Linda Horianopoulos

Happy 38th birthday to the #LTEE!
#BOTD in 1988.
Keep on evolving!

#science #evolution #microbiology

Cover of the Canadian Journal of Microbiology featuring a microscopic image of cells and highlighting the most read article in 2025.

Our most read article of 2025 reviews the history of Candida albicans research and advances in understanding this human pathogen. Read it now ▶️ https://ow.ly/h8Gc50XVPSp

👥 Manjari Shrivastava Malcolm Whiteway

#BestofCSP University of California Université Concordia University

My brain is so wired to see yeast that I definitely thought the far left image was a budding yeast at a first glance 🫣

Especially when the paper has real potential! Like with some modifications it could be a really important/useful paper but as is there are serious problems and misinterpretation.

Figure from: Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts

Researchers found three previously unknown whole-genome duplications in yeast, challenging the long-held view that such events are rare in fungi. The work reveals these ancient duplications occurred 100-200 million years ago.

Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts David et al. report evidence for at least two additional ancient whole-genome duplication events in Saccharomycotina yeasts, challenging the idea that such events are extremely rare in fungi.

Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts

@currentbiology.bsky.social by @kylethedavid.bsky.social et al from @rokaslab.bsky.social

www.cell.com/current-biol...

We know that the WGD had profound impacts on the model yeast S. cerevisiae, but there is much less known about these yeast species and it will be exciting to learn more about the implications of their duplications in each of these yeasts!

A figure showing duplicated colinear blocks of genes suggesting genome duplications.

Using long-read sequencing we verified that there were large duplicated co-linear blocks throughout the genomes, again consistent with whole genome duplications!

What can we discover by analyzing new yeast genomes?
Well, @kylethedavid.bsky.social noticed a suspiciously high number of duplicated genes in some species suggesting that there were additional whole genome duplications in the yeast subphylum!
authors.elsevier.com/c/1mWb33QW8S...

Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts Whole-genome duplication (WGD) has had profound macroevolutionary impacts on diverse lineages,1,2 preceding adaptive radiations in vertebrates,3,4,5 t…

Excited to announce our latest publication in reporting evidence for three (3!) new whole genome duplications (WGDs) in yeasts. Scientists have often wondered why WGD is so rare in fungi, it turns out we may just not have been looking hard enough! 🧪 🍄 🧬
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This is brilliantly written. I love the framing that conducting research should bring us joy!

Catch our new review on amphotericin B resistance in fugal pathogens. doi.org/10.1016/j.tc.... @mrccmm.bsky.social @youngecmm.bsky.social @ishamycology.bsky.social @youngisham.bsky.social @bsmm-meeting.bsky.social

Closer to You
Mike Gough
2022

Candida auris skin tropism and antifungal resistance are mediated by carbonic anhydrase Nce103 - Nature Microbiology Candida auris can scavenge carbon dioxide from microenvironments through Nce103 to sustain fitness when colonizing human skin.

Out Now! Candida auris skin tropism and antifungal resistance are mediated by carbonic anhydrase Nce103 #CandidaAuris #AntifungalResistance #Microbiology

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Although the SGD website will be available over the next few weeks, SGD staff will be on winter break until Jan 5, 2026.

SGD wishes all of you, your colleagues, and your families a safe and restful holiday season. May your yeast grow robustly and your experiments be reproducible! 🧬🍻☃️

The Macroevolution of Filamentation Morphology Across the Saccharomycotina Yeast Subphylum Saccharomycotina yeasts are a highly diverse and widely distributed subphylum of ascomycete fungi that exhibit diversity in their asexual growth morphologies; the human commensal yeast Candida albican...

New preprint with @rokaslab.bsky.social! We used genomic, metabolic, environmental, and phenotypic data sets from 1,154 Saccharomycotina strains to asses filamentation variability and predict filamentation types across the subphylum. 🧩
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🤣

Genetically Encoded Sensors for Monitoring Intracellular Redox Health of the Pathogenic Fungus Cryptococcus neoformans Redox sensing and regulation are critical to both the survival and virulence strategies used by the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans to evade host immunity and establish infection. However, the precise genetic and biochemical mechanisms driving these redox regulation systems in the context of fungal virulence are unclear. To address this limitation, we designed genetically encoded redox sensors optimized for expression in C. neoformans and linked these sensors to cryptococcal redox proteins for real-time monitoring of intracellular redox status. Using these sensors, we established several fluorescence-based techniques for monitoring dose-responsive changes in the intracellular oxidation status of C. neoformans under stress. Specifically, we demonstrated sensor responsiveness to nontoxic doses of peroxide stress and during different stages of cell growth, and we verified sensor responsiveness in a mutant with known sensitivity to oxidative stress. This approach provides a framework for developing and deploying biosensors in pathogenic fungi and in basidiomycetes─a group of microorganisms with relatively few sophisticated genetic tools for molecular and synthetic biology. Overall, our sensors enable real-time insights into the key redox mechanisms driving growth and survival of a globally important pathogen and pave the way for tool development in other fungi.

