Sign in

Yann Moalic

@drym.bsky.social
227 followers 819 following 103 posts

Genomicist with a keen interest in hyperthermophilic Archaea

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Yann Moalic
bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
RNASeek: A Cross-Phyla Generative Foundation Model for Multipurpose RNA Modeling and Reinforcement Learning-Based Design www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
011
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Vertical Stratification in Composition, Metabolic Potential and Co‐Occurrence Networks of Archaeal Communities in Mangrove Sediments, Zhanjiang, China
We characterized the vertical profiles of archaeal community composition, function, co-occurrence networks, and assembly mechanisms in mangrove sediments across six depth intervals. Deep sediments ho....
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Generative design of bacteriophages with genome language models | Science www.science.org/doi/full/10....
science.org
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
RNA & Ribosome Homeostasis Lab @École Polytechnique / @CNRS @aribio.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
PAPER ALERT!!! For over 20 years, circular pre-rRNA intermediates were thought to be a specific and universal requirement for archaeal ribosome biogenesis. doi.org/10.1261/rna.... #Archaea #Ribosome #RNAProcessing #Archaeasky #RNAsky
2610
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Di Jiang @dijiang319.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Online today @science.org Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation
The genomic regions regulating gene expression are often themselves transcribed into a variety of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). However, the regulatory roles of this noncoding transcription remain largely ...
05711
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you're wondering what has been going on in this domain, please do read this.
34012
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Nobuto Takeuchi @nobuto.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Sharing our new paper, led by PhD student Daniel Harrison. We propose that archaea aren't pathogenic because those living in eukaryotic hosts lack a metabolic prerequisite, and those with the prerequisite don't live in eukaryotic hosts. #microsky doi.org/10.1128/mbio...
journals.asm.org
Why are archaea not pathogenic? A hypothesis based on metabolism-habitat covariation | mBio
Pathogenicity—the ability to cause infectious disease—is widespread among bacteria and eukaryotes but conspicuously absent from archaea, the third domain of life. To understand why archaea are non-pat...
195
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Who needs chromatin anyway...? NOT THIS GUY! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n
biorxiv.org
Chromatin is dispensable for bacterial life
Inside cells, DNA is intimately associated with proteins, forming chromatin. The protein constituents of chromatin vary across the tree of life: histones are the principal building blocks of chromatin...
3231104
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Olivier Borkowski @oborkowski.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The structural origin of irreversible transitions in biological networks doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
doi.org
The structural origin of irreversible transitions in biological networks | PNAS
Cellular processes often exhibit irreversible state transitions even after external signals responsible for a transition are withdrawn. Long-standi...
0268
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The recent paper in Science by Bill Martin's team on a vent form of LUCA and a possible "dual origin of life" got some coverage last week. I took a somewhat deeper dive for @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/life...
scientificamerican.com
Life’s ‘last universal common ancestor’ may predate life itself
A groundbreaking study hints at a hazy boundary between “life” and “non-life,” as well as two distinct origins of biology on Earth
55116
Reposted by Yann Moalic
bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Dynamics-aware geometric learning predicts disease-associated molecular perturbations www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
001
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
"The central challenge is no longer building models that reproduce biological behavior, but building models from which causal structure can be inferred." Very sensible paper about not just throwing everything into your simulation or model. arxiv.org/abs/2608.06998
arxiv.org
Simulating is not always understanding: When model complexity obscures biology
In cell biology, computational models of biological systems range from minimal representations with a handful of parameters to whole-cell simulations tracking thousands of molecular species across a c...
911734
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
www.scientificamerican.com/article/life...
scientificamerican.com
Life on Earth may have emerged not once but twice
The last common ancestor of all living things may not have been alive at all
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Kenji Lee @kenjilee.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Adding to all the takes on this, something that is missed and why I don't think AI will progress beyond research assistant in neuroscience is so much of the work is embodied. Not just in that "an LLM doesn't have a body" but so much of the knowledge is only gained through embodiment.
1112
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 01/07/2026
Meet SpudCell, a synthetic cell made from lifeless ingredients that feeds, grows, divides, and experiences selection. If it doesn't have all the hallmarks of life, it has a lot! Here's my story. Gift link: nyti.ms/4vCbTih
A series of images of a dividing synthetic cell
1825392
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It’s Manmade.
From chemical building blocks, scientists have created synthetic cells that have most of the hallmarks of life.
