Mito evolution special issue of Phil Trans now out! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...
Excited to be part of this, with some new perspectives on mtDNA segregation from us royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article... and brilliant content from colleagues worldwide! Pics from current location 🇳🇴
![A black-and-white historical photograph of Dr. Maud Leonora Menten (1879–1960), the Canadian physician and biochemist who co-developed the Michaelis–Menten equation for enzyme kinetics. Taken in her laboratory (likely at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1910s–1920s), she stands with a serious, focused expression—lips closed, eyes direct and thoughtful—against a backdrop of wooden shelves filled with glass bottles, jars, scientific equipment, and a wire-mesh enclosure. She wears a dark dress with a lace collar, a string of beads, and her hair styled in a neat bun. Superimposed on the image is the Michaelis–Menten equation in white text:v=Vmax[S]Km+[S]v = \frac{V_{\max} [S]}{K_m + [S]}v = \frac{V_{\max} [S]}{K_m + [S]}
This iconic portrait captures Menten during her groundbreaking research in biochemistry and histochemistry, where she helped establish the foundational mathematical model of enzyme-substrate reactions still used today, while overcoming significant gender barriers as one of the first women in Canada to earn both an M.D. and a Ph.D.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2xisupj43xdq7uvffzigis5p/bafkreihpw72tjmrypo7d5tc2fv5kzpsmsc7kglj4n3ekw22e2ys4gg6nti)
A black-and-white historical photograph of Dr. Maud Leonora Menten (1879–1960), the Canadian physician and biochemist who co-developed the Michaelis–Menten equation for enzyme kinetics. Taken in her laboratory (likely at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1910s–1920s), she stands with a serious, focused expression—lips closed, eyes direct and thoughtful—against a backdrop of wooden shelves filled with glass bottles, jars, scientific equipment, and a wire-mesh enclosure. She wears a dark dress with a lace collar, a string of beads, and her hair styled in a neat bun. Superimposed on the image is the Michaelis–Menten equation in white text:v=Vmax[S]Km+[S]v = \frac{V_{\max} [S]}{K_m + [S]}v = \frac{V_{\max} [S]}{K_m + [S]} This iconic portrait captures Menten during her groundbreaking research in biochemistry and histochemistry, where she helped establish the foundational mathematical model of enzyme-substrate reactions still used today, while overcoming significant gender barriers as one of the first women in Canada to earn both an M.D. and a Ph.D.
Chemist/physician Dr. Maud Menten co-authored the seminal paper 𝘋𝘪𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘬 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘨, 1931. This intro'd the Michaelis–Menten equation (image). It remains a cornerstone of #biochemistry, used in drug design, metabolic studies & enzyme engineering. She was born #OTD in 1879.
#WomenInSTEM
Mitochondria can indeed be inherited from the father! 🍀
In this new study, we uncovered the molecular mechanisms underlying mitochondrial inheritance in Nicotiana tabacum. @natplants.nature.com
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Vinterferie ❤️🇳🇴🦢
The visualization of two bacterial genomes, of 50 and 52kb, representing independent instances of extreme genomic reduction in ancient heritable endosymbionts of planthoppers.
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early!
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded.
Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.
Check out our latest Special Section guest edited by @mitopozzi.bsky.social and Sophie Breton:
Beyond ATP: New insight into mitochondrial function and evolution
🎨 Cover image - artwork by Iain G Johnston
academic.oup.com/jeb/pages/be...
How do cells assess mtDNA quality?
Local ATP and membrane-potential gradients reflect mtDNA integrity and drive intracellular purifying selection.
We introduce FAST, a scalable mtDNA QC assay in S. cerevisiae.
Great collaboration with the Schmoller Lab.
journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...
🧬⚡
Book front cover with illustrations of fern leaves and the title: Ferns, lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants Written by: Fat-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa Illustrated by Laura Silburn
Looking for a new 📕 to read about plants??
I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’
Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn
🌿 #FernFriday 🌿
1. Apply for one of the positions below (lab or theory) by Jan 18th
2. Learn interdisc skills and discover cool new things about how mitochondria move and socialise
3. Explore some of Norway's beautiful nature (both the below, Rundemanen and Gullfjellet, <10km from work)
2026 ❤️ 🇳🇴
‼️Two new PhD positions open! One experimental, one modelling, exploring these beautiful collective dynamics in mitochondria across species. 🇳🇴, good pay, full staff benefits. [Shares much appreciated]
Lab: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
Modelling: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
Thrilled to see our review article "The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins" highlighted on the cover of Nature Reviews Neuroscience 🤩.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@msarscentre.bsky.social 🧠✨🧬🌊🪼🧽
Mitochondria, hypercubes, and a blackboard -- what a lot of favourite things for J Evol Biol this month! Thanks to all involved for a smooth and pleasant review editorial process; academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...
Ski season!
Paradise up on the mountain trails
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
In some species, #mitochondria have lost functions: from specific complexes to the ability to produce #ATP (and more!). We examine the evolutionary pathways of this reduction, from yeast and mistletoe to parasite "MROs":
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
@mitomaths.bsky.social et al. 2025
Would love to hear any feedback; we continue to believe that EvAM applied to AMR (learning evolutionary history) can be a powerful complement to genomic surveys (focussing on the present). Thanks for reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
5/5
Understanding evolutionary dynamics lets us form future predictions. We tested these predictions with newly sequenced data from decades of clinical study in Tanzania. Fitted model retrospectively predicted those previously unobserved accumulation dynamics! 4/
Interesting, but very high-dimensional, so we project down to find the principal axes of diversity in evolutionary behaviour -- and what predicts them. They're linked both to public health region and drug use regimens 3/
Following the ideas in journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... about applying evol accumulation modelling (EvAM) to AMR, we use genomics data to infer the orderings of character accumulation behind observed Klebsiella AMR profiles across countries (e.g. Romania here), with global average in D 2/
Great to see this out there! We infer the evolutionary pathways behind patterns of AMR in Klebsiella across 102 states, finding globally consistent principles, state-specific deviations (and covariates), and validating evol predictions with new genomes. biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/
There'll be 2 PhD positions (math / microscopy) on MitoPhyto. But the Norwegian research council is also offering opportunities for non-European postdocs to come to Norway for 3 years associated with FRIPRO projects. Please DM me if interested!
www.forskningsradet.no/en/call-for-...
Celebrating grant award with a mountain run! MitoPhyto, a FRIPRO project, will combine modelling and microscopy to explore mitochondrial and mtDNA maintenance across non-bilaterian multicellular eukaryotes. Opportunities to come to Norway: please see next post
Gratulerer med dagen alle sammen!
(non-Norway-based folks, happy Norwegian Constitution Day!)
Glad to share this review, which takes a narrative approach to explore mechanisms governing cytoplasmic inheritance. It highlights exciting advances in the field, while also pointing to the many open questions that remain. Have a read here: doi.org/10.1093/plph...
Had a brilliant time at the 54th Jírovec’s Protozoological Days in Frymburk. Amazing organisms, amazing science, lots of exciting organelle work. Beautiful setting too! Thanks to all www.chromera.org/konference/5...
May trails on the way to the final Applied Statistics lecture of the semester!
