Arjuna Rajakumar PhD

A stochastic ratchet during genome streamlining can commit insect endosymbionts to a parasitic or mutualistic fate Many arthropods, including insects, harbor endosymbiotic bacteria. As bacteria transitioned to live inside host cells, free-living bacterial ancestors of endosymbionts reduced their genomes in a proce...

Hello World! The Social Fluids Lab as arrived.
☀️Come to the Socially Transferred Materials symposium at #ESEB2025 in August.
Read our preprints: 🦠 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
& 🪲 doi.org/10.1101/2024...
OR recent papers: 🐜 🍼 doi.org/10.1073/pnas... & 🐜🌱 doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Please don’t stop sharing and posting your science because of the current attack on it, it is still valuable and reminds us what the fight is for

Incredibly excited to rejuvenate my scientific social network on Bluesky! Current and past research interests include germline immortality, protein folding and organelle remodeling during development. Looking forward to what lies ahead!

Single-molecule mitochondrial DNA imaging reveals heteroplasmy dynamics shaped by developmental bottlenecks and selection in different organs in vivo https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.24.634671v1

Synthetic GPCRs for programmable sensing and control of cell behaviour - Nature Modular synthetic G-protein-coupled receptors with nanobody-based ligand-recognition domains can be designed and used to programme transgene expression, real-time fluorescence or endogenous G-protein ...

Amazing new work from the lab of @aliceyting.bsky.social @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social @stanfordbiosci.bsky.social, engineered GPCRs for ligand-activated cell responses

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

Just joined Bluesky and I'm DELIGHTED that so many of my past twitter-life ento friends are already here! I MISSED YOU GUYS!!! #entomology 🐝

The PIWI-interacting protein Gtsf1 controls the selective degradation of small RNAs in Paramecium Abstract. Ciliates undergo developmentally programmed genome elimination, in which small RNAs direct the removal of transposable elements (TEs) during the

For my first post here, I am happy to share that our latest paper is out at #NAR. Thanks for the smooth and constructive reviewing process and the highlight #RNAbiology #TEsky #smallRNAs (1/8)
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Non-apoptotic caspase events and Atf3 expression underlie direct neuronal differentiation of adult neural stem cells Highlighted Article: An inducible Cas3*/Cas7* sensor demonstrates that non-apoptotic caspase events occur in zebrafish neural stem cells. In cooperation with the stress-induced transcription factor At...

Just published in Development (@biologists.bsky.social):
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

The Rise of Polyploids During Environmental Catastrophes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.22.624806v1 Polyploidy, or whole-genome duplication (WGD), both a strong evolutionary and ecological force and a

The Rise of Polyploids During Environmental Catastrophes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.22.624806v1

About Traction Force Microscopy
bsky.app/profile/epim...

A tug-of-war between germ cell motility and intercellular bridges controls germline cyst formation in mice Gametes in many species develop in cysts—clusters of germ cells formed by incomplete cytokinesis—that remain connected through intercellular bridges (…

Absolutely gorgeous story out from @eposfai.bsky.social's team. Check it out for the story, and oogle over the images 🤩

Hi! Would love to be added!

A unique symbiosome in an anaerobic single-celled eukaryote Nature Communications - Symbiont-housing structures are well-studied in multicellular eukaryotes but rarely in unicellular protists. This study shows that low-oxygen-adapted Anaeramoebae have...

Want to be amazed by how a symbiont can be located at the center of a cell while still being an epibiont! Please read and be amazed by the symbiosis between Anaerameoba and sulfate-reducing bacteria!

Now out in Nature Communications (open access)! rdcu.be/dZGNe
(1/11)

Shamelessly taking advantage of the bluesky migration to share again some of my favorite echinoderm pics 😀🤩

🔽 Acetylated tubulin (nerves and cilia) and phalloidin (muscles) stains in a juvenile sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) just after metamorphosis ⭐

My first #FluorescenceFriday on the new sky!
The emergence of the neural progenitor cells (magenta) in the #zebrafish embryos #brain 🔬

Symbiosis across the tree of life The aim of this collection is to showcase symbiotic relationships across the tree of life, exploring their evolutionary basis and underlying mechanisms.

Symbiosis nerds! Some of you might have seen a smattering of recent posts about papers in PLoS Biology, but it's worth looking at the entire special issue, called Symbiosis Across the Tree of Life (edited by Richards and Moran). There are so many interesting reviews, comments, etc. type things here!

A dragon is born every time a reviewer responds that they cannot review the paper, but by the way, from the abstract this looks completely flawed.

Would love to be added!

It’s been a few months since I have started using this colorful to-do-list to stay on top of the many tasks of a starting PI. I think much of my relative remained sanity is due to this organization of the seemingly never ending list of tasks. And I’ve been able to cross so many tasks of the list!

Justified text alignment is purely psychotic

The cover of a scientific journal called Developmental Biology. The background is white with black letters. In the centers, the picture of a zebrafish tail with pigment cells (black spots) and sensory neurons fluorescently labeled appear in different colors

I got the cover!! #zebrafish

Would love to be added!

Would like to join!

Great list!! Would like to be added!

Our paper, identifying all the cell types in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract (uterus, female-limited glands, sperm storage organs) is out today! We used single-nuclei RNA sequencing and a lot of in situ cross-validation www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2409850121 🪰 🧬🧪 1/n

Long-range chemical signalling in vivo is regulated by mechanical signals bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

🥳Our paper on the interplay between mechanical and long range chemical signals in #nervous system #development is now available as a #preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#mechanobiology #chemicalsignalling #piezo1 #axonguidance #xenopus.

RNA Polymerase II-mediated transcription is required for repair of ribosomal DNA breaks in nucleolar caps, guarding against genomic instability

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

More Than a Powerhouse: How Mitochondria Help to Build an Embryo

In this new post, Alexandra MacColl Garfinkel tells the story behind the paper "Mitochondrial leak metabolism induces the Spemann-Mangold Organizer via Hif-1α in Xenopus"🐸:

thenode.biologists.com/more-than-a-...