forterre

L'équipe de foot féminine iranienne refuse de chanter l'hymne national lors de la Coupe d'Asie des nations Les joueuses de foot de la sélection iranienne ont refusé de chanter l’hymne de leur pays, lors de la Coupe d’Asie des nations, le 2 mars. Le match a eu lieu au lendemain de la mort d’Ali Khamenei, le...

L'équipe de foot féminine iranienne refuse de chanter l'hymne national lors de la Coupe d'Asie des nations
www.franceinfo.fr/monde/iran/g...

Unfortunately, most people who are not biologists (journalists include) never heard about ribosomes and don’t know what they are!! In a recent talk in front of a « general public » I asked « do you know what is a ribosome ? » No one knows.

The selfish ribosome The ribosome is responsible for protein synthesis in all cells, and is the largest energy consumer in the cell. We propose that the ribosome originated as a mutualistic symbiont of an RNA-dependent RN...

Ribosome centric perspective on the evolution of life. @mkrupovic.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Genome Editing Technologies and Synthetic Biology of Hyperthermophilic Archaea Hyperthermophilic archaea are characterized with robust metabolic capability and outstanding enzyme stability. Since their discovery, great efforts have been devoted into the development of genetic to...

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

On the nature of the earliest known lifeforms Microfossils reported from Archaean BIFs most likely were liposome-like protocells, which had evolved intracellular mechanisms for energy conservation but not for regulating cell morphology and replic...

On the nature of the earliest known lifeforms doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

1/5
Happy by a recent biorxiv pre-print about DARNA (PD-T7-3) anti-phage defense system. This system is activated by binding to ssDNA, presented by phage SSB, to cleave tRNA in the anti-codon loop.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life
#microbiology #virology #virus #eukaryotes #MicroSky
@cellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life In contrast to living organisms, viruses were long thought to lack protein synthesis machinery and instead depend on host factors to translate viral t…

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867426000553?dgcid=rss_sd_all

"La circoncision est un geste chirurgical qui doit être réalisé par un professionnel formé" Le Dr Quentin Bonnet, urologue et chef de clinique au CHU de Liège, rappelle que la circoncision est un acte chirurgical qui doit être réalisé dans de...

La question n'est pas seulement de savoir qui peut réaliser la circoncision, mais pour quel motif. La circoncision d'un mineur ne devrait être autorisée que pour une raison médicale. Sinon, elle s'apparente à une mutilation génitale pratiquée sur un enfant.
www.lavenir.net/actu/2026/02...

Nice phylogeny (Figure 1) showing that the rare Asgard tubulin (present in 1% of genome) branch within the diversity of Eukaryotic tubulin, indicating HGT from Proto-eukaryotes to Asgard, as we already suggested in Da Cunha et al. (mlife. 2022) and Forterre (mlife 2025) (not cited in this preprint.

Interestingly, the phylogeny also suggests HGT from Asgard (Hodar) to bacteria, Odin to Loki, Loki to Hodar, possibly pro to-eukaryotes to Bathy.

Nice phylogeny (Figure 1) showing that the rare Asgard tubulin (present in 1% of genome) branch within the diversity of Eukaryotic tubulin, indicating HGT from Proto-eukaryotes to Asgard, as we already suggested in Da Cunha et al. (mlife. 2022) and Forterre (mlife 2025) (not cited in this preprint.

Cryo-EM SPA of the ushikuvirus particle. (a) Surface representation of the ushikuvirus particle at 9.3 Å resolution by imposing icosahedral symmetry, showing that the capsid is composed of T = 309 icosahedron (h = 7, k = 13). The radius distribution is shown

Giant Virus Discovered in Japanese Pond May Hint at Multicellular Life's Origins

A newly isolated giant virus, ushikuvirus, is closely related to clandestinovirus and shows a unique capsid surface structure and host cell interactions 🧪
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

