iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Jolien van Hooff @jvhooff.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

We're looking for a PhD candidate who's eager to study how the genomes of fascinating eukaryotic microbes evolve and organize - and we have a fully funded PhD position available!

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Nancy Moran @nancy-moran.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

A step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

doi.org

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

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Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

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Daniel Tamarit @danieltamarit.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I'm looking for an enthusiastic student to join my team as a PhD candidate on archaeal genome evolution 🦠💻 Work in beautiful Utrecht, at @binfutrecht.bsky.social, an international group full of caring, amazing scientists, and with frequent cake breaks! www.uu.nl/en/organisat... Please share! 🙏

uu.nl

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Fabien Burki @fburki.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

If you want to read a cool story today, look no further: A billion-year-old bacterial machinery replicates plastid DNA and supports kleptoplastidy #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

You're entitled to your own opinion. You're NOT entitled to your own facts. #BelieveTheScience What he said 💯 👇 👇 👇

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Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 05/03/2026

#OnThisDay in 1938, American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis was born. Margulis is most known for developing and popularising the endosymbiotic theory, which explains how eukaryotic cells evolved organelles from simpler prokaryotic organisms that resided within another and became incorporated.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Read our review about the "Diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution of the Asgard archaea" in @natrevmicro.nature.com here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... By @kassipan.bsky.social @stephkoe.bsky.social @micropat.bsky.social & @gerbenz.bsky.social

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Stephan Köstlbacher @stephkoe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

🧵 1/10 New paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com from my postdoc at @mib-wur.bsky.social! 🎉 How eukaryote-like was the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes? Sequence searches alone can't tell us — so we used protein structure prediction to look deeper. 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling - Nature Microbiology

A structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Using extensive protein structure modelling and sequence similarity detection across an expanded Asgard archaeal genomic dataset to build a structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome. Within this dataset we identified many new structural/isomorphic eukaryotic signature proteins (ESPs).

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Finally out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com: Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling. Great work by @stephkoe.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social @jvhooff.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Andrew Roger @andrewjroger.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Have a novel protist's genome or transcriptome and want to predict it's mitochondrial proteome? Look no further than CoMR, this handy bioinformatic workflow to help you: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #phylogenetics

biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · 13/02/2026

AI agent goes nuts on open source maintainer after having its pull request denied. This is a pretty insane story. Open source development as we've been used to for the last few decades is likely over. 1/ theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...

theshamblog.com

An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me

Summary: An AI agent of unknown ownership autonomously wrote and published a personalized hit piece about me after I rejected its code, attempting to damage my reputation and shame me into acceptin…

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 18/02/2026

Read how @embopress.org is expanding its focus on molecular ecology and evolution as central underpinnings of functions/interactions/diversification of biological systems – by @yehumoran.bsky.social, @berndpulverer.bsky.social, and our new team of Editorial Advisors link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.com

EMBO Press co-evolves with molecular ecology and evolutionary biology - The EMBO Journal

The EMBO Journal - Molecular ecology and evolution are central to understanding how biological systems function, interact, and diversify. A special issue of this journal reflects the growing...

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 18/02/2026

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Finally out in @nature.com: a new piece of the puzzle of how complex life evolved. Lead by @archaeal.bsky.social & @katyappler.bsky.social. Great collab with @greening.bsky.social and @kassipan.bsky.social. More pieces to follow soon! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Courtney Stairs @cstairs.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Abstract deadline of February 27 is quickly approaching. Registration for the meeting is limited to 120 partipants with presenters (poster or talk) being given priority. So submit an abstract to secure your spot! comparativegenomics2026.com All inclusive registration (hotel+3 meals)

comparativegenomics2026.com

CGUE 2026 – Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes 2026. San Feliu, Spain. 5-10 October

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

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...

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Hamer + Spijker. Tijd voor verandering van de PhD stelsel op Nederlandse Universiteiten. Lees dit opiniestuk van @erikvansebille.bsky.social in het Digitaal Universiteitsblad van @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Hassan Salem @hassansalem.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

How specific are heritable symbioses? And what can we learn from swapping obligate symbionts across host species? We address this in our latest, led by @inespons.bsky.social & in our collaboration w/ @microbiome.bsky.social 🦠🪲 Out today in @natcomms.nature.com! 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Sur Herrera Paredes @surh.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I'm happy to share our new review with @lau-co89.bsky.social @liigh-unam.bsky.social just published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social Recent microbial evolutionary insights from metagenomics academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-... Inspired by the session "Molecular evolution through metagenomics" at #SMBE24

academic.oup.com

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Two more weeks to apply - come join us () in The Netherlands as a postdoctoral researcher on large-scale metagenomic exploration of new lineages!

