Reposted by Yann MoalicbioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 28/09/2026RNASeek: 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 · 27/09/2026onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...onlinelibrary.wiley.comVertical Stratification in Composition, Metabolic Potential and Co‐Occurrence Networks of Archaeal Communities in Mangrove Sediments, Zhanjiang, ChinaWe 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 · 21/09/2026Generative design of bacteriophages with genome language models | Science www.science.org/doi/full/10....science.org 000
Reposted by Yann MoalicRNA & Ribosome Homeostasis Lab @École Polytechnique / @CNRS @aribio.bsky.social · 15/09/2026PAPER 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 MoalicDi Jiang @dijiang319.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Online today @science.org Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgNoncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulationThe 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 MoalicPhilip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026If you're wondering what has been going on in this domain, please do read this. 34012
Reposted by Yann MoalicNobuto Takeuchi @nobuto.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Sharing 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.orgWhy are archaea not pathogenic? A hypothesis based on metabolism-habitat covariation | mBioPathogenicity—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 MoalicTobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Who needs chromatin anyway...? NOT THIS GUY! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/nbiorxiv.orgChromatin is dispensable for bacterial lifeInside 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 MoalicOlivier Borkowski @oborkowski.bsky.social · 22/08/2026The structural origin of irreversible transitions in biological networks doi.org/10.1073/pnas...doi.orgThe structural origin of irreversible transitions in biological networks | PNASCellular processes often exhibit irreversible state transitions even after external signals responsible for a transition are withdrawn. Long-standi... 0268
Reposted by Yann MoalicPhilip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 21/08/2026The 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.comLife’s ‘last universal common ancestor’ may predate life itselfA 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 MoalicbioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Dynamics-aware geometric learning predicts disease-associated molecular perturbations www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20… 001
Reposted by Yann MoalicPhilip 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/2608.06998arxiv.orgSimulating is not always understanding: When model complexity obscures biologyIn 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 · 10/08/2026www.scientificamerican.com/article/life...scientificamerican.comLife on Earth may have emerged not once but twiceThe last common ancestor of all living things may not have been alive at all 000
Reposted by Yann MoalicKenji Lee @kenjilee.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Adding 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 MoalicCarl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 01/07/2026Meet 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 1825392
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 01/07/2026www.nytimes.com/interactive/...nytimes.comThis 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 MoalicEvgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Archaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation @natcomms.nature.com #microbiology #archaea #eukaryotes #MicroSky doi.org/10.1038/s414...doi.orgArchaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation - Nature CommunicationsTo 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 MoalicMelanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026I wrote a piece for the Yale Review on AI and "jagged intelligence". (Note: headline was not written by me.) yalereview.org/article/mela...yalereview.orgMelanie Mitchell: What We Get Wrong About AIMelanie Mitchell probes the jagged landscape of AI and its uncertain future. 812737
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 25/05/2026www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...lemonde.frTout ce que l’IA a déjà révolutionné dans la recherche scientifiqueRéflexion, 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 · 21/05/2026www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...insidehighered.comOn 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 · 16/05/2026www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgPremature transcription termination modulates stochastic gene expression in bacteriaBacteria tune transcription bursts through early termination, enabling switch-like and gradual adaptation to nutrients. 010
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 16/05/2026www.santafe.edu/news-center/...santafe.eduWhy noise may be the key to understanding cell group patternsAll 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 MoalicEvgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Reconstitution of Archaeal Membrane Lipid Biosynthesis in Bacterial and Eukaryotic Hosts #microbiology #archaea #bacteria #eukaryotes #MicroSky doi.org/10.1002/cbic...doi.orgReconstitution of Archaeal Membrane Lipid Biosynthesis in Bacterial and Eukaryotic HostsThe 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 MoalicSchmitt-Mechulam Lab @tbioc.bsky.social · 05/05/2026Very 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 · 04/05/2026academic.oup.com/nar/article/...academic.oup.comArchaeal family B DNA polymerase facilitates lagging strand DNA replication in the ThermococcalesAbstract. 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 · 28/04/2026www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...sciencedirect.comA disrupted microbial network and an ecological shift towards anaerobes in NTM-infected cystic fibrosis patientsNontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly recognized as opportunistic pathogens in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), but the ecological fac… 010
Reposted by Yann MoalicScience X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 25/04/2026A 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/hbzg4jphys.orgMicrofluidic device tracks cell 'squishiness' faster and more reliably than standard methodsResearchers 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 MoalicArchaea Power Hour @archaeapowerhour.bsky.social · 21/04/2026Second 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 · 18/04/2026Structural basis of transcription-coupled RNA damage by incorporation of oxidized ribonucleotides | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....pnas.orgStructural basis of transcription-coupled RNA damage by incorporation of oxidized ribonucleotides | PNASOxidative 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 · 17/04/2026www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgScience | AAAS 000
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 17/04/2026arxiv.org/abs/2510.09757arxiv.orgA path towards AI-scale, interoperable biological dataBiology 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 MoalicRaphael 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.comDiversity-generating retroelements for programmable targeted hypermutagenesis - Nature BiotechnologyDiversity-generating retroelements are engineered for directed evolution in E.coli. 59843
Reposted by Yann MoalicBuzz Baum @buzzbaum.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Archaea hit prime time: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...bbc.co.ukBBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, ArchaeaHow a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth. 810242
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 11/04/2026www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgDeep representation learning of protein-protein interaction networks for enhanced pattern discoveryA strategy preserves complex networks in lower dimensions with discriminative node representation, enhancing PPI network analysis. 000
Reposted by Yann MoalicVaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 07/04/2026We 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.orgThe 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 · 29/03/2026link.springer.com/article/10.1...link.springer.comAsgard archaea: have we found our microbial ancestors? - The EMBO JournalThe 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 MoalicbioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 27/03/2026Integrative 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 MoalicNature 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.comParallel but distinct adaptive routes in the budding and fission yeasts after 10,000 generations of experimental evolution - Nature Ecology & EvolutionExperimental 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 MoalicLife Science Network @lifesciencenet.bsky.social · 14/03/2026New #AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugs. #science #news www.lifescience.net/news/7008/ne...lifescience.netNew AI model could cut the costs of developing protein drugsMIT researchers used a large language model to optimize the genetic sequences of proteins manufactured by yeast, making production more efficient. 012
Reposted by Yann MoalicBrett Baker @archaeal.bsky.social · 13/03/2026Having 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 · 06/03/2026www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...frontiersin.orgFrontiers | On the origins and variation of nucleotide skews of archaeal genomesWe 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 MoalicLukas VF Novak @animalculum.bsky.social · 02/03/2026New 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 23913
Yann Moalic @drym.bsky.social · 05/03/2026www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comGenome modelling and design across all domains of life with Evo 2 - NatureEvo 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 MoalicThibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 28/02/2026Final 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 · 26/02/2026CRISPR spacers reveal diverse and abundant Thermococcales viruses in hydrothermal vents www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...researchsquare.comCRISPR spacers reveal diverse and abundant Thermococcales viruses in hydrothermal ventsViruses 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 · 24/02/2026link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...link.springer.comGenome Editing Technologies and Synthetic Biology of Hyperthermophilic ArchaeaHyperthermophilic 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 · 22/02/2026www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgRapid directed evolution guided by protein language models and epistatic interactionsProtein 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