Postdoc in evolution of microbes. I study protists losing mitochondria, algae stealing plastids, and bacteria living on nothing but sulfur. IUEM, Plouzané, BZH, FR. https://lukasnovak.eu/ https://scholar.social/@animalculum he/himhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3mg3dft3tsk2iNew 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 https://academic.oup.com/ismej/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ismejo/wrag042/8503335 #Bacteria #Microbes #Evolution #DeepSea02 Mar 2026 13:12 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg3dft3tsk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3mbvixbatqs2pHow a parasite gave up sex to find more hosts—and why its victory won't last https://phys.org/news/2026-01-parasite-gave-sex-hosts-victory.html Host range expansion of asexual parasite can be explained by loss of adaptions in Muller’s Ratchet https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65843-4 #Protists #Microbes #Parasites #Giardia #Evolution08 Jan 2026 07:55 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbvixbatqs2phttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3mbswuj2b2s2oShelled #amoeba crawls like an octopus, shifting tactics on the go https://phys.org/news/2026-01-shelled-amoeba-octopus-shifting-tactics.html Statistical and mechanical analysis of multi-pseudopodial locomotion in a testate amoeba, #Arcella sp. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/pjab/advpub/0/advpub_pjab.102.001/_html/-char/en #Protists #Microbes #Amoebae07 Jan 2026 07:26 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbswuj2b2s2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3m6cysqgpvc2dUnderstanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals https://phys.org/news/2025-09-relationship-foraminifera-symbionts-coral-reefs.html Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx4098 #Protists #Microbes #Diatoms23 Nov 2025 19:02 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6cysqgpvc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lypmaqgvcc2m#Arctic #algae aren't immobile or entombed. They're not just surviving either—they're gliding into record books https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-uncover-extreme-life-arctic.html Ice gliding #diatoms establish record-low temperature limits for motility in a eukaryotic cell https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423725122 #protists #microbes #extremophiles13 Sep 2025 10:51 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lypmaqgvcc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lxoyhqhjzs2oPartnership between #algae & #bacteria reveals secrets of evolution https://phys.org/news/2025-08-tiny-ocean-partnership-algae-bacteria.html Stepwise genome #evolution from a facultative symbiont to an endosymbiont in the N2-fixing symbioses https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01034-6 #protists by @vesnagrujcic.bsky.social, @mehrshmali.bsky.social, et al.31 Aug 2025 11:32 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxoyhqhjzs2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lxhtsvez2226Tiny marine #protist shells reveal clues for how ice ages start https://phys.org/news/2025-08-tiny-marine-protist-shells-reveal.html Progressively greater biological #CarbonStorage in the deep Atlantic during glacial inception: Monica Garity et al. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2510171122 #Protists #Microbes #Foraminifera #Climate #DeepSea #IceAge28 Aug 2025 15:20 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxhtsvez2226https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lvnblumd7225How #diatoms thrive in—and light up—the Southern Ocean https://phys.org/news/2025-08-illuminates-diatoms-southern-ocean.html https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GB008457 #protists #algae "An area of the #SouthernOcean that's long confused satellites by reflecting large amounts of turquoise light appears to be full of silica-rich diatoms"05 Aug 2025 08:19 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvnblumd7225https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lrattidqck22New genome announcement from our team: Draft genome sequence of Desulfobacterota strain M19, a mesophilic sulfur-disproportionating bacterium from a #DeepSea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mra.00295-25 #Bacteria #Microbes #Genomics #HydrothermalVents #Extremophiles10 Jun 2025 12:00 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrattidqck22https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lq2vtmslwc2oHow an organelle evolves in #symbiosis with a cell: Intermediate stage sheds light on the assimilation process https://phys.org/news/2025-03-organelle-evolves-symbiosis-cell-intermediate.html A nucleus-encoded dynamin-like protein controls endosymbiont division in the trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adp8518 #Protists #Microbes26 May 2025 09:55 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lq2vtmslwc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lpqr27iluk2mA Most Useful Light Switch https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/05/a-most-useful-light-switch.html paper from 2023: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01498-5 #Diatoms grow well in iron-limited waters. They switch their energy-generating photoreceptor to a proton-translocating #rhodopsin. #Protists #Algae via @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social22 May 2025 09:03 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpqr27iluk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lpehtsso2c2sAlgae May Speed Melting of Antarctic Ice https://eos.org/articles/newly-discovered-algae-may-speed-melting-of-antarctic-ice paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57725-6 "The newly discovered algal communities may represent one of the largest photosynthetic habitats in #Antarctica." #Protists #Algae #SnowAlgae #Microbes #ClimateChange17 May 2025 11:46 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpehtsso2c2shttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lnkx7yewwk2dAfter 7,000 years without light and oxygen in #BalticSea mud, researchers bring prehistoric #algae back to life https://phys.org/news/2025-03-years-oxygen-baltic-sea-mud.html Resurrection of a #diatom after 7000 years from anoxic Baltic Sea sediment: Sarah Bolius et al. https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wrae252/7942337 #Protists #Diatoms #Microbes24 Apr 2025 14:47 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnkx7yewwk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lni4sx26kc26Newly discovered algae species offers insights into plant evolution and UV protection https://phys.org/news/2025-02-newly-algae-species-insights-evolution.html New Strains of the Deep Branching Streptophyte Streptofilum... Description of S. arcticum sp. nov https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.70033 #Protists #Algae #NewSpecies23 Apr 2025 11:49 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lni4sx26kc26https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ln5yjbiows2oGiving