Lars Dietrich

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

At long last! Check out the link to our publication in @nature.com to learn more. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
12/12

A pilot in a submersible vehicle collecting sediments samples in 30 meters of water looking for Asgards (microbial relatives of eukaryotes)

One of the biggest questions in biology is how complex cells evolved about 2 billion years ago. Here's my new story on how scientists are solving the mystery of eukaryotes like us. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qMbo22

Preprint on the permeability of Gram+ bacterial cell wall from a few months ago. Intriguing findings, elegant methodology. Cell wall is largely impermeable to molecule sizes of mNeonGreen (27kDa) and above. How do larger secreted proteins get through? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky

a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)

Seema Mattoo on Bordetella pertussis and whooping cough!

Matters Microbial,
@mattoolab.bsky.social
@markowenmartin.bsky.social

#MicroSky

@poojag96.bsky.social work on the bioenergetics of spore germination is now published- Pooja had a really nice summary that I've put below but essentially we think the role of bioenergetics in spore germination has been completely overlooked!

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

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.

Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky

Metabolite toxicity as a driver of bacterial metabolite externalization www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #jcampubs

Metabolic diversity of microorganisms toward atypical sugar enantiomers https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.17.700050v1

Registration to GRC Microbial Stress Response is open!
Can't wait!👍
@stallingslab.bsky.social @fredbarras.bsky.social
& @anjbadri.bsky.social @laahrs.bsky.social

Overview of the NIAID data ecosystem interface and example search. (A) The landing page provides access to the Discovery Portal’s basic search interface. (B) Example search results for “Zika virus” data sets filtered by species: “Homo sapiens” and variableMeasured: “Proteomics,” demonstrating how users can refine results using structured metadata filters to support targeted data discovery.

Valuable data sets are often overlooked because they are difficult to locate. The NIAID Data Ecosystem Discovery Portal provides a centralized, searchable interface that empowers users with varying technical expertise to find and reuse data. #mSystems: asm.social/2Lo

Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, my model for research on quorum sensing, biofilms, and opportunistic infections | Journal of Bacteriology With encouragement from the Journal of Bacteriology Editor in Chief, George O’Toole, I have written this short essay in a style different than Journal of Bacteriology articles on model organisms. It i...

Pete Greenberg's view in #JBacteriol:
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, my model for research on quorum sensing, biofilms, and opportunistic infections

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The discovery of aeonophiles expands our definition of life | Aeon Essays The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life

Some of the longest-lived organisms on Earth aren’t whales, trees or corals, but microbes buried deep in the earth. This eye-opening essay examines the slowest lives on Earth, asking what such lives mean for how we define life itself @karenlloyd.bsky.social

“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known"
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.

Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠

Can’t wait!! My bacterial cell bio friends, you’re gonna want to go to this GRC and GRS.

A metabolic atlas of the Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex reveals lineage-specific metabolism and capacity for intra-species co-operation Why are there so many co-circulating Klebsiella pneumoniae clones? Using genomics and large-scale metabolic modelling of >7000 isolates, this study identifies structured, clone-specific metabolic spec...

Absolutely stoked to have this published in @plosbiology.org

We looked at the metabolism of #Klebsiella pneumoniae 🦠🧫. We not only demonstrated lineage-specific #metabolism, but that lineages can cross-feed and support each other.

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

#MicroSky #microbiology 🧬 🧪 💊

The diderm cell envelope is not a stack of layers but a unified scaffold of Inner Membrane–Peptidoglycan–Outer Membrane.
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬

I am recruiting graduate students for Fall 2026! The Microbial Ecosystems Lab @hot-mes-asu.bsky.social at ASU studies microbial interactions, spatial ecology, and imaging-driven microbiome science. If you love microbes, microfluidics, or single-cell analysis, let’s talk! www.microbialeco.systems

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

Essential reading if you care about the health of scientific inquiry in the US

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.

Each such discovery is a game changer for our understanding of eukaryote evolution, and this paper is no exception. Meet Solarion, which displays yet again novel types of subcellular structures. Congrats to all authors on a fascinating story. #protistsonsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!

Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio

Structural basis of lipopolysaccharide assembly by the outer membrane translocon holo-complex - Nature Communications The asymmetric distribution of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the surface of the bacterial outer membrane is essential and crucial for antibiotic resistance. Here, authors characterize the LPS translocon...

Very happy to share our work on lipopolysaccharide assembly by the Lpt complex, published today in @natcomms.nature.com
Fantastic collaboration with @raffaeleieva.bsky.social l and t @pstansfeld.bsky.social
Congrats to all authors, especially Haoxiang, Axel & Violette
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...

TrackMate v8 - segmentation editor and Python CLI integration TrackMate v8: 2D Segmentation Editor & Python CLI Integration Hi everyone, I am excited to announce TrackMate v8, a major update introducing key improvements for both end-users and developers. Mai...

New release of the TrackMate single particle tracking plugin for ImageJ by @jytinevez.bsky.social looks amazing! forum.image.sc/t/trackmate-...
Loads of new features, most excitingly to me deep learning segmentation algorithms including Omnipose (for cells), and Spotiflow (for spots) #bioimaging

Weird word of the day: "kleptosquamy." The testate amoeba Awerintzewia cyclostoma steals scales from other amoeboid organisms to build its own shell. This one has robbed Quadrulella, Netzelia, various euglyphids, and even an Acanthocystis. Kleptosquamy! #amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #biology #nature

Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS Dihydrodichlorofluorescein derivatives have been employed as reporters of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in innumerable studies. Their...

Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Left: Spatial architecture of mouse brain reconstructed using Cell2Spatial. Cell types are marked by color codes, and each dot represents an individual cell. Top right: Distribution of cell types Astro, L2/3 IT, L4 and L5 IT on mouse brain ST slice. Bottom right: Left: Epithelial cell transcriptomes from a mouse kidney single-cell atlas were mapped onto spatial spots of a normal mouse kidney using Cell2Spatial, displayed with jitter within their assigned spots. Right: The same representation, with cells colored based on their known distance to the inner medulla.

Resolution limits attmepts to deconvolute spatial transcriptomics & estimate cellular composition. This study presents Cell2Spatial, which maps #scRNAseq data to #SpatialTranscriptomics spots, facilitating precise reconstruction of tissue architecture @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/47MhTvl

Prashant Singh in the lab of Tina Iverson at Vanderbilt published this image of the bacterial 🦠flagellar motor, a detailed molecular model made possibly by CryoEM 🔬.

The similarity to mechanical motors are strong enough we can use terms like stator, rotor, rod & gearing to describe it.

The type VI secretion system and associated effector proteins - Nature Reviews Microbiology In this Review, Basler and colleagues examine the type VI secretion system (T6SS), focusing on the diversity of antibacterial T6SS effectors and the evolutionary forces that shape them. They explain h...

Happy to share our latest T6SS review:
nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!

Metal scaffolds turn bacteria into live wires Mud-dwelling cable bacteria construct metal organic frameworks to grow

In muddy sediments all over the world, tiny bacteria eat and grow by building electrically conducting wires into the muck.

Now, researchers say they have discovered how these miniature electricians, known as cable bacteria, do it. https://scim.ag/4i2s2Yu