Rogier Braakman

Extensive recombination, selection, and asexual blooms shape the diversity of the dominant clade of Prochlorococcus The tiny and enormously abundant marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus marinus contains many levels of population structure, with sequenced isolates spanning four orders of magnitude of diversity. It ...

New preprint to close out the year! Led by Alana Papula and together with Daniel Fisher, we used single-cell genomes to infer the evolution of Prochlorococcus—one of the most abundant and genetically diverse bacteria on Earth. Check it out here: doi.org/10.64898/202...

Microbes release lower-value metabolites at higher rates Microbes release a wide range of metabolites into their environment, yet the reasons for this release and the factors that influence release rates are not well understood. Here, using a combination of...

Excited to share the first results from my postdoc at @dmf-unil.bsky.social with @saramitri.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Career Opportunities at the University of Hawai'i | University of Hawai'i

Come be my colleague at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. We're hiring an assistant professor in Ocean Biogeochemical Modeling. 🌊

Cosmic dust reveals dynamic shifts in central Arctic sea-ice coverage over the past 30,000 years Arctic sea-ice loss affects biological productivity, sustenance in coastal communities, and geopolitics. Forecasting these impacts requires mechanistic understanding of how Arctic sea ice responds to ...

Huge paper for the Arctic Ocean published today in @science.org - a new 30,000 year history of Arctic Ocean sea-ice cover reconstructed from the accumulation of cosmic dust-derived helium-3! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (1/n)

📣New preprint alert!
Check out this new preprint by Zhu et al. that quantifies and compares labile exometabolites from six axenic strains of marine phytoplankton 🌊 to identify key chemical currencies within the marine chemical-microbial network! 🧪🦠

@microbialplanet.bsky.social

Characterization of Phytoplankton-Excreted Metabolites Mediating Carbon Flux through the Surface Ocean The marine labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pool is a dynamic reservoir of thousands of molecules that cycles approximately one-quarter of Earth primary production within days to weeks. After exc...

Super excited to be part of this beautiful effort led by @zhuyt0515.bsky.social and Hanna Anderson!

A true team effort to characterize diversity in phytoplankton-excreted metabolites and identify key chemical currencies within the ocean ecosystem and carbon cycle

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Headshot of Mariana Torres with the ocean in the background. Photo by Amanda Ellis.

Mariana and Natalie Graham stand next to each other on the R/V Atlantic Explorer during the C-CoMP September Cruise. Photo by Fadime Stemmer.

Mariana processes samples on a bench in the lab on the R/V Atlantic Explorer during the C-CoMP September Cruise. Photo by Fadime Stemmer.

Mariana, Fadime Stemmer, Mario Uchimiya, and Justin Fujii take a picture together in a lab on the R/V Atlantic Explorer during the C-CoMP September Cruise. Photo by Mariana Torres.

📣#MTTM
Mariana Torres (martorres.bsky.social) is a C-CoMP B2P Fellow working with @rogierbraakman.bsky.social @mit.edu. Using computational methods, they are investigating environmental drivers of carbon cycle metabolism dynamics in the North Atlantic Ocean 🌊.

The chitin raft hypothesis for the colonization of the open ocean by cyanobacteria | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences It is often assumed planktonic cyanobacteria existed in Precambrian oceans, but that their productivity was constrained. However, available evidence suggests picocyanobacteria only colonized the open ...

New paper out! In it i review the context and implications of the "chitin raft hypothesis" for how cyanobacteria colonized the open ocean.

Included is a new perspective on why there were two major stages of atmospheric oxygenation over Earth history.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Assessing cellular metabolic dynamics with NAD(P)H fluorescence polarization imaging https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.28.667273v1

Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles Marine particles, typically composed of organic detritus and cellular debris, harbor microbial communities that are distinct from the planktonic, or free-living, communities in the pelagic ocean. Howe...

Our latest, and the second paper led by Jordan Coelho this year. Want to remove bacteria from POM for single-cell microbiology/culturing/'omics applications? We've got some data:

Detergent-based separation of microbes from marine particles www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊

Job alert! We have a postdoc position available in the Stelkens Lab at Stockholm University. Join us and apply experimental evolution and comparative genomics in the model system yeast to test for parallel climate adaptation. Apply through this link: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Deadline 15 August.

