Varsha Mathur

Thanks Yan!

Thanks Yasin!

Check out our new preprint all about Pirsonia, a tiny killer of bloom-forming Coscinodiscus diatoms!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#protistsonsky #marinemicrobes 🌊🔬

Promethea = PROvora + MEteora + HEmimastigophora. The new supergroup, unifying previously “orphan” lineages with gene-rich mitogenomes. Position of #telonemids is still uncertain. #protistsonsky tinyurl.com/yk9xkt49

Check out our paper to explore how the evolutionary history of SELMA supports or challenges various hypotheses on the origin of red complex plastids.

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Phylogenetic position and mitochondrial genome evolution of ‘orphan’ eukaryotic lineages The phylogenetic tree of eukaryotes is divided into a handful of highly diverse ‘supergroups’; only a few so-called ‘orphan’ lineages branch in uncertain positions outside of these large clades. We fo...

New protist supergroup: Promethea! From @zlatogursky.bsky.social et al #ProtistsOnSky

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in Corallochytrium limacisporum,a key species for understanding animal origins | Open Biology Microbial holozoans are the closest unicellular relatives of animals. They share a substantial gene repertoire with animals and exhibit complex life cycles. Studying these organisms is crucial for und...

Very happy to share our new paper where we develop CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in our favorite unicellular relative of animals, Corallochytrium limacisporum! With @sebasn1.bsky.social @multicellgenome.bsky.social Elena and Claudio.

Check it out:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

VERY interesting #protistsonsky

A roadmap to developing unified streptophyte algal model systems Carrillo-Carrasco and colleagues highlight the importance of the establishment of streptophyte algal model systems and the community efforts towards this goal.

We've tried to gather and unite the streptophyte algae community all around the world to join forces and develop tools and methods for these critters. Learn more about it on @currentbiology.bsky.social!
With @jandevries.bsky.social, @dolfweijers.bsky.social, and (many) others!

tinyurl.com/29n4zwen

A red algal polysaccharide influences the multicellular development of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta Perotti et al. find that polysaccharides from algae promote multicellular development in the choanoflagellate S. rosetta. Because algal polysaccharides are abundant in the aquatic environments where S...

A red algal polysaccharide influences the multicellular development of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta

in @currentbiology.bsky.social

www.cell.com/current-biol...

We are looking for a new @thembauk.bsky.social Anne Warner Research Fellow (5 year post) to develop an independent research group in the area of cell and molecular biology of marine organisms here in #Plymouth 🔬🦠🧫🧬 mymba.mba.ac.uk/job-listing....

First Ma lab #GMI paper is now online! It‘s a mini-review on insect-induced plant #galls —their coolness and research potential! Plant galls induced by insects: Coordinated developmental reprogramming and defence manipulation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Telomere-to-telomere Genome Assembly of the Clubroot Pathogen Plasmodiophora Brassicae Abstract. Plasmodiophora brassicae (Woronin, 1877), a biotrophic, obligate parasite, is the causal agent of clubroot disease in brassicas. The clubroot pat

Telomere-to-telomere Genome Assembly of the Clubroot Pathogen Plasmodiophora Brassicae url: academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Vaccination to mitigate climate-driven disruptions to malaria control in Madagascar Extreme weather is common in high malaria burden areas and is likely to increase in severity owing to climate change–related severe weather events. Yet, data on infection rates after these events and ...

Out today in Science: Our work on tropical cyclones and malaria in Madagascar. Work inspired by many and done in collaboration with many www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Incredible Geoff!! Can’t wait for this book 🤩

Animal origins: looping back in time How did the chromatin folding mechanisms controlling gene regulation emerge during animal evolution? Kim et al. surveyed chromatin folding at high-resolution in unicellular relatives of animals as wel...

An insightful @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social perspective on our recent article about the early evolution of genome regulation in animals.

www.cell.com/trends/genet...

Thank you Omar and @ferdix.bsky.social!