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Theo Sanderson @theo.io · 08/02/2026

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself! bluesky-map.theo.io I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

bluesky-map.theo.io

Bluesky Map

Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

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Reposted by Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺

Piotr Lukasik @sympiotr.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

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...

The visualization of two bacterial genomes, of 50 and 52kb, representing independent instances of extreme genomic reduction in ancient heritable endosymbionts of planthoppers.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Importantly, while we observe small variations in statistical support, the overall trends support that eukaryotes are placed within Heimdallarchaeia, as sister-group to the order Hodarchaeales when both SR4-recoding and FSR treatments were combined - as was reported in the original paper.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

We have therefore removed these redundant markers from the dataset, and subjected the resulting dataset of 54 non-redundant markers, and used the same methodology to re-run all phylogenomic analyses presented in the paper.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

In our paper we used a phylogenomic dataset of 57 markers to study of the evolutionary relationship between eukaryotes and Asgard archaea. After the publication of our study, we noticed that three of these markers (M127, M028, & MA54) were partially redundant, as they belong to paralogous families.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Today we published a Correction on our 2023 @nature.com paper reporting the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Corrected paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Importantly, the re-analyses of the corrected dataset are consistent with the original findings.

nature.com

Author Correction: Inference and reconstruction of the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes - Nature

Nature - Author Correction: Inference and reconstruction of the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes

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Dolf Weijers @dolfweijers.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/f... Become our new colleague (and next door neighbor) and lead a chair/group/department of Biophysics at Wageningen University. Reach out to me for info and please spread!!!

wur.nl

Full Professor and Chair Laboratory of Biophysics

We are looking for a Full Professor in the Biophysics chair group, part of Wageningen University & Research (WUR)

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Lars Eicholt @lacholt.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Check out our new review in Nature Reviews Genetics on de novo emerged genes and proteins. How they emerge, are lost and persist - and how de novo emerged proteins relate to randomized proteins! @bornberglab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes - Nature Reviews Genetics

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...

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Mario Vallejo-Marin @nicrodemo.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

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Johannes Hohlbein @hohlbeinlab.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

The Laboratory of Biophysics at Wageningen University & Research (NL) is looking for a new chair! Details here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/f...

wur.nl

Full Professor and Chair Laboratory of Biophysics

We are looking for a Full Professor in the Biophysics chair group, part of Wageningen University & Research (WUR)

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EMBL @embl.org · 22/01/2026

EMBL is deeply saddened by the passing of our Interim Director General Peer Bork, a pioneering scientist who left an indelible imprint on life science research in Europe and beyond. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. www.embl.org/news/people-...

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I have a postdoc position in metagenomic exploration available in my group. Candidates with documented experience in phylo & metagenomics and preferably with petabase-scale data mining and GLM workflows are encouraged to apply. Come join us! 🧬🦠💻 Please repost Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...

wur.nl

Postdoctoral researcher Phylogenomics and metagenomics

Are you just as excited as we are about the fascinating world of microorganisms? Do you want to contribute to exploring and genomically characterize novel prokaryotic lineages? Do you have a PhD degre...

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Fabien Burki @fburki.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Identification of a deep-branching lineage of algae using environmental plastid genomes - Nature Communications

Here, the authors leverage data from the Tara Oceans expeditions to perform a phylogeny-guided plastid genome-resolved metagenomic survey and provide 660 non-redundant plastid genomes from marine alga...

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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 30/11/2025

A newly discovered archaeal cell has a tiny genome and can’t metabolize biomolecules. It’s upending biologists’ definition of a living thing. “These types of organisms have been found before, but not as extreme as this,” said microbiologist Thijs Ettema.

quantamagazine.org

A Cell So Minimal That It Challenges Definitions of Life | Quanta Magazine

The newly described microbe represents a world of parasitic, intercellular biodiversity only beginning to be revealed by genome sequencing.

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Thijs J. G. Ettema 🦠🔬🇳🇱🇸🇪🇪🇺 @ettema.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Congrats, more than deserved - you are going to have a blast!

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Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

ERC Plus Grants • No career limit, current ERCs are not eligible • Major challenge, transformative research • Up to 7 million euros, up to 7 years • 30 grants per year, 2 years, only once per lifetime • Same application format, plus vision statement • Deadline in September 2026, 2 stage evaluation

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