We're pulling together the genomes for GlobDB release 232, which will be based on the upcoming GTDB release. We will also add new sources of genomes not in INSDC. Here's an overview of the data that will be included in the next GlobDB: globdb.org/news
Please contact me if we've missed something!🦠🖥️🧬
Interested in microbial proteins and their diversity? 🖥️🧬🦠
We have recently released the Amino Acid Sequence Toolkit (AASTK). AASTK is designed to work with the GlobDB to create and work with datasets of protein sequences.
AASTK currently consists of 4 tools:
- CASM
- PASR
- CUGO
- Meta
1/
Last year, we proposed a model of plasmid evolution via fusion and fragmentation (via mge mediated recombination) generating mosaics, by studying historical isolates. Excited to see a MASSIVE paper from @jrpenades.bsky.social , @epcrocha.bsky.social expanding on this
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
graph showing number of each community profiling type (amplicon, shotgun-nanopore and shotgun-illumina). Amplicon and shotgun-illumina are in the millions of runs, while shotgun-nanopore is in the tens of thousands of runs.
There was a 34% increase in shotgun metagenomes in 2025 vs 2024 (64% increase for nanopore, now ~15,000), but amplicons are still king.
We’re kicking off 2026 with an exciting lineup of speakers at BRISJAMS this February!
📅 Wednesday, 25 February 2026
⏰ 6:00–7:30pm
📍 The Burrow (Beer Garden Room), West End
🍕 Free pizza provided!
👉 Register via the QR code on the poster.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The ISME20 abstract submission deadline has been extended to 22 February. Microbial ecologists worldwide are invited to submit abstracts for oral, short talk, or poster presentations and contribute to the ISME20 programme.
isme-microbes.org/isme20-abstr...
#ISME20 #MicrobialEcology
Cross reactive antibodies produced by people with rare genetic variants explain the very rare clotting disorders in people receiving adenovirus-based COVID vaccines Gift🔗 www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
New paper out! Here's a puzzle: phototrophy, the ability to use light for energy, is one of life's great innovations. It evolved early and transformed the biosphere. But it evolved 2x. Why not just once, why not more? Our work suggests the answer is priority effects.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
LAUNCH DAY🎙️
We're thrilled to share the very first episode of #MVIFconversations w/ Jack Gilbert 💫
Stefanie Malan-Müller & @cpavloud.bsky.social talked with @gilbertjacka.bsky.social about how microbes shape our health and the invisible living world around us.
Give it a listen & spread the word!
DISCOVER ZOONIVERSE PROJECTS IN A WHOLE NEW WAY
We’re happy to introduce an updated Projects page on Zooniverse, designed to make it easier, faster, and more enjoyable to find projects that match your interests. The new page brings together improved navigation, long-requested features like sorting…
mvif 46 program
It's Friday!
...and a new #MVIF program is out! 🤩
Free registration: cassyni.com/s/mvif-46
Highlights:
🇺🇸 Rebecca L. Knoll
🇯🇵 Akito Sakanaka
Keynote:
🇺🇸 @simrouxvirus.bsky.social
⭐️ Talks:
🇦🇺 @jeremyjbarr.bsky.social
🇨🇦 @erikbakkeren.bsky.social
🇨🇳 Guanxiang Liang
The ISME Early Career Scientist Committee is glad to begin the year by spotlighting @aroneys.bsky.social, a Postdoctoral Researcher at QUT, and his paper, “Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.”
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
(1/2)
Present your research at the 20th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology in Auckland, from 16 - 21 August 2026! When submitting your abstract, make sure to check whether you are eligible for one of the travel grants.
isme-microbes.org/call-for-abs...
#microbialecology #isme20
🚨vConTACT3 now in Nature Biotechnology:
- >95% agreement with ICTV for known viruses
- Classifies both prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses
- Extends beyond genus → subfamily, family & order
- Systematically assigns taxonomy to tens of thousands of previously unclassified viruses
New paper up on bioRxiv! This is my third and hopefully final paper on rarefaction. It's still better than the other available methods.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Really important read for people working with long-read MAGs.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication
Landmark study in @Nature! 🇩🇰 The "Microflora Danica" project has created the first-ever national microbiome atlas. Led by Aalborg University, @fwf-at.bsky.social CoE Microplanet's Director @michiwagner4.bsky.social, and @daanspeth.bsky.social, Andrew Giguere @cemess.bsky.social analyzed nitrifiers.
New preprint out! Using ~75k environmental OTUs + 77 fossil calibrations, we reconstructed a Proterozoic timeline of eukaryote evolution. Our results show crown eukaryotes were already diversifying >1.6 Ga, long before the first undisputed fossils (~1.05 Ga).
🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Our Review article is now featured in the January issue of @natrevgenet.nature.com, check it out!
🎉 The #SeqCode has reached a significant milestone: with the validation of the genus Skiveiella, a total of 1,000 #names have now been validly published under the SeqCode.
This achievement marks a major step forward in the adoption and impact of the SeqCode within the scientific community.
GTDB is now cross-referenced from ENA genome assembly pages. Check it out: www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/....
Thank you to @ebi.embl.org for support with setting up these links!
From @jhcepas.bsky.social and colleagues in the @narjournal.bsky.social #NARDatabaseIssue | eggNOG v7: phylogeny-based orthology predictions and functional annotations | #Bioinformatics #ProteinCentric #Database #OpenScience 🧬 🖥️🧪🇨🇭🇪🇸🇩🇪🔓
⬇️
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
trophy backlit by coloured lights
Researcher of the year slide
A lucky year in 2025, and now I've a QUT Faculty of Health Researcher of the Year to prove it. Thank you to the many non-myself people who made it happen.
Some archaea—an ancient group of microorganisms—have an entirely novel genetic code, according to a new study in Science.
The findings expand our understanding of how alternative genetic codes evolve and hint at new molecular tools for biotechnology applications. https://scim.ag/4omApQ7
An Asgard Archaeon (Lokiarchaeum ossiferum) growing and retracting its arms
Microflora Danica: What can you learn from collecting and sequencing 10,000+ samples from a single country? Check out our new paper in @nature.com to find out. Incredible work led by Caitlin Singleton, Thomas B. N. Jensen, and Mads Albertsen from @aau.dk. 🦠🧫🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy December!
Join #MVIF 44 – we will discuss diverse #microbiome topics:
human urinary, gut, oral and nasal microbiomes,
extreme environments, and
a new sequence alignment tool.
metaTraits: a large-scale integration of microbial phenotypic trait information
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
