Excited to share my postdoc work on the cryo‑EM structure of the budding yeast telomerase holoenzyme! 🧫🧬
It’s been a real privilege to be part of the awesome Kelly Lab @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social. Grateful as well to the incredible facilities @mrclmb.ac.uk.

Congrats Deniz @microbiodnz.bsky.social 👏🎉

Plasmid conjugation from a heteroplasmic donor

New preprint! We show that conjugation accelerates the segregation of #plasmid alleles -> horizontal transfer is a route for allele segregation in MGE evolution. Led by Lisa Hartmann, with @mariosanter.bsky.social &Nils Hülter. Naturally, reviewed by @qedscience.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.64898/202...

Asgard #archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors?
New review (also for newcomers to the field!) by Christa Schleper and Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

The MicrobeAtlas database: Global trends and insights into Earth’s microbial ecosystems MicrobeAtlas (www.microbeatlas.org) is an integrated, reference-based resource for truly planet-wide microbiomics, analyzing hundreds of thousands of microbial lineages across diverse environments, co...

This is an incredible resource:

The MicrobeAtlas Database www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Since last year, I've been making a RELION GUI that supports viewing, navigating and running jobs in a way completely compatible with the original RELION pipeline. Now it's working nicely for both SPA and tomography! Please try it out - github.com/hanjinliu/hi...

Z-DNA formation regulates the totipotent-like state and primes Zscan4-dependent chromatin compartmentalization Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 17 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-026-01751-5Shajahan et al. unveil a repressive genomic compartment in totipotent-like cells, shaped by Zscan4 and guided by transient Z-DNA formation. This ‘Z compartment’ may be crucial for preserving totipotency in early embryos.

New online: Z-DNA formation regulates the totipotent-like state and primes Zscan4-dependent chromatin compartmentalization

Max Fels @mfels.bsky.social from our lab discovers giant DNA viruses that infect amoeba encode eIF4E and the entire suite of 4F complex proteins to control mRNA translation, including beautiful crystal structures of viral 4E bound to modified mRNA 5' caps:

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan Löwe, @danieltamarit.bsky.social and many others we discovered and characterized several Asgard tubulin genes and propose that microtubule architecture and dynamics evolved in Asgard archaea prior to eukaryogenesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Pre-incision structures reveal principles of DNA nucleotide excision repair - Nature Cryo-electron microscopy structures of nucleotide excision repair complexes reveal the roles of the constituent proteins XPA, XPB, XPC, XPD, XPF, XPG and RPA in DNA bubble formation and excision ...

Our great collaboration with the lab of Wei Yang and Kaoru Sugasawa is now online in Nature. We’re glad we could contribute some cell biology to complement this beautiful structural and biochemical work.

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

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Wow! Self-replication!

Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Ecology & Evolution Phylogenetic and biochemical analyses show a diversity of components of the DNA replication machinery in different Asgard archaea that contributed to the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery.

Glad to share our paper out today @NatureEcoEvo: “Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor”. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky #archaeasky

Check out this awesome work by Strock et al. on how Archaea can turn nasty against Bacteria. Very honored for the opportunity to spread their story in a primer with @apapageorgiou.bsky.social.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

If you are curious about plant evolution, cytogenomics, and big-picture questions about biodiversity, feel free to get in touch with Sreetama @sreetamabhadra.bsky.social!

An Asgard archaeon from a modern analog of ancient microbial mats It has been proposed that eukaryotic cells evolved via symbiosis between sulfate-reducing bacteria and hydrogen-producing archaea. Here we describe a highly enriched culture of a novel Asgard archaeon...

This was fun! Folding whole proteomes… looking at tomogram, looking at genomes🤩 lots to discover!🧬🧶

Unusual protein found in a Loki Asgard Archaea.

Check out this weird protein we found in a Loki Asgard archaea.🧬🧶Only found relatives in other Lokis. 🤔

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

Alright, last one, now I need to get back to real work... 😸

Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors Nature Microbiology - Phylogenetic reconstructions with conserved protein markers from the 11 known DPANN phyla reveal their monophyletic placement within the Euryarchaeota.

📣 We are proud of the publication of the second paper of @bbaker24.bsky.social PhD thesis. In collaboration with friends in Halifax we have studied the difficult question of the phylogeny of the DPANN archaea, composed of several phyla of highly reduced, fast-evolving epiparasites 🧵

rdcu.be/erkkU

One more appointment with great science in a few days, one click away 👇

It's publication day of my first book: The Tree of Life. The tree of life is a time machine that can take us back 4 billion years to meet our most distant ancestor. It is the magic that lets us tell the origin stories, beginning with this ancient relative, of everything from mushrooms to man.

#phylogenetics

Microtubules in Asgard archaea Discovery of heterodimeric, microtubule-forming tubulins in Asgard archaea, the closest known relatives of eukaryotes, reveals snapshots of microtubule evolution.

Interesting paper alert! #eukaryogenesis www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

SCIENCESHOTS What does a scientist look like? Children are drawing women more than ever before

When asked to draw a scientist, school-age kids in the United States are increasingly sketching women, according to a study from 2018.

Read more on #WomenInScienceDay: https://scim.ag/4hOUuvx

Closing out our winter premier, @florianwollweber.bsky.social will tell us about his investigations into the elusive cell biology of Asgard archaea using state-of-the-art imaging techniques! Show your love for archaea by tuning in on WEDNESDAY! Remember, they're everywhere, always watching 👀