010
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Archaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation @natcomms.nature.com #microbiology #archaea #eukaryotes #MicroSky doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org
Archaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation - Nature Communications
To prepare for DNA replication, a short region of DNA base-pairs must be broken, termed melting, allowing a helicase to gain a foothold on an isolated DNA strand. Here, authors use single-particle cry...
1118
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
I wrote a piece for the Yale Review on AI and "jagged intelligence". (Note: headline was not written by me.) yalereview.org/article/mela...
yalereview.org
Melanie Mitchell: What We Get Wrong About AI
Melanie Mitchell probes the jagged landscape of AI and its uncertain future.
812737
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...
lemonde.fr
Tout ce que l’IA a déjà révolutionné dans la recherche scientifique
Réflexion, planification stratégique, analyse des données, génération d’hypothèses de travail, enseignement universitaire… La montée en puissance des outils d’intelligence artificielle, en particulier...
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
insidehighered.com
On Leading People Who Don’t Want to Be Led (opinion)
Many faculty say this is not the job they signed up for. They need leaders who see this and who are looking out for them.
010
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Premature transcription termination modulates stochastic gene expression in bacteria
Bacteria tune transcription bursts through early termination, enabling switch-like and gradual adaptation to nutrients.
010
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
www.santafe.edu/news-center/...
santafe.edu
Why noise may be the key to understanding cell group patterns
All of biology is transient. Over time, a population of identical cells can change so that some subgroups exhibit different behaviors — everything from varying sizes to the expression of certain prote...
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Reconstitution of Archaeal Membrane Lipid Biosynthesis in Bacterial and Eukaryotic Hosts #microbiology #archaea #bacteria #eukaryotes #MicroSky doi.org/10.1002/cbic...
doi.org
Reconstitution of Archaeal Membrane Lipid Biosynthesis in Bacterial and Eukaryotic Hosts
The membrane lipids of archaea differ from those of bacteria and eukarya in backbone stereochemical configuration, chemical linkage type, and hydrophobic chain structure, a fundamental dichotomy term...
112
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Schmitt-Mechulam Lab @tbioc.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Very happy to share our latest publication in Nat. Commun. www.nature.com/articles/s41... It was a great collaboration with @ifremer.bsky.social, @cbitoulouse.bsky.social and @pasteur.fr. We discovered a new hibernation factor in Archaea binding to the ribosome in three different conformations !
12713
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com
Archaeal family B DNA polymerase facilitates lagging strand DNA replication in the Thermococcales
Abstract. Replicative DNA synthesis is distributed among several DNA polymerases (DNAPs) in both Bacteria and Eukarya. The division of synthesis permits sp
094
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
A disrupted microbial network and an ecological shift towards anaerobes in NTM-infected cystic fibrosis patients
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly recognized as opportunistic pathogens in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), but the ecological fac…
010
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
A new microfluidic device measures cell elasticity rapidly and reliably, offering potential improvements in disease diagnosis and prognosis by analyzing mechanical changes in cells. doi.org/hbzg4j
phys.org
Microfluidic device tracks cell 'squishiness' faster and more reliably than standard methods
Researchers from Brown University and their collaborators have developed a new way to measure the properties of cells—an important development, they say, because accurate measurements of changes in cell elasticity can be used to better understand diseases, diagnose patient symptoms and provide more accurate prognoses.
112
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Archaea Power Hour @archaeapowerhour.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Second up tomorrow, April 22nd at 10AM EST / 4PM CET, Katy Weber will tell us about her interesting work to mechanistically characterize electron transfer in a reductase protein from Haloferax volcanii!! Visit the link in our bio for more info on how to join our community!!
164
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Structural basis of transcription-coupled RNA damage by incorporation of oxidized ribonucleotides | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
pnas.org
Structural basis of transcription-coupled RNA damage by incorporation of oxidized ribonucleotides | PNAS
Oxidative stress induces damage to DNA, RNA, and nucleotide pools. Unlike well-studied DNA damage, the formation of RNA damage and the impact of an...
020
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Science | AAAS
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
arxiv.org/abs/2510.09757
arxiv.org
A path towards AI-scale, interoperable biological data
Biology is at the precipice of a new era where AI accelerates and amplifies the ability to study how cells operate, organize, and work as systems, revealing why disease happens and how to correct it. ...
