BejaLab

Out today: We discovered new viral proteins that target immune signaling molecules, solely based on their AlphaFold-predicted shapes

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

Congrats Nitzan Tal and coauthors! Thank you Kranzusch lab for the fun collaboration!

Linking below previous thread on our findings

New paper out: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🥳 Congratulations to our PhD student Katja for her inspiring work just published in Nature Communications on how the larval zebrafish brain processes multiple visual features.

Check out a short summary of the work here: tinyurl.com/yzv4ct9k

Read our review about the "Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea" in @natrevmicro.nature.com here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

By @kassipan.bsky.social @stephkoe.bsky.social @micropat.bsky.social & @gerbenz.bsky.social

DICER cleavage fidelity is governed by 5′-end binding pockets - Nature Cryo-electron microscopy and massively parallel assays shed light on the mechanism by which DICER, a key enzyme in the RNase III family, cleaves RNA at precise locations to produce small RNAs.

Nature research paper: DICER cleavage fidelity is governed by 5′-end binding pockets

go.nature.com/4ssj1vN

BlueTech26: Session 1

BlueTech26: Session 2

BlueTech26: Session 3

BlueTech26: Session 4

🌊 Blue Tech Europe 26: Marine Observing Technologies

📅 21–22 Apr
📍 Paris
🔗 https://swll.to/BT26

2 days of sessions on:
👉 Science & industry collaboration
👉 #MarineTech including sensors
👉 Industry driving #OceanObservation

@marco-bolo.bsky.social @tricuso.bsky.social #AcademinSky 🧪

🌊 Blue Tech Europe 2026: Marine Observing Technologies

👉 Bringing academia & industry together to strengthen Europe’s #BlueTech sector
👉 Organised by EMBRC

📅 21–22 Apr 2026
📍 Paris

More 👉 https://swll.to/BT26

@marco-bolo.bsky.social @tricuso.bsky.social #AcademinSky #Sensors 🧪

Does China have a huge electricity advantage over the United States? China uses most of its electricity for industry, while the US consumes it in households and commercial services.

Fascinating analysis:
open.substack.com/pub/hannahri...

Call for Abstracts – The Ocean in a High-CO2 World – 6th International Science Symposium Call for Abstracts The Call for Abstracts is now open. Please submit your abstract no later than 1 April 2026 (any time zone). Full submission guidelines

Call for abstracts is open for the 6th International Symposium of the Ocean in a High CO2 World! We are looking for work that examined the impacts of ocean acidification, deoxygenation, mCDR, and multiple drivers of change: highco2-vi.org/call-for-abs...

Non‐Canonical, Somatic‐Dependent Vertical Transmission of Wolbachia in an Aphid We discovered a novel somatic-associated Wolbachia transmission strategy in cedar bark aphids (Cinara cedri), contrasting with its typical maternal vertical transmission. This unique maternally retai....

Non-Canonical, Somatic-Dependent Vertical Transmission of Wolbachia in an Aphid enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Join @berasymbionts.bsky.social , @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social and us for a postdoc on the remarkable developmental biology of symbiosis!

Applications are due March 25th 🪲🦠

@johninnescentre.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

Day 2 #NASA #OxyMoRon team is going sampling 1 billion-year old brines at 2900 m depth below surface. Walking 4km in the heat and dusty tunnels to get to our site and back. #mblscience ⚒️🧪 #darkoxygen #deeplife #microbiome @karenlloyd.bsky.social @jamesdinneen.bsky.social @hfspo.bsky.social

Out now! In collaboration with Leifu Chang, we uncover the molecular and structural underpinnings of CRISPR-Cas12f-like RNA-guided transcription systems!

Links to the published articles:
tinyurl.com/55kpavet
tinyurl.com/sk6djwx3

Previous thread for the preprint:
bsky.app/profile/did:...

Out Now! Retraction Note: Metabolic remodelling produces fumarate via the aspartate–argininosuccinate shunt in macrophages as an antiviral defence #MicroSky

An Enzyme System to Help Catalyze Bioproduction of Plastic | Joint Genome Institute By characterizing the structure and function of a methylthio-alkane reductase system, researchers could open avenues for using bacteria to produce ethylene and more.

