Happy to share the latest manuscript from our lab, in which we propose that eukaryotes evolved from a genomic chimera of Asgard archaea and giant viruses.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.22.590592v1

This is a controversial topic, but we believe we have strong evidence to suggest a critical viral role in eukaryogenesis.

#viruses #protists #eukaryotes #evolution #TreeOfLIfe #archaea

Chimeric Origin of Eukaryotes from Asgard Archaea and Ancestral Giant Viruses

The details surrounding the evolution of complex cells remain some of the most enduring mysteries in biology.

^bioRxiv

Looking for some suggestions - I'm working with Archaeal genomic regions whose optimally fitting model seems to be Tamura-Nei (https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040023).

Would it be too much to suspect the Archaeal region is under similar types of evolutionary pressure?

#archaea #microbiology #evolution #phylogenetics #bioinformatics

Marine #microorganisms are crucial for #ocean health.

#Bacteria, #archaea, #fungi, #algae and #viruses make up most of the biomass in the seas and form the base of marine food webs.

They support nutrient cycling and drive crucial biogeochemical processes, including key steps in the carbon, nitrogen and silicon cycles.

Ocean modelling must evolve to take their biological complexity into account.

#biology #ecology #oceans
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03425-4

‘Oceans are hugely complex’: modelling marine microbes is key to climate forecasts

Microorganisms are the engines that drive most marine processes. Ocean modelling must evolve to take their biological complexity into account.

^{Tagliabue, Alessandro}

While we are still trying to find ways to clean up problems like oil spills in the ocean, microorganisms in the seas have their own insights to impart.

Oil rich soil from the Guaymas Basin has provided German scientists understanding of a mechanism by which archaea in the Alkanophaga break down alkane molecules and thus degrade petroleum through oxidation.

#Remediation #Bioremediation #Oil #Petroleum #Archaea #Alkanophaga #Science #Biology #Scicomm

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01400-3

Candidatus Alkanophaga archaea from Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent sediment oxidize petroleum alkanes - Nature Microbiology

Oil-rich deep-sea sediments are used to culture syntrophic communities of archaea and bacteria that pair petroleum alkane oxidation to sulfide generation.

^Nature