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BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Archaea How a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth.

Archaea hit prime time: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

"There isn't one 'single right way' for a career - and it doesn’t have to be a straight line" Maren Nattermann, Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, on Marjory Stephenson (1885–1948): pioneer of chemical microbiology, whose work on bacterial metabolic...

"My motto is: just do it!" We love this interview w/ Maren Nattermann, Research Group Leader @ Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, on Marjory Stephenson (1885–1948), pioneer of chemical microbiology as well as her own path into science www.mpg.de/26210626/mar... #IWD2026

Do you like it when weird organisms do silly things?? Then you're going to love this!

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Job opportunity!

Research Assistant / Research Associate

An opportunity to join our team working on the generation of a completely engineered chloroplast genome (= synplastome).

Apply by Thursday 02 April 2026: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/54695/

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Is it possible to buy a digital copy?

Medium, the data science mini league is great. I moved up to Rundle C for next season which I'm pleased about

How are you doing in the mini league?

Iron-only Fe-nitrogenase underscores common catalytic principles in biological nitrogen fixation www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are recruiting for a postdoc with a background in cell biology and an interest in infection research to join the @camillagodlee.bsky.social Lab to study how Salmonella remodels host membrane dynamics. Apply here by 24 Feb: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Working on an “origin of animals” review paper with @thibautbrunet.bsky.social and Nicole King in Paris.

Andy Knoll is joining us on Zoom from chilly Boston!

Construction of complex and diverse DNA sequences using DNA three-way junctions - Nature Sidewinder enables high-fidelity DNA assembly by separating the information that guides assembly from the final assembled sequence.

Nature research paper: Construction of complex and diverse DNA sequences using DNA three-way junctions

go.nature.com/4qu2ExZ

Putting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to liquid biofuels. Is there a more efficient way to generate energy?

Read more in the new article by @hannahritchie.bsky.social and @pablorosado.com: ourworldindata.org/biofuel-land...

New paper from the Hanson lab - KO of all 11 rbcS genes (!!) in tobacco to create a null line for rubisco engineering, plus resurrection of ancestral forms www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Looking to start your lab in generative biology / AI?
Come join us at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social
Sanger is core-funded so you can generate data at scale to train the next generation of models and understanding. Design/Engineering/Chemistry/Proteins/Pathways!
pls RT
tinyurl.com/GenGenFaculty

Enough, what side are you on?

Fabulous supervisors include @pdchristine.bsky.social @yiliangding.bsky.social @pierrebuscaill.bsky.social caill.bsky.social @morganlab.bsky.social and many more....

Webinar on Dec 10th - details in ads. Deadline Jan 19th.

(UK students only unfortunately)

Engineering plant rubisco enzymes through high-throughput enzyme assays and cryo-EM (Plant BioDesign Cambridge project) at University of York on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Engineering plant rubisco enzymes through high-throughput enzyme assays and cryo-EM (Plant BioDesign Cambridge project) at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com

🌱🚨 Funded PhD for UK students 🇬🇧🌿
Take a look at this Plant BioDesign Doctoral Training Program.
Come work with me and @michaelwebster.bsky.social to study plant rubiscos. High throughput biochem at Cambridge and Cryo-EM techniques at the John Innes Centre.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A synthetic bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the fourth most commonly used plastic worldwide. Like all plastics, post-consumer PET is poorly managed and accumulates in the environment, posing significant ecolo...

Paper alert!
We have created a bacterium that eats plastic! We named it PETBuster! Great work by PhD student Dekel Freund @dekel-freund.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The cold water tintinnid ciliate Parafavella elegans & some diatoms from the Chukchi Sea last summer- almost the end of the Arctic samples....

New carboxylases (and new pathway reactions) expand the possibilities for alternative carbon fixation cycles. Amazing work from the Claassens lab!! (Vittorio in particular, this is a huge body of work).
This changes my assumptions around what can be expected from future new cycles. ♻️

🔥

Rubisco is slow across the tree of life

@omc111.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The virulence gene ToxB is both amplified and disrupted by transposons in the wheat pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, https://ror.org/051dzs374 Alberta Grain Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commissio...

Our latest pre-print on TE-mediated tandem duplication of the ToxB effector is now online...still a puzzle for us but we think it is in a Helitron! Together with amazing collaborators, Reem Aboukhaddour and Ryan Gourlie #TE #fungi
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity Antiviral immune systems diversify by integrating new genes into existing pathways, creating new mechanisms of viral resistance. We identified genes encoding a predicted nuclease paired with a trypsin...

Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social

We are delighted that our Alkis Seraphim Memorial Lecturer for 2025 is Prof Ben Lehner speaking on 'Mapping the energetic and allosteric structures of proteins at scale' on 4 December at 4.30pm in the Babbage Lecture Theatre. Further details and book here: www.eventbrite.com/e/alkis-sera...

excited to see this one with @leahtaylorkearney.bsky.social @prywes.bsky.social et al. out, bringing a truly interdisciplinary (comparative genomics/phylogeny + biochemistry) lens to our favorite enzyme rubisco

Arts and Sciences?

🔥🔥🔥 Friday Evening, Paper Out, Feierabend 🔥🔥🔥

When evolution and enzyme engineering team up, they can convince microbes to assimilate sustainable carbon substrates preparing them for a life in a circular bioeconomy.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...