How specific are heritable symbioses?
And what can we learn from swapping obligate symbionts across host species?
We address this in our latest, led by @inespons.bsky.social & in our collaboration w/ @microbiome.bsky.social π¦ πͺ² Out today in @natcomms.nature.com!
1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The visualization of two bacterial genomes, of 50 and 52kb, representing independent instances of extreme genomic reduction in ancient heritable endosymbionts of planthoppers.
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early!
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50β52 kb β the smallest known outside cellular organelles β revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
π doi.org/10.1038/s414...
16 shots of the two to three nymphs I was photographing, showing the process of how they discard their nymph stage shells. The shell initially cracks along a dorsal seam and the newly formed cicada pushes up through this crack, emerging at a 90Β° angle from the tree. From here they carefully invert themselves, a position in which they remain for a few minutes while their blood begins to flow around their new appendages. After a while their legs begin to twitch, and then using core strength that would put any human to shame they perform a full body curl, latch onto their old shell with their clawed feet and carefully pull out their abdomen. Now fully free of their former self they begin pumping blood into their wings, which quickly unfurl and flatten. Once everything has been inflated to the correct size they rest a bit more before beginning the arduous climb to a higher vantage point. At some point in the night they achieve flight for the first time in their life. Now active in the branches of the trees they emerged under they only have a short adult lifespan in which to reproduce and begin the whole cycle anew.
Thursday night I was lucky enough to tick off another photography milestone - documenting the moment when a cicada nymph molts its skin to reveal the adult within. For these smaller species the change is quick, they can anchor on a tree, molt and then go forth in 30 minutes #BugSky
New #microbiome paper from our lab @ioes-ju.bsky.social! Unexpected host associations for Bartonellaceae - a bacterial family primarily known as mammalian pathogens. Striking #symbiont evolutionary trajectories, exemplified by a highly reduced, 158kb genome with no nutrient biosynthetic capacity!
Ma, @annamichalik.bsky.social, Deng, Hu & @sympiotr.bsky.social discover the presence of Bartonellaceae bacteria in planthoppers, broadening the host spectrum of nonpathogenic Bartonellaceae.
π doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf216
#genome #evolution
Please consider signing a petition to increase the spending on science in Poland / List otwarty w sprawie finansowania nauki, w tym @ncn.gov.pl www.petycjeonline.com/list_otwarty...
Based on feedback from applicants, reviewers and broader research community, the ERC Scientific Council decided to make changes in the 2026β27 calls for proposal for research funding.
More details from the ERC President π europa.eu/!hP3WWF
Whatβs your take on this? Tell us! π
π¨ Save the date! Thrilled to be co-organizing the next iteration of the @embl.org Symposium on the Cellular Mechanics of Symbiosis (π
March 17-20), w/ @floravincent.bsky.social, @hassansalem.bsky.social & Tom Richards.
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
#EESSymbiosis #Symbiosis #SymbioSky #MicroSky π¦
Last Wednesday, my first Ph.D. Student, Junchen Deng, defended his thesis! So proud!
Check some of the underlying papers - on planthopper phylogenomics doi.org/10.1111/syen..., origins of Auchenorrhynchan symbionts doi.org/10.1093/gbe/..., and planthopper symbiont evolution doi.org/10.1101/2025... !
The newly assembled planthopper-Bartonellaceae genomes range in size from <2 Mb to 158 kb. The one most reduced lacks any essential amino acid biosynthesis genes, contrasting with all other insect-associated bacteria with ultra-reduced genomes, or other genes with obvious importance to hosts! 2/2
New preprint from our lab! We show that #Bartonellaceae bacteria, mostly known as mammalian #pathogens, also colonizes #planthoppers. The planthopper #symbionts typically resemble related ant symbionts in nutritional functions, but show a much greater breadth of #genome sizes and functions. 1/2
Reference: PΕoszka Z., Nowak K.H., Tischer M., Michalik A., Kolasa M.R., Εukasik P. (2025): Dissecting multitrophic interactions: The relationships among Entomophthora, their dipteran hosts, and associated bacteria. J Invertebrate Pathology 213: 108425 doi.org/10.1016/j.ji...