By characterizing the structure and function of a methylthio-alkane reductase system, researchers could open avenues for using bacteria to produce ethylene and more. 🖥️ 🧬

Full story: https://jgi.doe.gov/user-science/science-stories/enzyme-system-help-catalyze-bioproduction-plastic

Exapted CRISPR–Cas12f homologues drive RNA-guided transcription - Nature Specialized σ factors interact with nuclease-dead, CRISPR–Cas12f proteins to form potent, RNA-guided gene activation systems that function independently of fixed promoter motifs.

Just amazing what evolution can come up with. Naturally occurring nuclease deficient Cas12 family members use gRNAs to bind DNA and recruit sigmaE family members that drive txn initiation proximally. 2 papers! 1- describes 2- structure!
www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Insect herbivory dependent on a specialised bacterial symbiosis - fascinating talk by new @johninnescentre.bsky.social group leader @hassansalem.bsky.social #CMINorwich26

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

The unique architecture of umbrella toxins permits a two-tiered molecular bet-hedging strategy for interbacterial antagonism Umbrella toxin particles produced by Actinobacteria contain five spokes tipped with variable lectin domains. Here, Zhao et al. show that these lectins mediate species-specific binding to a previously unrecognized cell surface carbohydrate polymer and propose that the modular nature of umbrella particles enables bet hedging against unpredictable competitor encounters.

Now online! The unique architecture of umbrella toxins permits a two-tiered molecular bet-hedging strategy for interbacterial antagonism

Flexible paths to multicellularity Close relatives of animals can become multicellular if distinct individuals join together or if dividing cells remain attached. A species has been found to use both mechanisms.

This species can become multicellular using two mechanisms previously thought to be mutually exclusive

go.nature.com/4aTKdfF

a figure from the linked paper which shows A) a world map and B) a schematic representation of various natural and artificial habitats, both annotated with information about which sulfur disproportionating bacteria have been found in the specific regions and environments

New paper from my 2nd PostDoc is now published in The ISME Journal by @isme-microbes.bsky.social!

#Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats & has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

#Bacteria #Microbes #Evolution #DeepSea

Experimental Quantum Simulation of Chemical Dynamics pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Day 1 NASA OxyMoRon team studying Moab Khotsong gold mine. Today we are at 1200 m depth. #NASA @mblscience.bsky.social ⚒️🧪

A jumbo cyanophage encodes the most complete ribosomal protein set in the known virosphere www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection - Nature A widespread bacterial defence system called SNIPE is shown to localize to the cell membrane, where it identifies and cleaves the DNA of infecting phage as it is injected into the bacterial cell.

Nature research paper: A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection

go.nature.com/3P2jKFh

A detail from a panel from a 1990 Peanuts comic strip showing Snoopy lying under a tree. He is thinking, “I like a book where there’s only one character and nothing happens to him.”

Good morning, friends!

Phenogenomics reveals the ecology and evolution of Trichoderma fungi for sustainable agriculture - Nature Microbiology Analysis of 37 genomes together with more than 140 phenotypic traits links genomic features to ecological fitness and lifestyle diversity in Trichoderma fungi.

Phenogenomics reveals the ecology and evolution of Trichoderma fungi for sustainable agriculture

-in @natmicrobiol.nature.com by Andrei Steindorff (@jgi.doe.gov) et al from Irina Druzhinina (at @rbgkew.bsky.social), Feng Cai, Igor Grigoriev, and a large network

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

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

The selfish ribosome The ribosome is responsible for protein synthesis in all cells, and is the largest energy consumer in the cell. We propose that the ribosome originated as a mutualistic symbiont of an RNA-dependent RN...

Ribosome centric perspective on the evolution of life. @mkrupovic.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Very proud of Bader Rayan for leading this work uncovering RNA as a regulator of peptide assembly and phase behavior, reshaping the bioactivity of virulent amyloids and host-defense peptides at the interface of bacterial virulence and innate immunity.

In @elife.bsky.social: doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

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