Gautam Dey

Humanity faces one of the biggest choices in history.

#GEO7 shows that investing in planetary health improves economies, livelihoods, and saves lives.

UNEP ED @ingerandersen.bsky.social urges countries to drive their economies toward a thriving, sustainable future: www.unep.org/interactives...

Deciphering microbial spatial organization: insights from synthetic and engineered communities Microbial communities are frequently organized into complex spatial structures, shaped by intrinsic cellular traits, interactions between community members, initial growth condition or environmental factors. Under- standing the mechanisms that drive these spatial patterns is essential for uncovering fundamental principles of microbial ecology and for developing applications. Using genetic engineering and synthetic microbial communities allows us to decipher how specific parameters influence spatial organization. In this review, we highlight recent studies that leverage synthetic microbial communities to deepen our understanding of microbial spatial ecology. We begin by exploring how initial conditions, such as cell density and relative species abundance, influence spatial organization. We then focus on studies that examine the role of individ- ual microbial traits, such as cell shape and motility. Next, we discuss the impact of contact-dependent and long-range interactions, including metabolite exchange and toxin release. Furthermore, we highlight the in- fluence of environmental factors on spatial dynamics. Finally, we address the current limitations of synthetic approaches and propose future directions to bridge the gap between engineered and natural systems.

Deciphering microbial spatial organization: insights from synthetic and engineered communities | ISME Communications | Oxford Academic

Temporal dynamics and adaptiveness of thermal phenotypic plasticity in a ciliate Abstract. Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread strategy used by organisms to cope with environmental fluctuations. Empirical studies have mostly focused o

Temporal dynamics and adaptiveness of thermal phenotypic plasticity in a ciliate
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Léonard Dupont et al.

Confused by all the histones that are cropping up in organisms that are decidedly NOT eukaryotes? check out our review - fantastic work by team NucEvo in the #Lugerlab
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

🗞️ New preprint from the lab, led by our postdoc Ana Garoña (not on here) in collab with @andreagiometto.bsky.social: “Experimental evolution of cellular miniaturization reveals a mechanism for cell size evolution”, aka: “honey, we shrank the yeasts!” 🎥
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Full Stack Web Developer for Life Science Research

We are hiring for a web developer position, ideally with some experience in bioinformatics. This position is aimed at helping us turn our research in human genetics into useful tools. A background in either bioinformatics or web development is required.

jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

Really happy to have been granted a #ERCCoG, grateful to the team who made this possible, and to the community who considered this work promising! If you (or someone you know) are/is interested in #chromatin evolution and #giantViruses, please do get in touch, there will be positions available.

Twelve scientists from Chile, India, Nigeria, Singapore and Taiwan have been selected as new EMBO Global Investigators – Congratulations to the new cohort! 🧪

Read the press release:
https://www.embo.org/press-releases/twelve-scientists-become-embo-global-investigators/
#funding #training

The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms Histones are small basic proteins that form the proteinaceous core of the nucleosome, the repeating building block of chromatin in all eukaryotes. Long thought to be exclusive to eukaryotes, histones ...

A little reading before the Christmas break by the one and only @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social in @annualreviews.bsky.social

The expanding Histone universe: Histone-Based DNA organization in noneukaryotic organisms

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Top: The phylogenetic position of Nematostella and localization of Vasa2 +/Piwi1+ cells within the juvenile polyp body plan. (A) Simplified phylogenetic tree highlighting the phylogenetic position of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis and other animal taxa relevant for this study. All animal silhouettes are licensed under CC0,1.0 Universal Public domain and taken from https://www.phylopic.org. (B–D) Schematics showing the localization of Vasa2+/Piwi1+ cells in a juvenile polyp, depicted in longitudinal (B) or cross-section (C, D). (E) Schematic representation of the multipotent, Vasa2+/Piwi1+ stem/progenitor cell population and a simplified summary of their germinal and somatic progeny. (F) Schematics of cell cycle phases, highlighting the incorporation of EdU during S-phase (black line) and the phosphorylation of Histone H3 (pH3+) during metaphase. Bottom: Confocal image of two Vasa+/Piwi+ stem-like cells in the inner epithelial folds of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis. Immunolabelling of mOrange2-Piwi1 fusion protein (yellow) in a transgenic knock-in line combined with nuclear stain (white). Image credit: Paula Miramón-Puértolas.

How do animals with lifelong growth modulate cell #proliferation? @eudaldpascual.bsky.social @ktgarschall.bsky.social @prhsteinmetz.bsky.social show that starvation induces G1/G0 #CellCycle arrest in Vasa2+/Piwi1+ #SeaAnemone cells; cycle re-entry is TOR-dependent @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48J2o6P

What Scientists Found When a Deep Sea Mining Company Invited Them In

Deep sea mining is very bad for deep sea ecosystems.

