2. No commercial publishers.
3. Only publish in scientific society journals and with reputable non-profit publishers.
4. Collaborators do what they want.

Illustration depicting the ways in which fungi can exchange genetic material with each other. Starship mediated HGT is confirmed experimentally in this preprint.

We did it! We caught Starship #transposons moving between #fungal species in the lab, including between species separated by ~100my. We think Starships are a mediator of HGT in fungi, akin to conjugative elements in bacteria. Check out the preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes Eukaryotes have linear DNA and their telomeres are hotspots for transposons, which in some cases took over telomere maintenance. Here we identify several families of independently evolved telomeric tr...

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An issue with length limits of sequence headers has now been resolved in OrthoHMM v 0.1.1 🥳
bsky.app/profile/jlst...

Most conservation funds go to large vertebrates at expense of ‘neglected’ species Study shows funding bias towards animals like rhino while other endangered species including amphibians and algae disregarded

Conservation funding “82.9% was assigned to vertebrates. … while fungi and algae were barely represented at less than 0.2%”
Proud to work towards conservation of #AquaticFungi — tiny but mighty!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Epigenetic variation in light of population genetic practice - Nature Communications Epigenetic variation can impact evolutionary processes to varying extents depending on its transgenerational stability and degree of environmental influence. This Perspective discusses the potential f...

Epigenetic variation can impact evolutionary processes. In this Perspective, Mueller et al. discuss the potential for epigenetic mechanisms to be integrated into population genetic practice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This Friday, February 7, María del Carmen Muñoz-Marín @vesynech.bsky.social will give a UCO BioResearch Seminar entitled "The social life of marine cyanobacteria".

Does the glut of retractions mean science is in crisis? Hardly All we are seeing is a necessary course correction to counter the infiltration of bad actors, say Leslie McIntosh, René Aquarius and Dorothy Bishop

Does the glut of retractions mean science is in crisis? Hardly: All we are seeing is a necessary course correction to counter the infiltration of bad actors, say @mcintold.bsky.social, René Aquarius and @deevybee.bsky.social

Ancient DNA analyses bring to life the 11,000-year intertwined genomic history of sheep and humans Sheep have been intertwined with human livelihoods for over 11,000 years. As well as meat, their domestication led to humans being nourished by their protein-rich milk and clothed by warm, water-resis...

Ancient DNA analyses bring to life the 11,000-year intertwined genomic history of sheep and humans

phys.org/news/2025-01...

Distribution of early-branching Cyanobacteriia and the potential habitats that gave rise to the earliest oxygenic phototrophs | mSphere Cyanobacteria generate oxygen as part of their metabolism and are responsible for the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere over two billion years ago. However, we do not know how long this process may...

Distribution of early-branching Cyanobacteriia and the potential habitats that gave rise to the earliest oxygenic phototrophs journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Contrasting patterns of diversity emerge depending on the initial drivers of speciation during adaptive radiation Abstract. I examine the spatial processes that shape species formation in adaptive radiation, and patterns that emerge from the different processes. I firs

What drives speciation in adaptive radiation? And why do patterns emerge? These questions are investigated by Rosemary Gillespie as part of our #AdaptiveRadiation special issue, considering #EcologicalChange and the initial drivers of speciation! 🧪🌍👇
academic.oup.com/evolinnean/a...