Yehu Moran

EMBO Press co-evolves with molecular ecology and evolutionary biology - The EMBO Journal The EMBO Journal - Molecular ecology and evolution are central to understanding how biological systems function, interact, and diversify. A special issue of this journal reflects the growing...

Read how @embopress.org is expanding its focus on molecular ecology and evolution as central underpinnings of functions/interactions/diversification of biological systems – by @yehumoran.bsky.social, @berndpulverer.bsky.social, and our new team of Editorial Advisors
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I totally agree, that's why I change the automatic language and say we'll adjust the deadline to the reviewer's needs.

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Editor perspective: finding 2–3 reviewers often means sending >20 invites. The peer-review system doesn’t run on magic. Worth remembering before clicking “decline” and later complaining about extremely slow reviews.

#Tel_Aviv still has a few things going for it in February.

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3/3 shout out to Yael Admoni the PhD student who led this project with help from Rubi Aharoni and Magda Lewandowska and our amazing collaborators at the lab of Qi Chen (Utah)

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2/3 Yet, their RNAi response is surprisingly short-lived and we show that most probably secondary siRNAs are not formed (good luck with proving 100% that something doesn't happen). This strongly suggests that RNAi takes part in the antiviral response in Cnidaria but in a limited capacity ->

Characterization of RNA interference in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis reveals partial target silencing but lack of small RNA amplification RNA interference is an ancestral antiviral mechanism that degrades viral RNA through siRNAs, but its role in cnidarians has been unclear. This study shows that Nematostella vectensis likely possesses ...

1/3 🚨New paper from our lab!🔥
Most textbooks will tell you that invertebrates employ #RNAi as antiviral mechanism. Yet, do 🪸🪼 actually do it? Well, the answer is complicated. We show that in #Nematostella dsRNA induces RNAi 🧵
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

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5/5 kudos to Ton Sharoni, the PhD student who bravely led this long and challenging project, and to all the other researchers in my lab who participated and helped along the years, and special thanks to our amazing collaborators at the lab of Adam Reitzel!

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4/5 we show that CARDIB and it's RLR partners are indeed crucial for antiviral immunity. Take home message: not every positive BLAST result tell you the function and orthology of a protein in another organism, and, CARDIB rocks!

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3/5 we present transcriptomic and functional data from unprecedented number of #Nematostella mutant lines, and "rewildering" experiments where we expose the mutants to native conditions and water full with viruses from the blackish lagoons where Nematostella comes from!

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2/5 CARDIB is the best reciprocal BLAST hit to MAVS (aka IPS, VISA and CARDIF) of mammals. Yet, we show it is not an ortholog of MAVS and works in a completely opposite fashion: it inhibits RIG-I-based signaling and antiviral response rather than promoting it!

An ancient anthozoan protein reveals an alternative evolutionary path of antiviral signaling How antiviral immunity first arose in animals is a central question in evolutionary biology. Using the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, we identify CARDIB, a previously uncharacterized gene located...

1/5
🚨🚨 preprint alert! 🚨🚨
I wish to introduce CARDIB, not the singer, but the protein.
CARDIB=CARD Inhibitory Binding protein.
In our new work we discover this antiviral protein that is found in all Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals 🪸) but not in other animals.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

Very happy and honored for being invited to give a keynote lecture at the 5th ISFSI conference in beautiful Tainan (and no, sea anemones are not fish or shellfish, but they are certainly marine invertebrates and have a fascinating immune system).

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3/3 this is a co demonstration how adaptation of experimental methods in genomics and cell biology into less conventional model organisms can shed light on evolutionary questions. Kudos to Itamar and to Daria Aleshkina, Adrian Jaimes-Becerra & Matan Levy from our lab who helped him.

2/3 stinging cells, aka cnidocytes, are the cells that define Cnidaria. Their organelles are the ones injecting venom when you are stung by a 🪼 or 🪸. Itamar's work highlights their molecular complexity and how they can be divided epigenetically into distinct populations. >>>

Epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal cnidocyte specialization in a sea anemone Cnidarians, including corals, hydras, jellyfish, and sea anemones, possess specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes that function in prey capture and defense. These cells represent a striking evol...

1/3 🔥🚨 We have a new @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social #preprint from our lab! Itamar Kozlovski, an excellent PhD student, established CUT&TAG in #Nematostella. He used this technique to map the transcriptional activation mark H3K27ac in two stinging cell populations
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

bsky.app/profile/yehu...

Scientists targeted by dark PR tactics: Several academic scientists critical of de-extinction projects have become the targets of anonymous smear articles and weaponized copyright infringement claims:... EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.

My first ever non-peer reviewed science-related piece. Together with Howard Wolinsky and Holger Breithaupt @embopress.org

It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

There’s a reason no one remembers philosophers from Sparta: they had none. Athens valued ideas, Sparta only force.

A 21st-century leader dreaming of a “super-Sparta” isn’t being visionary, he’s showing deeply flawed judgement.

Oh, my country, what a train wreck you’ve become.

I'm super proud of this guy!!! 👇

Heat Stress Drives Rapid Viral and Antiviral Innate Immunity Activation in Hexacorallia The class Hexacorallia, encompassing stony corals and sea anemones, plays a critical role in marine ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the disruption of the symbiosis between stony corals and zooxanthellat...

Our paper about the interplay between heat stress, viral and antiviral response in sea anemones and #corals 🪸 is finally out!
#OpenAccess

Collaboration between my lab, Maoz Fine and @reefgenomics.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Dissecting a peptidergic signaling pathway in Trichoplax adhaerens by gene silencing The simple marine animal Trichoplax adhaerens provides a unique window into early metazoan evolution. Li et al. develop an efficient RNAi-based gene knockdown method and uncover how neuropeptide-recep...

Very interesting results and a technical breakthrough in gene silencing in Trichoplax:

Dissecting a peptidergic signaling pathway in Trichoplax adhaerens by gene silencing: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

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A journal drags our review process for months over months. Even the final round after "accepted in principle" with some light text editing drags for weeks. Then the proofs come in, in the least convenient time possible, "we expect you to return your comments within 48 hours" 😖

An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Very cool! Congratulations, Luisa!

We sent a paper to a "posh" journal. Waited for more than a month, Finally today the editor rejects the paper without external review. The logic is as follows: "I wanted 🍕, but you sent me a 🍔, and despite my expectations, there was no 🍕! I admit it's a fine 🍔, but where is the 🍕 I was expecting?"

Achievement unlocked!
Now, I can finally rest 🤪

Hello, old friend.
Didn't expect to meet you here...
#Berlin #aquarium #Anemonia

Well, I would say that relying on where a paper was published is still not a good proxy (that's an understatement), for the quality of a paper but far less terrible than thinking that high impact factor equals a "good" journal while low impact factor equals a "bad" journal.