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Titas Sil

@titas10.bsky.social

390 followers 272 following 0 posts

PhD Candidate Barber lab, University of Oregon Microbiology Biochemistry Evolutionary biology

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by Titas Sil

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 28/08/2026

How do #antimicrobial peptides embedded within larger #proteins arise? This study by @titas10.bsky.social @biobarber.bsky.social @caitlinkowa.bsky.social &co resurrects ancient antimicrobial proteins, revealing their origins and diversification. 🧪 #AcademicSky #evolution plos.io/3SonQtD

Reconstructing the emergence of antimicrobial function in mammalian lactoferrin.
(A) Structure of the N-terminal lactoferricin region of lactoferrin (PDB: 1lfg), enriched with positively charged amino acids. (B) Phylogenetic tree of reconstructed ancestral lactoferrin homologs (AncTF and AncLF) with extant human transferrin (hTF, PDB: 3qyt), human lactoferrin (hLF, PDB: 1lfg), and bovine lactoferrin (bLF, PDB: 1blf) illustrated with surface electrostatic potentials. Structures of ancestral proteins were predicted using AlphaFold2. AncTF represents the last common ancestor of mammalian transferrin and lactoferrin, after which the first lactoferrin ancestor (AncLF1) arose by gene duplication. AncLF2 is the common ancestor of hLF and bLF, while AncLF3 represents a bLF ancestor.

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Reposted by Titas Sil

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 27/08/2026

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Reposted by Titas Sil

Matt Barber @biobarber.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

So excited for the latest study from our lab exploring the origins of antimicrobial protein functions, led by amazing PhD student @titas10.bsky.social now out in @plosbiology.org!

journals.plos.org

Retracing the origin and evolution of a cryptic antimicrobial peptide within mammalian lactoferrin

How antimicrobial peptides embedded within larger proteins arise remains unclear. This study resurrects ancient proteins to reveal how antimicrobial peptides emerged and diversified in mammalian lacto...

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Reposted by Titas Sil

Matt Barber @biobarber.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

New preprint from our lab led by fantastic graduate student @titas10.bsky.social, in which we retrace the emergence of antimicrobial function in the mammalian protein lactoferrin.

biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Titas Sil

Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

1/27 We have a new paper out! Turns out that snowflake yeast have been hiding a secret from us - they've evolved a (very!) crude circulatory system. Not with blood vessels or a heart, but through spontaneous fluid flows powered by their metabolism. 🧪🔬 www.science.org/doi/full/10....

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