This looks very cool - congrats!

🧪🦠⚒️🌍🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

A new paper in Nature Ecol & Evol by
@rosafernandez.bsky.social et al. shows a #punctuated burst of genome evolution in #annelids as they transitioned from marine to land and freshwater habitats.

Postdoctoral Associate MIT - Postdoctoral Associate - Cambridge MA 02139

‼️I'm looking for a postdoc‼️ Come join effort in using metagenomes to quantify microbial catabolic potential and carbon substrate availability at the ecosystem level. We seek to understand evolutionary forces shaping the carbon cycle. Part of ccomp-stc.org

careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

Top figure: Diel transcription of TMED127 lanthanide-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (xoxF5) and glucose dehydrogenase (gdh) at Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, Sargasso Sea, North Atlantic Ocean. Transcription peaks in late afternoon each day over 5 days. Bottom figure: Schematic of key metabolisms and functions in TMED127/Methylaecorales based on genomic reconstruction, showing the most highly transcribed proteins are shown (PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (XoxF), PQQ-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (GDH), and proteorhopsin (PR)).

New preprint is out where we report a new obligate (?) methylotrophic bacteria with diel cycle of methanol dehydrogenase transcription in surface seawater, with implications for marine lanthanide and carbon cycling. Where the methanol comes from is a mystery! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

2025 LIFE RCN Seminar Series Episode 1: Dr. Rogier Braakman — LIFE Research Coordination Network On June 10th, 2025, at 8AM PDT/11AM EDT, the LIFE RCN will be excited to introduce Dr. Rogier Braakman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct scientist at Th...

Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.

I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.

🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...

Great opportunity to awesome science!

2025 LIFE RCN Seminar Series Episode 1: Dr. Rogier Braakman — LIFE Research Coordination Network On June 10th, 2025, at 8AM PDT/11AM EDT, the LIFE RCN will be excited to introduce Dr. Rogier Braakman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct scientist at Th...

Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.

I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.

🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...

Quoting the paper's last sentence, one implication of the CR hypothesis is:

"... In this view, the emergence of pelagic planktonic marine cyanobacteria reflects the broader biospheric expansion into the open ocean, which was not possible until ecosystems reached sufficient levels of complexity."

Revamped pre-print with updated title: The chitin raft hypothesis for the colonization of the open ocean by cyanobacteria.

In this paper i discuss the broader context and implications of the hypothesis.

🧪🦠⚒️🌍🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

eartharxiv.org/repository/v...

Uncertainty in the timing of diversification of flowering plants rests with equivocal interpretation of their fossil record | Royal Society Open Science The timing of the origin of crown-angiosperms exemplifies the impact of competing approaches to establishing evolutionary timescales. Fossils of unequivocal crown-angiosperms are not known from before...

Our latest, led by @jameswclark.bsky.social of @milnerevolution.bsky.social shows that the notorious mismatch between molecular and palaeontological estimates for the timing of origin of angiosperms is a consequence of equivocal interpretation of their fossil record @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

Thank you!

@seandstacey.bsky.social
#AddMicrobiology

Thank you!

Rogier Braakman Visit the post for more.

Hi Eryn, i would love to be added to the science feed if possible. I study metabolic evolution, microbial ecology and microbial macroevolution in the context of Earth history. Thanks!

rogierbraakman.com
scholar.google.com/citations?us...

Thanks!

Hi Sergi, just found and followed all. Could you add me too if not yet full?

Fascinating! I have always wondered about how to think about the impact of gradual vs punctuated evolutionary dynamics on (my interest is particularly microbial) phylogenetic clock models. This paper seems to offer a general framework for doing so

An Environmental Niche Exploration Tool for Kelp Forest Management The kelp niche explorer is a tool which allows users to understand the optimal environmental conditions for kelp forest conservation at the regional level. The tool is adaptable and provides an easy ...

Want to learn more about #kelp distributions and environmental parameters? Check out our paper led by Aaron Eger and Georgina Wood) and app - An Environmental Niche Exploration Tool for Kelp Forest Management onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... & www.kelpee.info