Yash Pardasani

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. MicroSEA course integrates lectures, field sampling, and lab-based practicals in advanced techniques, such as flow cytometry, microscopy, culturing, and molecular analysis. The main objectives of MicroSEA course are: Fostering a deep understanding of marine protist diversity, ecology and biology; Providing hands-on training in advanced single-cell methods that are not commonly available in university programs; Building participants' confidence in designing and conducting research projects from field to data analysis; Promoting international collaborations and peer networking among students and speakers/trainers. The course will take place at the Station Biologique de Roscoff - SBR (France) - 7th to 12th of June, 2026 (arrival on the 6th, departure on the 13th). 20 participants will be selected, including 10 from EuroMarine member institutes. https://opbc.sciencesconf.org/

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing:

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org

#protistsonsky

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells - BMC Biology Background Cercozoa are single-celled eukaryotes (protists) and are part of the supergroup Rhizaria. Cercozoans have vastly different morphologies and are defined by their phylogenetic affinity. While...

Great to see this paper in all its glory online: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A huge effort from Gordon and the team at @pjkeelinglab.bsky.social!

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells

@ubcbotany.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca

Really cool! My guess would be some bodos there and some cercomonad like cells. @zlatogursky.bsky.social will have a better id :)

Some creatures we’ve isolated from soil recently. If you recognise any of these let me know! #protistsonsky

Great to see our paper on light-intensity dependent swimming patterns in #Chlamydomonas out now in Phys Rev Lett. as an Editors' suggestion! With a nice commentary by @philipcball.bsky.social.

Chlamy actively modulate the beat planes of their #cilia!
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... #protistsonsky

have you ever seen 𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘺𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 doing a perfect breast stroke? here you go...
#ProtistsOnSky

We are happy to share our newest preprint on a novel strain of Ca. Lokiarchaeum ossiferum, that contains an active provirus, capable of excision and independent replication! We propose a novel virus family: Fylgjaviridae.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our latest preprint: Together with the team of Jan Löwe, @danieltamarit.bsky.social and many others we discovered and characterized several Asgard tubulin genes and propose that microtubule architecture and dynamics evolved in Asgard archaea prior to eukaryogenesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Look at the size of that protist! The giant amoeba Pelomyxa palustris was today’s best sighting from a nearby pond sample. At first I feared that the little gastrotrich would be engulfed but that didn’t seem to be likely after watching for a while. Easily visible as 2mm across #protistsonsky

Article out about our work on #protists at the Earlham Institute🦠🧬

#protistsonsky
@earlhaminst.bsky.social
@nrpdtp.bsky.social
@norwichmicro.bsky.social

Microbial Diversity and Host-Microbe Interactions in the Marine Environment - Dr Corey Holt

open.spotify.com/episode/1iYc...

#ProtistsOnSky

Thank you @mollyherring.bsky.social for the stunning showcase 😍

Like what you see? Come ExM with us! Let’s flood the internet with microbial marvels 🦠

#ProtistsOnSky #MicroEvoSky 🧪🔬🌍

@dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @embl.org @erc.europa.eu @embo.org

A Practical Approach to Study Uncultivated Protists Using Single‐Cell Techniques for Electron Microscopy Protists represent a significant portion of eukaryotic diversity with a wide range of ecological roles, lifestyles, and diverse morphological traits. Despite their widespread importance in ecological....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#protistsonsky

Modern microbialites harbor an undescribed diversity of chromerid algae - Environmental Microbiome Background Chromerid algae are the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexan parasites. While chromerids have been central to understanding the evolutionary transition from free-living algae to...

Out now in Environmental Microbiome! 🧬

By re-analyzing microbialite sequencing data, we show that chromerid algae (the closest photosynthetic relatives of apicomplexans) are consistent and widespread associates of microbialites across diverse marine and freshwater environments worldwide 🌎

DDLS Research School Postdoc call 2026 Call for Academic and Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowships in Data-Driven Life Science 2026 Generic Description of the DDLS Postdoc Program The SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Drive...

New postdoc funding opportunity in Sweden! If you're interested in applying for this 'Data-Driven Life Sciences' fellowship, please get in touch, we'd be happy to host and help with the application (and talk options beyond the 2-year position). www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/...

If you're interested in biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems, there's just a few days to apply for our PhD project: Ecological Surveillance using High-Throughput Quantitative Imaging at @uniofbath.bsky.social .

Deadline: January 16th!
Apply: is.gd/svXBcr

Image: www.planktoscope.org/how-it-works

It's that time of year again! I'm looking for suggestions of 'emerging' model organisms for my #CellBio course's final proj:

Organism nomination form here (links to blog on proj info): forms.office.com/r/v8zYgqVe8W

#cellbiology #biology #academicsky #microsky #archaeasky #protistsonsky 🧪 (1/n)

Thought I would share an SEM image of a Meringosphaera I picked at Klubban (West Coast of Sweden) for my first post on Bluesky :) #protistsonsky

Really happy with our first expanded Paulinella picture! 😁
#ExM: @fburki.bsky.social
Confocal microscopy: @annewalraven.bsky.social

Cultivation, genomics, and giant viruses of a ubiquitous and heterotrophic freshwater cryptomonad Abstract. Heterotrophic nanoflagellates are the chief agents of bacterivory in the aquatic microbial loop but remain underrepresented in culture collection

Be aware of Tyrannomonas regina while having a swim this summer 🦖🦠🙀. Congratulations to @smallthingslab.bsky.social
#protistsonsky

academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Mutants of cell shape in Ciliophora provide clues to the variety of forms in protists. 1-Janus doublets vz the Metamonada double cell. 2-Multiplication of kinetids from 2 to 4 to 8, to many in hypermastigotes, opalinids. See Cell Shape review doi.org/10.1016/B978...
#Protists #Eukaryogenesis

Just on time for the holidays! Happy to share the published version of the discovery of leptophytes, a new deep-branching and widespread group of microalgae based on plastid MAGs (ptMAGs). Now with additional support from a mitochondrial MAG (mtMAG) of leptophytes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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...

Respiratory endosymbionts, that allow their ciliate hosts to breathe nitrate instead of (or in addition to) oxygen are frequent members of the wastewater microbiome. 🦠 🖥️🧬

Great to see this work by @louison-nicolas.bsky.social published in ISME coummuncations!

doi.org/10.1093/isme...

One more week to apply to this PhD position on working out an endosymbiosis relationship in a protist. Please share widely to prospective PhD student #protistsonsky

Wow! Radler et al. doi.org/10.1101/2025... These are #asgardarchaea with what? Pseudopodia? Should we call them archaepodia analogously to archaellum? Mindblowing anyway!

Dynamic protrusions mediate unique crawling motility in Asgard Archaea (Promethearchaeota) Crawling motility is a hallmark of eukaryotic cells and requires a dynamic actin cytoskeleton, regulated adhesion, and spatially organized signalling pathways. Asgard archaea (phylum Promethearchaeota...

And another Asgard paper. Cells in motion! Wow! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵

Our attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter

doi.org/10.32942/X2M...

We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process!

#MicroEvoSky
#ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