The planktonic microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef Large genome databases have markedly improved our understanding of marine microorganisms. Although these resources have focused on prokaryotes, genomes from many dominant marine lineages, such as Pela...

Very excited to present the Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database (GBR-MGD), a comprehensive DB of 1000s of high-quality prokaryote, virus, plasmid, and chromosome-level eukaryote MAGs using Nanopore long reads. Subthreads incoming. Please share widely. 🙂

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

Gene regulatory networks and essential transcription factors for de novo-originated genes Nature Ecology & Evolution - A combination of computational methods applied to single-cell RNA sequencing data and genetic experiments shows that a small number of transcription factors are...

Our latest paper is out: rdcu.be/ev6Ym — one of my favorite projects. It began about 8 years ago when Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel asked me: what transcription factors regulate new genes? I had no idea then. Now we have some answers.

OrthoFinder just dropped a major update

It’s faster, more accurate, and ready for thousands of genomes

Let’s break it down (1/10)

github.com/OrthoFinder/...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are looking for a student to continue our work on chromatin evolution:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The project with @seanamontgomery.bsky.social will focus on chromatin state readers across eukaryotes.

More info: recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...

Mass Spectrometry Reveals Novel Features of Tubulin Polyglutamylation in the Flagellum of Trypanosoma brucei Tubulin polyglutamylation is a key feature of eukaryotic cilia and flagella that is essential for their function. The diversity of enzymes catalyzing polyglutamylation with different specificities ins...

Finally out! Mass spec analysis of #trypanosome flagellar tubulins reveals some surprises including a new #glutamylation site on beta-tubulin! Many thanks to the teams of Julia Chamot-Rooke and Mariette Matondo!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

New Ways to Root Phylogenomic trees: the Smart, the symbiotic, the violent To root a phylogenomic tree is very important to study the evolutionary relationship between species. However, typically the substitution models (say GTR, LG, etc.) people use are time-reversible m…

some thoughts on new methods to root a phylogenomic tree: the smart, the symbiotic, the violent

sishuowang2022.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/n...

#phylo
@tweethinking.bsky.social @andrewjroger.bsky.social

Check out our new paper on tiny archigregarine plastid genomes! 🧬

Platyproteum noduliferae is a marine alveolate, discovered in the intestinal tract of the host Phascolosoma noduliferum (a peanut worm🥜🪱 ) in the western coast of Hok kaido, Japan by Yokouchi et al #Midweekmicrobe
📷 Yokouchi et al 2022

We are hiring: Full Professor of Soil Ecosystems and Global Change Soil ecosystems form the foundation of planetary health and play a critical role in climate feedback mechanisms. However, they are also vulnerable to the impacts of global change.

CeMESS is hiring!

Join us at the Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research (@ter-cemess.bsky.social) as Full Professor of SOIL ECOSYSTEMS AND GLOBAL CHANGE. Collaborate across a leading institution in microbiome science and environmental research.

🔗 Learn more: cemess.univie.ac.at/news/detail-...

I am very happy to have posted my first bioRxiv preprint. A long time in the making - and still adding a few final touches to it - but we're excited to finally have it out there in the wild:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read below for a few highlights...

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

📜 A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

🧑‍🔬 Corey A.H. Allard, Amy S.Y. Lee, @nbellono.bsky.social, et al.

📔 @cellpress.bsky.social

🔗 www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

#️⃣ #PlantScience #Kleptosomes #Sacoglossan #SeaSlug #Photosynthesis

Congrats @messorensen.bsky.social!! So excited to have you bringing more protist research to Uni Vienna 🎉🤩

Early bird applications are now open! Go go go genomics!

How does the malaria parasite regulate co-expression of genes? By recruiting them into transcription factories, courtesy of MORC et al. A fantastic team effort led by @jessmbryant.bsky.social with Jacques Serizay @singh-parul.bsky.social, @ju-couble.bsky.social @rkoszul.bsky.social