Very cool new paper on a genetically encoded redox sensor in Cryptococcus neoformans: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

These kind of approaches can enable so many cool experiments with real time monitoring!

Great work, @ubcmicroimmuno.bsky.social

With @linder-surprise.bsky.social and the @rokaslab.bsky.social, we recently expanded upon an analysis where glucose uptake rates were inversely correlated with the cell surface area-to-volume ratio, testing 282 species in the Saccharomycotina yeast subphylum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A trait syndrome ties cell morphology to glycolysis across the yeast subphylum https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.27.684252v1

We decided to combine these datasets and consider the influence of phylogenetic co-variance to see if these traits were correlated across a wider range of species in the Saccharomycotina.

Our results supported the earlier findings and found additional correlations with genome size and growth rate.

Convergent evolution of aerobic fermentation through divergent mechanisms acting on key shared glycolytic genes As the tree of life becomes increasingly accessible to molecular investigations, describing mechanisms underlying evolutionary convergence and constraint will be crucial to understanding diversificati...

Independently, I had been collecting data on rates of glucose metabolism (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...), and Christina Chavez @rokaslab.bsky.social had been analyzing data on cell morphology and size (academic.oup.com/femsyr/artic...) as part of the Y1000+ project.

The rate of glucose metabolism sets the cell morphology across yeast strains and species Yeasts are a diverse group of unicellular fungi that have developed a wide array of phenotypes and traits over 400 million years of evolution. However…

Earlier this year I read a super interesting paper linking glucose uptake rate to cell morphology across several yeast species: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

To my surprise, SA:V ratios were inversely related to glucose uptake rates!

Pleased to share our preprint which builds off of recent work connecting glucose uptake rates and cell morphology across yeast species:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Registrations and abstract submissions are now open for the always stellar #fungal #genetics conference at lovely Asilomar, CA - March 17-22, 2026. Thank you to @genetics-gsa.bsky.social for the amazing partnership with the fungal community. Hope to see you there!

Q & A Interview with Antonis Rokas, who uses DNA data from fungi, animals, and plants to study the patterns and processes of evolutionary diversity at Vanderbilt University.

Check out our newest issue where we interview Antonis Rokas, who uses DNA data from fungi, animals, and plants to study the patterns and processes of evolutionary diversity at Vanderbilt University. @rokaslab.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...

Convergent evolution of aerobic fermentation through divergent mechanisms acting on key shared glycolytic genes As the tree of life becomes increasingly accessible to molecular investigations, describing mechanisms underlying evolutionary convergence and constraint will be crucial to understanding diversificati...

In a preprint with the @rokaslab.bsky.social , @linder-surprise.bsky.social developed a high-throughput extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) assay to evaluate glycolytic rate. We highlight how genetic traits, such as aerobic fermentation, can arise convergently with strong constraints. 🧬

Machine Learning Reveals Genes That Help Yeasts Resist Stress Scientists used machine learning to analyze the genetic blueprints of hundreds of yeasts. This analysis allowed them to identify which groups of genes are most important for resistance to reactive oxy...

This work has also been featured on the DOE Science News Source initiative, Newswise, which promotes credible research news to the public. By publishing accessible summaries of recent studies that reach thousands of media outlets, it helps experts share their work with a broader audience.

Machine Learning Reveals Genes That Help Yeasts Resist Stress Study provides a framework for connecting genetic mechanisms and trait variation across diverse yeast species.

We are honored to share that our work, led by @katarina-aranguiz.bsky.social and @linder-surprise.bsky.social, has been featured as a Science Highlight on the DOE's Office of Science website. 200 articles are selected annually to be highlighted. Check it out! 🧫
www.energy.gov/science/ber/...

This provides insights into evolutionary constraints of this trait and suggests that increased glycolytic rate and aerobic fermentation may be predictable based on genomic sequences.