An ancient lineage of cyanobacteria is helping biologists uncover an early evolutionary stage of the mind-boggling process that turns light into life.

Harmful algal blooms, the most severe ecological hazards worldwide, terminate abruptly within a few days. In this work, we identified that iron-catalyzed active lipid peroxides predominantly trigger i...

By tracking the water mass histories of genetic samples, we investigated the biophysical dynamics shaping eukaryotic phytoplankton populations in a...

Phosphorus (P) recycling in seawater is critical for maintaining nutrient availability and marine primary productivity. This process is catalyzed by alkaline phosphatases enzymes, which hydrolyze dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) compounds, releasing inorganic P for cellular assimilation. Here, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of three major alkaline phosphatase families through deep time using phylogenetic reconciliation across the tree of life. We further quantified their distribution and cellular localization across major metabolic groups using extant genomes to assess how the oceans capacity for P regeneration has changed through time. Our results demonstrate that alkaline phosphatases emerged early in the Archaean, indicating that DOP has sustained marine ecosystems for most of Earths history. A pronounced expansion and diversification of alkaline phosphatases occurred during the Neoproterozoic, coinciding with the rise and ecological diversification of algae. Across metabolic groups, extracellular alkaline phosphatases are particularly concentrated in ferric iron reducers, fermenters, and aerobic heterotrophs, but are comparatively rare in other metabolisms. This distribution suggests that the efficiency of marine P recycling has been strongly influenced by prevailing metabolic strategies and environmental redox conditions. Overall, our results provide new insights into the enzymatic drivers of marine P cycling and the mechanisms that maintained marine productivity as Earths surface became progressively oxygenated and biologically complex. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Heising-Simons Foundation, https://ror.org/01mp52y34

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a ubiquitous molecule found across all domains of life. Although implicated in diverse cellular processes, inclu...

Climate warming is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events globally, including heatwaves, cold snaps, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Disagreement on the preindustrial state of net primary productivity (NPP) dominates the uncertainty in absolute rates of NPP Earth system models project divergent long-term shifts in the decadal ...

Redox-sensitive phosphatase PgpA couples glycolysis and redox balance to control metabolic adaptation in E. coli.

Evolution of prokaryote genomes appears to be defined by the interplay of selection for genome streamlining, deletion bias, and selection for funct...

This work presents DeepSeMS, a transformer-based framework that translates biosynthetic gene clusters into candidate secondary metabolite structures, enabling scalable exploration of chemical diversit...

Understanding carbon cycling requires simplifying bacterial diversity into functional groups defined by genetic signatures.

The maturation of the unique FeMo-cofactor of molybdenum nitrogenase is a multistep process requiring the sequential action of a series of maturase complexes. Here, the authors report on how cryo-elec...

Abstract. With microbes critical for ocean ecological and biogeochemical processes, we need to understand their abundance and diversity distributions. Whil

The authors simulate phytoplankton macromolecular composition—proteins, carbohydrates and lipids—under present and future scenarios. They show increased protein allocation in subtropical phytoplankton...

Extreme global climate outcomes may occur even under moderate 2 °C warming and may turn out to be more extreme than model-averaged projections at 3 °C or 4 °C warming.

Nature Reviews Genetics - In this Perspective, Maizels and Briscoe discuss the limitations of current models of gene regulatory networks and outline solutions to harness data abundance without...

Experimental evolution of fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) in the same environment as a previous experiment with budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) reveals parallel evolution but distin...

The Pokémon Company is actively recruiting PhD holders with backgrounds in ecology to work in Tokyo. This is perhaps the closest chance Pokémon fans have to channel their inner Professor Oak in real l...

Nature highlights developments in women’s health research and career guidance for women in science.

De novo gene evolution entails the birth of new genes from previously non-coding DNA. In this Review, Bornberg-Bauer and Eicholt overview how protein-coding de novo genes are identified, the mechanist...

DECODE is a universal deconvolution framework for both cell types and cell states that can be applied to transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data.

The Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity.

Summer SST covariability across the North Pacific and North Atlantic may be linked to Arctic sea-ice loss and climate change.

As climate change continues to influence ecosystems around the globe, understanding the genomics of adaptation to hot and cold environments is becoming ...

The ocean’s biological carbon pump exports atmospheric CO2 to the deep ocean, where it can remain sequestered for decades to centuries, and attempt...

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 ...

In natural environments, bacteria often encounter low concentrations of nutrient mixtures that are continuously replenished by physical processes s...

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 10 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01740-0Fang et al. reveal how a bacterial circadian clock turns genes on and off at the right times of day and use the purified proteins to drive circadian gene transcription in a test tube for days.

Experimental evolution enables evaluation of the relative roles of chance and necessity in evolution. This study compiles transcriptomic data from experimental evolution of a prokaryotic and five euka...

Abstract. Microbial enzymes alter marine biogeochemical cycles by catalyzing chemical transformations that bring elements into and out of particulate organic pools. These processes are often studied t...

Abstract. Ocean productivity is maintained by key nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus and trace metals. The magnitude and stoichiometry of nutrient fluxes to the ocean is changing. Here, we inve...

The authors leverage experimental and phylogenetic data to propose that anammox bacteria during the Archaean period could have harvested photoholes from cyanobacterial mats for use as an electron acce...

The study shows that nitrogenase enzymes have maintained stable isotope signatures over billions of years, revealing how ancient microbes shaped Earth’s nitrogen cycle and offering a new experimental ...