up on #photosynthesis: How a borrowed bacterial gene allows marine #diatoms to live on a #seaweed diet https://phys.org/news/2025-04-photosynthesis-bacterial-gene-marine-diatoms.html Diatom heterotrophy on brown algal polysaccharides emerged through HGT, gene duplication, & neofunctionalization https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003038 #algae #protists19 Apr 2025 11:05 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ln5yjbiows2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ljd32xldj227Ancient marine organism's dual-layer structure reveals both past and present ocean environments https://phys.org/news/2025-02-ancient-marine-dual-layer-reveals.html A cosmopolitan calcifying benthic #foraminifera in agglutinated disguise as a geochemical recorder of coastal environments https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2413054122 #Protists #Microbes01 Mar 2025 13:54 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljd32xldj227https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3li23jy5aek2kSymbiotic #bacteria ride along with single-celled #protists in ocean's upper layer https://phys.org/news/2025-02-symbiotic-bacteria-celled-protists-ocean.html #Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(25)00027-713 Feb 2025 06:43 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3li23jy5aek2khttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lgzufho3ik27How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-life-happen-when-theres-barely-any-light-20250129/ @quantamagazine.bsky.social Photosynthetic light requirement near the theoretical minimum detected in Arctic microalgae: Clara Hoppe et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51636-8 #Protists #Algae #Diatoms #Arctic31 Jan 2025 11:10 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgzufho3ik27https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lgofkrt72k27In search of red snow https://microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com/2025/01/26/in-search-of-red-snow/ #protists " #SnowAlgae have been known for a long time – earliest records are from the alps in the late 18th century... and first recognised as #algae 40 years later when an expedition was exploring the North-West passage "26 Jan 2025 21:45 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgofkrt72k27https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lfwhpt6az22tNew research on #protists sheds light on #DeepSea energy sources https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/foraminifer/ Array of metabolic pathways in a kleptoplastidic #foraminifera supports #chemoautotrophy in dark, euxinic seafloor sediments https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wrae248/7923457 by Fatma Gomaa et al., @whoi.bsky.social17 Jan 2025 09:20 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfwhpt6az22thttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lfpb566cek23Tiny microbe colonies communicate to coordinate their behavior https://www.uib.no/en/michaelsarscentre/175104/tiny-microbe-colonies-communicate-coordinate-their-behavior Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr7434 #Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes by @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social14 Jan 2025 12:33 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfpb566cek23https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lfjysbtbpk2u#ClimateChange Threatens Key Ocean #Plankton Groups https://www.mpic.de/5618027/klimawandel-bedroht-planktongruppen-im-meer Migrating is not enough for modern planktonic #foraminifera in a changing ocean: Sonia Chaabane et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08191-5 #Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes #Acidification #ClimateCrisis #Climate12 Jan 2025 10:21 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfjysbtbpk2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3lfhkj7ye4s2bDiscovery of enzyme pathway may lead to #leishmaniasis treatments https://phys.org/news/2024-12-discovery-enzyme-pathway-lifesaving-leishmaniasis.html " #Leishmania have biochemical similarities to #fungi... But scientists were unable to effectively use #antifungals... those #azoles don't work unless they inhibit the new pathway" #Protists #Parasites11 Jan 2025 11:00 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfhkj7ye4s2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ldvnjunefk2oComprehensive analysis reveals hidden genomic #evolution of brown algae https://phys.org/news/2024-12-comprehensive-analysis-reveals-hidden-genomic.html Evolutionary #genomics of the emergence of #BrownAlgae as key components of coastal ecosystems https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01272-8 #Protists #Algae #ProtistsOnSky #Seaweed #Biology22 Dec 2024 14:41 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldvnjunefk2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ldm5nkxg7c22#Phytochromes: The 'eyes' that enable #microalgae to find their way in aquatic depths https://phys.org/news/2024-12-phytochromes-eyes-enable-microalgae-aquatic.html #Diatom phytochromes integrate the underwater light spectrum to sense depth: Carole Duchêne et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08301-3 #Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Algae #Diatoms #Microbes18 Dec 2024 20:03 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldm5nkxg7c22https://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ldb3x5zz3c2cThis #amoeba eats prey like #owls do https://www.sciencenews.org/article/amoeba-eats-removes-shell The vampyrellid amoeba #Strigomyxa ruptor gen. et sp. nov. and its remarkable strategy to acquire algal cell contents https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.70191 #Protists #Algae #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes14 Dec 2024 10:33 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldb3x5zz3c2chttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ld47rfxsck2sResearch reveals even single-cell organisms exhibit habituation, a simple form of learning https://phys.org/news/2024-11-reveals-cell-habituation-simple.html Biochemically plausible models of habituation for single-cell learning: Lina Eckert et al. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01430-1 #Protists #Microbes #Ciliates #ProtistsOnSky12 Dec 2024 11:58 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld47rfxsck2shttps://bsky.app/profile/animalculum.bsky.social/post/3ld23xwdofs22Advanced genetic techniques & #microscopy offer new insights into anaerobic ciliate + methanogen #symbiosis https://phys.org/news/2024-10-advanced-genetic-techniques-microscopy-insights.html Methanogenic #symbionts of anaerobic #ciliates are host, habitat specific https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/18/1/wrae164/7737421 #protists by @micrott.bsky.social @symbiosisrox.bsky.social11 Dec 2024 15:45 +0000at://did:plc:4o7idfswjkyin5fxedynxob2/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld23xwdofs22