Congrats all!
Highlights:
β’ Molecular records for Entomophthoraβs new host clades from an unexplored bioregion - Greenland
β’ Confirmed high host-specificity of the pathogens;
β’ Provided the first records of bacteria seemingly associating with pathogen-killed flies;
β’ Validated multi-target sequencing approach
A new paper by our team @ioes-ju.bsky.social just published in J Invert Pathol @jinvertpathol.bsky.social!
In Diptera-#Entomophthora system, we show how simultaneously #sequencing #insect, #fungal #pathogen, and bacterial marker genes can aid biodiversity and biological interaction discovery.
The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying!
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Lead author Auke-Florian Hiemstra holds the oldest known caddisfly casing containing microplastic, dating to 1971. Photo: Liselotte Rambonnet.
A caddisfly casing with pieces of blue microplastic, dating 1986. Photo: Auke-Florian Hiemstra
NEW PAPER, JUST OUT! π
Insects from the '70s and '80s were already collecting microplastic, decades before the term microplastic even existed. π€―
A thread on the surprising history of this pollutant and the incredible insect larvae that helped us uncover it. π
Let's dive in! π§΅π 1/x
New preprint by our team @ioes-ju.bsky.social! Using custom multi-target amplicon sequencing on diverse pathogen-killed dipterans from Greenland, we find multiple #Entomophthora genotypes with notable host specificity, and reconstruct bacterial communities associated with the killed insects.
A convincing demonstration of a unique transmission strategy of a widespread #insect #endosymbiont
--- check out the recent publication in @currentbiology.bsky.social @kaltenpoth-lab.bsky.social et al. www.cell.com/current-biol...
Thank you, @einsteinberlin.bsky.social, for recognizing the importance of raising concerns about scientific papers. Often, science sleuths face professional, personal, and legal threats.
Awards like these are vital to acknowledging the significance of our work.
Bison in Bialowieza Forest (c) R Broughton
Poland-Belarus border fence, wiki commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poland_Belarus_border_barrier_2023.jpg
Our new #OpenAccess paper
How can long-term #ecology studies survive & resist political & social change, authoritarianism, war, but also embrace positive change?
The BiaΕowieΕΌa Forest as an example of the resilience of long-term studies in a changing world:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/
Beautiful work!
Recommended read: A @theguardian.com interactive mapped the record heat experienced by two-thirds of the Earthβs surface in 2024.
Dark Taxonomy: From unknown to ready for biomonitoring in 5 steps. By describing 120 species, most species of fungus gnats routinely caught in Malaise traps in Singapore now have names. Bees, butterflies and birds, make room for your new friends. Read here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
From across the Atlantic, it's hard to even imagine what is going on, and the impacts. And utterly impossible to find any logic ot it... Take care, Matt.
Itβs not the head, itβs the butt!
Meet a completely unknown organism: a blow fly (Calliphoridae) that evolved social integration in termite nests using a false termite head in the posterior part of the body.
@CurrentBiology www.cell.com/current-biol...
A clam with a spring attached to the shell. The spring has a magnet placed above a sensor.
Hardly new info, but BSky should know:
Warsaw's water quality is monitored by eight clams with magnets attached to their shells. If contamination in the water causes the clams to close, the magnets trigger an alarm and shut off the city's water supply.
Thank you, little guardian molluscs.
π§ͺππ°
A #gingerbread Christmas #cicada - a sure sign that the much-needed vacation is just around the corner!
https://www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10.1073/pnas.2315735121
How to write a grant?
1. The application is for the reviewer, not you, the applicant.
2. Communicate in stories.
3. Make your story cohesiveβleave no puzzling gaps.
4. Make your story resonate to keep the reviewer reading.
5. Accept chance and noise in peer-review.
www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....
Microscopy image of a piece of the cortex of rhesus macaque. Markers shown are dapi (blue), pyramidal neurons in yellow (smi32), calreticulin (pink), and neun (purple).
A forest of neurons inside your head, happy #FluorescenceFriday! π¬π§ͺπ§