Enjoy! (Your freedom and the conference)

Delighted to share some coverage of our new preprint (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) from Scientific American

and thank you @sciam.bsky.social @andreatweather.bsky.social for taking the time to chat with @hbrappap.bsky.social and I about why we are so excited about the geothermal 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘦𝘣𝘢

This Tiny ‘Fire Amoeba’ Just Redefined Life’s Limits It was thought that complex cells couldn’t survive above a certain temperature, but a tiny amoeba has proven that assumption wrong

It's been thought since the early 70s that eukaryotes (basically any life with a cell nucleus) wouldn't survive above 62C and no complex life had been shown living above 60C. Until the "fire amoeba"... 🧪

(These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)

#LivingArchitectures
We put cells and cytoskeleton filaments on the architecture of the musée d'Orsay.
www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/agenda/ev...
Scientists of the #CytoMorphoLab adapted their protocols to illustrate the questions that keep them awake at night.
-> Two shows on the 24th and 25th of January.

Cell wall patterning regulates plant stem cell dynamics The plant cell wall regulates development through spatiotemporal modulation of its chemical and mechanical properties. Pectin methylesterification is recognized as a rheological switch controlling wal...

Out in @science.org this week:
PME5 is sequestered in the nucleus and released during cytokinesis allowing its activity to be timed with cell division.

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

#PlantScience
#PlantSci

Whoops wrong @erzbergerlab.bsky.social - sorry - I think I’ve done this before 🫣

Yay! Congrats @erzbergerlab.bsky.social @bertaverd.bsky.social @venkataramanilab.bsky.social and everyone and welcome 🤗

UK farmers lose £800m after heat and drought cause one of worst harvests on record Many now concerned about ability to make living in fast-changing climate after one of worst grain harvests recorded Record heat and drought cost Britain’s arable farmers more than £800m in lost production in 2025 in one of the worst harvests recorded, analysis has estimated. Three of the five worst harvests on record have now occurred since 2020, leaving some farmers asking whether the growing impacts of the climate crisis are making it too financially risky to sow their crops. Farmers are already facing heavy financial pressure as the costs of fertilisers and other inputs have risen faster than prices. Continue reading...

UK farmers lose £800m after heat and drought cause one of worst harvests on record

Oxidative phosphorylation complexes contain subunits encoded by both the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. How do cells coordinate the synthesis and assembly of these complexes at the inner membrane? We teamed up with Martin Ott (@mitolab.bsky.social) to address this in two recent papers.

Today, our animation synthesizing decades of research on actin-mediated endocytosis in budding yeast was published:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

The result of a fantastic Iwasa-Drubin lab collaboration.

@margotriggi.bsky.social @jiwasa.bsky.social
movie.biologists.com/video/10.124...

A very interesting piece on the evolution of #photoperiodism and its relation to #circadian #clocks by Luisa Jabbur @jabbur.bsky.social and Carl Johnson.

Join us next sunday for a wonderful discussion!! #PlanetaryCellBiology @gladfelterlab.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social @mpolychronidou.bsky.social @karlaneugebauer.bsky.social

🙌🏽🙌🏽

Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation Inge et al. show that human endoderm originates from two converging developmental routes with distinct dynamics and efficiencies yet similar developmental potential. Combinatorial activin and BMP4 sig...

So exciting to see this in print! Ever wondered how embryonic cells know what (fate) to become during early development? In particular when they might see different signaling cues? We investigated this!

And a lovely cover from Zoe Ruiz and @oliveringe.bsky.social!

www.cell.com/developmenta...

Check out Javi’s discovery of a membrane scission mechanism that is a few billion years old!

Molecular basis for cellular compartmentalization by an ancient membrane fission mechanism The emergence of cell compartmentalization depends on membrane fission to create the endomembrane compartments. In eukaryotes, membrane fission is commonly executed by ESCRT-III, a protein complex con...

New preprint from the lab!!🎉
We show that Asgard archaea ESCRT-III proteins can trigger membrane fission and reveal its molecular mechanism, offering clues to how these cells may have built internal compartments. But do these organisms even have these compartments?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rooting the deep divergence of land plants Unravelling the deep phylogenetic structure of embryophytes is essential for understanding their evolutionary success on land. However, pronounced phylogenetic dispute remains: while recent phylogenom...

Delighted to share our latest work on the deep divergence of land plants! @jandevries.bsky.social
#Phylogenomics
#Embryophytes
#Terrestrialization
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Loss of tropical moist broadleaf forest has turned Africa’s forests from a carbon sink into a source - Scientific Reports Africa’s forests and woody savannas have historically acted as a carbon sink, removing atmospheric carbon and storing it as biomass. However, our novel analysis reveals a critical transition from a ca...

Africa’s forests have joined the Brazilian Amazon and Australian forests in becoming carbon sources rather than sinks. Around 2010 the previous storage of our carbon emissions flipped, mainly through deforestation and degradation.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#climatechange #deforestation #Africa