Our new paper in Nature Communications is out (Nature Portfolio):

How does a single mutation in a ribosomal protein drive blood cancer?

🚨 Archaea alert 🚨!! We’re back this Wednesday, April 22nd, at 10 AM EST / 4 PM CET with two exciting research talks! You won’t want to miss this so check your email for the Zoom link or visit the link in our bio for more info on how to join the community 🦠

One of biggest mysteries in biology: how did complex eukaryotic cells evolve from simple microbes? ~1.8 billion years ago, an archaeal cell likely merged with a bacterium to form the first eukaryotic cell, but can we ever find direct evidence of this transformative event? 🦠 🚶‍♂️

I wrote an essay. It’s about gain-of-function mutations. And penguins. Also ion channels, chihuahuas, the film Alien, recycled cardboard, and the Apollonian mind. Oh, and muffins.
Thanks to the editors of #GENETICS @genetics-gsa.bsky.social for letting me take some stylistic liberties. 1/2

Today I stole some reading from our youngest daughter (9yo)...and guess what??? #archaea were there!!!
See special issue from Science et Vie Junior on Microbes, with a lot of interesting articles (not only for Kids...)...(in French)

Step by step #archées #archaea
#archaeasky

For the record, this is my comment to the journalist on Colossal’s dire wolf.

Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry Highly efficient hyperthermal acidic proteases combined with hybrid-fragmentation schemes provide five times more unique peptide reads than trypsin or chymotrypsin, greatly boosting confidence in de n...

Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry: Cell Systems www.cell.com/cell-systems...

Science Policy APH social edition next week!

#JobOffer

💼 Professeur en stabilité du génome
📍Institut Jacques Monod
📆 1e septembre 2026

Les candidatures sont ouvertes jusqu'au 3 avril 2026 16h🔗 u-paris.fr/recrutement-...

Some molecular machines, like ribosomes, can persist for long periods of time in cells.

Could molecular aging of ribosomes shape how proteins are made?

In our new preprint we track ribosomes as they age in cells and uncover unexpected effects on translation (1/10)

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A new preprint from the @archaeon-alex.bsky.social and Joey Davis (MIT) labs! We solved the structure of the ribosome from the archaeon Haloferax volcanii and discovered a new highly conserved ribosome hibernation factor that we named AHA (AMPKγ–HPF from Archaea) 🧵⬇️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Archaeal G-quadruplexes: a novel model for understanding unusual DNA/RNA structures across the tree of life Abstract. Archaea, a domain of microorganisms found in diverse environments, including the human microbiome, represent the closest known prokaryotic relati

Archaeal G-quadruplexes: a novel model for understanding unusual DNA/RNA structures across the tree of life url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

#Communiqué 🗞️ Une équipe de chercheurs a identifié le plus ancien vomi fossile terrestre connu à ce jour. Daté d’environ 290 millions d’années (Permien inférieur), soit plusieurs dizaines de millions d’années avant l’apparition des dinosaures.

👉 www.cnrs.fr/fr/presse/un...

Signaling to make human ribosomes: Connections between the cytoplasm and the nucleolus Lawrence et al. examine how ribosome production in the eukaryotic nucleolus is coordinated by cytoplasmic processes to maintain appropriate ribosome numbers. The authors highlight regulatory inputs from cytoplasmic signaling, mitosis, and cytoplasmic organelles that converge on nucleolar function, and they discuss how disruption of these pathways contributes to human disease.

Online Now: Signaling to make human ribosomes: Connections between the cytoplasm and the nucleolus Online now:

Iron Sulfides Produced by Thermococcales: An Iron Detoxification Mechanism Thermococcales, archaea from hydrothermal vents, promote iron sulfide precipitation, enabling survival in iron-rich environments. Some cells become encrusted in pyrite and do not survive mineralizati...

Iron Sulfides Produced by Thermococcales: An Iron Detoxification Mechanism enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

EMBL is deeply saddened by the passing of our Interim Director General Peer Bork, a pioneering scientist who left an indelible imprint on life science research in Europe and beyond.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

www.embl.org/news/people-...

"Use it or lose it." This is great advice for exercise, but when cells need to slow down or go dormant, they need to store ribosomes to recover growth in the future. They use hibernation factors to do this. Here is our latest story on how archaea hibernate ribosomes (1/7):
doi.org/10.64898/202...

Archaeal ribosome hibernation factors on the roll lately, check out the SriA, C; SirB, D with distinct ribosome binding #ribosome #RNASky

A dual-factor complex governs archaeal ribosome hibernation by sensing energy status www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

Fluidité intracellulaire et pouvoir infectieux du champignon Candida albicans Dans un article publié dans la revue Nature Microbiology, des scientifiques mettent en évidence un mécanisme jusque-là inconnu chez Candida albic

#ResultatScientifique🔎| Quand Candida albicans réduit ses ribosomes, ses cellules deviennent plus fluides, ce qui l’aide à changer de forme et à mieux infecter l’organisme 🍄
✍️ Robert Arkowitz
📕 @natmicrobiol.nature.com | buff.ly/zPSLael

Evolution of the ribosomal exit tunnel through the eyes of the nascent chain www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12...

Lehrstühle an Universitäten: Schafft die Lehrstühle ab! Hierarchien an den Unis sind starr und ungerecht. Manche Hochschulen machen es längst besser.

Lehrstühle an Universitäten: Schafft die Lehrstühle ab! | DIE ZEIT share.google/IJOmJmSPit8Q...

Localised activity of reverse gyrase at gene regulatory elements DNA topoisomerases are essential enzymes found in all cells, where they regulate DNA supercoiling. Reverse gyrase (RG) is a unique type of topoisomerase that introduces positive supercoils into DNA an...

Delighted to share our new preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We address a longstanding question about the role of the topoisomerase reverse gyrase in hyperthermophiles. Great collaboration with Baranello and @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social groups. #Archaeasky #Microsky

Evolutionary Flexibility of Ribosome Biogenesis in Bacteria Abstract. Ribosomes are essential for protein synthesis and require ribosome biogenesis factors for assembly. To uncover the evolutionary diversity of ribo

Evolutionary Flexibility of Ribosome Biogenesis in Bacteria | Molecular Biology and Evolution | Oxford Academic academic.oup.com/mbe/article/42/11/msaf28...

Our paper is out! Analysis of 30K+ genomes revealed that CPR bacteria assemble their ribosomes in unconventional ways, and that these assembly processes appear to have co-evolved with ribosome structure. doi.org/10.1093/molb... #Ribosome #Evolution #Patescibacteria #MBE

Histones and nucleoid-associated proteins in Methanosarcina acetivorans mediate recovery from stress and stasis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11....

Computational design of cysteine proteases www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11....

Our study on ribonucleotides incorporation the genomes of Haloferax volcanii and Thermococcus barophilus is new published in #NAR #ribonucleasesH
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...

An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs

Registration is open for "The complex life of #RNA" 2026 @embl.org in Heidelberg!

Excellent invited speakers and 30 short talks and even more flash talks selected from the abstracts!