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viroid

@viroid.bsky.social

347 followers 1.6K following 7 posts

post-doctoral fellow studying sub-viral RNAs

viroid @viroid.bsky.social · 21/01/2024

There's a ~1000nt sub-viral RNA that shows up on every continent, and in humans, and it seems to have gone unnoticed! It has no sequence similarity to any database and codes for a wacky protein Super happy to finally share my thesis work on "Obelisks" tinyurl.com/yc54fzj9 #MicroSky #microbiomesky

A multi-panel diagram of features about "Obelisks". Top half, a) schematics of Obelisk-alpha, a 1164 nt long, apparent;y circular, predicted to be rod-shaped RNA that codes for two proteins, Oblin-1 and Oblin-2 where Oblin-1 is self-complementary. Obelisks bare no sequence similarity to any annotated genetic sequence. The predicted secondary structure is depicted as "Jupiter" plots (circular diagrams where chords represent predicted base pairs), and as skeleton diagrams (where parallel lines represent predicted base pairs). Bottom left, b) a schematic of the world map, with nations coloured in shades of red representing the number of datasets (from a subset database) that contain Obelisks (redder = more datasets), nations from all 7 continents are shaded. Bottom right, c) a predicted tertiary structure for Oblin-1, that appears to be a novel fold, represented as in cartoon format and as a topological diagram (right).

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viroid @viroid.bsky.social · 23/12/2023

I wrote about some speculative microbial energetics for the Homeworld Ideas Challenge and placed fourth! In it, I mused about how Cable Bacteria metabolism might be influenced by thermal gradients. In short, any effect is likely small, but writing about it was fun! t.ly/Pn8-E #MicroSky

t.ly

The mini fridge paradox — Homeworld Collective

All life on earth, blue whales, rabbits, ants, bacteria, even TSA agents, is electrically powered. The powerhouse of the cell is just a warehouse where countless high-power electrons discharge energy ...

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