Sarahi L. Garcia

ATP synthesis driven by atmospheric hydrogen concentrations | PNAS All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The un...

Our article showing energy production from air alone is in PNAS today. This paper provides an ultimate biochemical proof that microbes can survive simply by 'making' energy from air (making two ATP per molecule atmospheric H2 consumed) and has biotech applications. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Microbe with bizarrely tiny genome may be evolving into a virus With DNA focused almost entirely on replication, newly discovered organism blurs the line between cells and viruses

This is wild! Stay weird, evolution | Microbe with bizarrely tiny genome may be evolving into a virus | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Assemblies of long-read metagenomes suffer from diverse errors Genomes from metagenomes have revolutionised our understanding of microbial diversity, ecology, and evolution, propelling advances in basic science, biomedicine, and biotechnology. Assembly algorithms...

I am very happy (and anxious) to share with you our most recent work in which we evaluated four of the most popular long-read assemblers,

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

and tell you just a little bit about it in the following 🧵

4) a community that is potentially interdependent
5) ubiquitous microorgansims

3) microorgansims with lower biosynthetic potential

2) more of the diversity out there

Microbial model communities reveal widespread auxotrophies in abundant bacteria
Our results highlight the value of cultivating microorganisms in groups to cultivate:
1) abundant microorganisms
tinyurl.com/miintmodcom

Just out - The first global ocean 3-Domain microbial survey where all organisms can be directly compared quantitatively. Unfractionated and amplified from just 2 primers (vetted with mock communities and metagenomics), so all with the same denominator. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Do you like potatoes? Don't miss our most recent work on tetraploid potato genome!
@nature.com
#potato #genomics #history #evolution

We offer a 5-year research position in the #PlanktonEcology lab in Wilhelmshaven. Are you interested in empirically testing ecological concepts? We offer a stimulating scientific environment, experimental facilities & support to establish an independent research profile
uol.de/en/job/postd...

Prof. Dr. Kirsten Küsel. Foto: Jens Meyer / Uni Jena

Our microbiologist Prof. Dr Kirsten Küsel has been elected as member of @leopoldina.org. 💐

The speaker of the Cluster of Excellence @microverse.bsky.social and @crc-aquadiva.bsky.social at #UniJena studies microbial communities in soil, water and deep underground.

➡️ www.uni-jena.de/en/310794/pr...

The path to dependence: stepwise genome evolution from a facultative symbiont to an endosymbiont in the N2-fixing diatom-Richelia symbioses A few genera of diatoms are widespread in the oceans and form stable partnerships with N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria Richelia spp. A unique feature of the diatom-Richelia symbioses is the symbio...

Check out this amazing evolutionary story!

The path to dependence: stepwise genome evolution from a facultative symbiont to an endosymbiont in the N2-fixing diatom-Richelia symbioses

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

Horizontal gene transfer of the functional archaellum machinery to Bacteria Motility in Archaea is driven by a nanomachinery called the archaellum. So far, archaella have been exclusively described for the archaeal domain; however, a recent study reported the presence of arch...

"~demonstrating the successful expression and assembly of this (Archaeallum) machinery in Bacteria and its function in swimming motility."

Horizontal gene transfer of the functional archaellum machinery to Bacteria
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Two decades of bacterial ecology and evolution in a freshwater lake - Nature Microbiology A 471-metagenome time series from Lake Mendota in Wisconsin, USA, reveals seasonal and decadal shifts in bacterial functional and ecological dynamics, especially in response to environmental extremes.

Today is the one-year anniversary of finishing my recent @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social paper's final draft 📝. It is also my son's 1st birthday 🐣. Seems like a good time for an explainer thread! (1/n)

@archaeal.bsky.social @quendi.bsky.social @sarilog.bsky.social

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

Uni Oldenburg is starting a genomics facility, and we are looking for a bioinformatician.
uol.de/en/job/bioin...
The position is initially for 3 years, but there are chances of permanency after the 3 years.
Please share!

"A study of federally funded research projects in the United States estimated that principal investigators spend on average about 45% of their time on administrative activities related to applying for and managing projects rather than conducting active research"

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

It has been amazing to continue this long-term research through a PhD with @quendi.bsky.social and a postdoc with @archaeal.bsky.social . Not everyone gets to see a project through like this as an ECR- thanks to supportive PI's and the NSF-PRFB fellowship that let me design my own postdoc 💙🧪

We are very happy to announce a free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR symposium in Oldenburg to discuss integrated microbial 'omics and learn applications of anvi'o.

More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...

Please apply and/or circulate 😇

Yesterday was epic! The first member of my research group @alejandrorgijon.bsky.social successfully defended his PhD thesis. My heartfelt congratulations, Alejandro!!! May the future bring a lot more reasons to celebrate with super heroe/villain costumes 🙌🏽

The ever-changing tree of life Nature Microbiology - The tree of life is a galvanizing image, anchoring biological diversity within a common framework. From a new view in 2016, the tree has continued to grow, and with it, our...

Eight years later, I revisit the tree of life. “Future trees may need to distinguish not only between cultured and uncultured lineages, but between extant and extinct”

rdcu.be/dPNpB

Very excited to share this most amazing story about Lake Mendota's microbes!! A herculean effort on behalf of @robinrohwer.bsky.social and such a rewarding collaboration with some of my favorite scientists @archaeal.bsky.social @sarilog.bsky.social Hurray for LTER! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bacterial ecology and evolution converge on seasonal and decadal scales Ecology and evolution are distinct theories, but the short lifespans and large population sizes of microbes allow evolution to unfold along contemporary ecological time scales. To document this in a natural system, we collected a two-decade, 471-metagenome time series from a single site in a freshwater lake, which we refer to as the TYMEFLIES dataset. This massive sampling and sequencing effort resulted in the reconstruction of 30,389 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs) over 50% complete, which dereplicated into 2,855 distinct genomes (>96% nucleotide sequence identity). We found both ecological and evolutionary processes occurred at seasonal time scales. There were recurring annual patterns at the species level in abundances, nucleotide diversities (π), and single nucleotide variant (SNV) profiles for the majority of all taxa. During annual blooms, we observed both higher and lower nucleotide diversity, indicating that both ecological differentiation and competition drove evolutionary dynamics. Overlayed upon seasonal patterns, we observed long-term change in 20% of the species' SNV profiles including gradual changes, step changes, and disturbances followed by resilience. Most abrupt changes occurred in a single species, suggesting evolutionary drivers are highly specific. Nevertheless, seven members of the abundant Nanopelagicaceae family experienced abrupt change in 2012, an unusually hot and dry year. This shift coincided with increased numbers of genes under selection involved in amino acid and nucleic acid metabolism, suggesting fundamental organic nitrogen compounds drive strain differentiation in the most globally abundant freshwater family. Overall, we observed seasonal and decadal trends in both interspecific ecological and intraspecific evolutionary processes. The convergence of microbial ecology and evolution on the same time scales demonstrates that understanding microbiomes requires a new unified approach that views ecology and evolution as a single continuum. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Been dreaming of this paper for a decade. 1 PhD and 1 postdoc later, here it is!

What do ecology and evolution look like in a 20-year microbiome time series? They blur together

@quendi.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social @uslter.bsky.social @sarilog.bsky.social 🧪🖥️🧬

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