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Raphael Laurenceau @raphael-microb.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
🔈Paper out! We turned the most fascinating phage host-switch mechanism, diversity-generating retroelements, into a programmable mutagenesis tool, DGRec. You can perform targeted hypermutation of any 50-200bp sequence directly in vivo in E. coli www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Diversity-generating retroelements for programmable targeted hypermutagenesis - Nature Biotechnology
Diversity-generating retroelements are engineered for directed evolution in E.coli.
59843
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Buzz Baum @buzzbaum.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Archaea hit prime time: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Archaea
How a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth.
810242
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Deep representation learning of protein-protein interaction networks for enhanced pattern discovery
A strategy preserves complex networks in lower dimensions with discriminative node representation, enhancing PPI network analysis.
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 07/04/2026
We should all do our part to join Brian in ending genetics essentialism. I give a lecture at Pitt to the new PhD students entitled "There is no such thing as wild-type." I blogged about this years ago and it's part of my teaching statement. Long road, team effort✊🏻 micropopbio.org/blog/2018-07...
micropopbio.org
The root of pan-adaptationism?
There’s been a fair bit of recent discussion about why most biologists are (uncritically) adaptationists. I don’t dispute this but think it’s worth reconsidering why. Some have argued that this is bec...
2249
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Asgard archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors? - The EMBO Journal
The discovery of Asgard archaea about a decade ago has greatly reshaped our understanding of archaeal evolution and the origin of eukaryotes. Asgards are currently thought to be the closest prokaryoti...
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Integrative Omics and Network Biology Reveal Transcriptional Changes of Amino Acid Transport in Arabidopsis Susceptibility to Pseudomonas syringae www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
001
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · 20/03/2026
#NatMicroPicks Same destination, different routes 🍄🧫🧪 Following 10,000 generations, parallel evolution occurred in separate yeast species, but took different genetic routes driven largely by transcriptomic and trans‑regulatory differences. #MicroSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Parallel but distinct adaptive routes in the budding and fission yeasts after 10,000 generations of experimental evolution - Nature Ecology & Evolution
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...
0116
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Life Science Network @lifesciencenet.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
New #AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugs. #science #news www.lifescience.net/news/7008/ne...
lifescience.net
New AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugs
MIT researchers used a large language model to optimize the genetic sequences of proteins manufactured by yeast, making production more efficient.
012
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Brett Baker @archaeal.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Having a hard time keeping up with the fast-moving field of origin of eukaryotes/Asgards archaea? Our new perspective article can help, we review the status of research over the last decade and where it's going. The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
716876
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | On the origins and variation of nucleotide skews of archaeal genomes
We have used nucleotide skews as the proxy to understand the evolution of archaeal genomes. Our genome-wide studies using substantial datasets suggest that t...
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Lukas VF Novak @animalculum.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
New paper from my 2nd PostDoc is now published in The ISME Journal by @isme-microbes.bsky.social! #Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats & has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #Bacteria #Microbes #Evolution #DeepSea
a figure from the linked paper which shows A) a world map and B) a schematic representation of various natural and artificial habitats, both annotated with information about which sulfur disproportionating bacteria have been found in the specific regions and environments
23913
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Genome modelling and design across all domains of life with Evo 2 - Nature
Evo 2 is an artificial intelligence-based biological foundation model trained on 9 trillion DNA base pairs spanning all domains of life that predicts functional properties from genomic sequences and p...
000
Reposted by Yann Moalic
Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)
16382152
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
CRISPR spacers reveal diverse and abundant Thermococcales viruses in hydrothermal vents www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...
researchsquare.com
CRISPR spacers reveal diverse and abundant Thermococcales viruses in hydrothermal vents
Viruses are the most pervasive biological entities on Earth and they profoundly shape host ecology and evolution. However, for many microbial lineages, knowledge of their viromes remains limited, espe...
020
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
link.springer.com
Genome Editing Technologies and Synthetic Biology of Hyperthermophilic Archaea
Hyperthermophilic archaea are characterized with robust metabolic capability and outstanding enzyme stability. Since their discovery, great efforts have been devoted into the development of genetic to...
021
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Rapid directed evolution guided by protein language models and epistatic interactions
Protein engineering is limited by the inefficient search through a high-dimensional sequence space to find combinations of synergistic mutations. Traditional approaches use stepwise mutation stacking,...
000