✨ Hier au Bar des Sciences : cap sur LUCA, le Last Universal Common Ancestor, ancêtre commun de toutes les formes de vie. Une plongée dans les origines du vivant et les débats actuels.
Merci à Patrick Forterre, prof de #biologie à @univparissaclay.bsky.social pour ses éclairages sur LUCA. #science

Le public pose des questions sur l'origine et l'évolution de Luca dans ce Bar des Sciences avec Patrick Forterre, professeur de biologie et ancien directeur de l' @institutpasteur.bsky.social à l' @univparissaclay.bsky.social #biologie #science #Paris

ribosomologists take note 👇
#CryoEM #CryoET #teamtomo

Substrate specificity and action mechanism of the HerA-NurA nuclease from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis | mBio To understand the specific function of the HerA-NurA complex, which is believed to function in the end resection process to create a 3′-overhanging DNA for the following strand invasion in homologous ...

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

~50 kb genomes, 4× smaller than the genomes of 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 sp. 👀 and ~3× smaller than the 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 genome 👀. Elio called 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 ...👇
#SymbioSky

Prevalence and Evolutionary Implications of Genome Rearrangements in Bacteria Abstract. The genetic material of bacteria and archaea is organized into various structures and setups, attesting that genome architecture is dynamic in th

@carolinamicro.bsky.social Huang & @lbobay.bsky.social investigated genomic rearrangements across 121 microbial species, showing that rearrangements occur at a variable pace across bacteria and archaea, pointing to different selective constraints.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag002

#genome #evolution

Rare, dangerous side effects of some COVID-19 vaccines explained “Groundbreaking” study uncovers why adenovirus-based shots caused life-threatening blood clots and bleeding in some people

Five years after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines started, it seems the mystery of why the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines led to a rare but deadly side effect of unusual blood clots and bleeding has finally been solved. 

It's a fascinating case of molecular mimicry that may help make vaccine safer.🧪

Check out our latest preprint from @jnvmartinson.bsky.social and @leosong.bsky.social! 🌟🦠

We found that conjugative plasmids can actively eliminate recipient bacteria that resist plasmid acquisition. 🧵

Archaeal G-quadruplexes: a novel model for understanding unusual DNA/RNA structures across the tree of life Abstract. Archaea, a domain of microorganisms found in diverse environments, including the human microbiome, represent the closest known prokaryotic relati

Archaeal G-quadruplexes: a novel model for understanding unusual DNA/RNA structures across the tree of life url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)

Note for those interested in Asgard archaea - please join us on the morning of July 10th for a ‘building a community’ discussion!

HORBEC are found in most prokaryotes, and are particularly diverse in Archaea. Phylogenetic analyses indicate a complex evolutionary history. However, we show that respiratory complex I (Nuo/Fpo) was likely present in the LUCA, challenging current hypotheses on the ancestral energetic metabolism.

𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 chromosome replicationists take note 👇

tsutomu katayama's lab tackles one of the last remaining puzzles of DnaB loading by DnaA to 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘊 after opening. for bi-directional replication, 𝘁𝘄𝗼 DnaB helicases have to be loaded (in case you forgot).

thx for pointing this out, wiep 🙏
#MicroSky

Iron Sulfides Produced by Thermococcales: An Iron Detoxification Mechanism Thermococcales, archaea from hydrothermal vents, promote iron sulfide precipitation, enabling survival in iron-rich environments. Some cells become encrusted in pyrite and do not survive mineralizati...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason Protein structure is conserved beyond sequence, making multiple structural alignment (MSTA) essential for analyzing distantly related proteins. Computational prediction methods have vastly extended our repository of available protein structures, ...

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason | Science https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ads6733?af=R

Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes - Nature Reviews Genetics De novo gene evolution entails the birth of new genes from previously non-coding DNA. In this Review, Bornberg-Bauer and Eicholt overview how protein-coding de novo genes are identified, the mechanistic and evolutionary processes underlying their emergence and evolution, and the patterns in their encoded protein structures.

Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes | Nature Reviews Genetics https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-025-00929-9