Genes are the code. Epigenetics is the choice. 💊
Great review ! 👏

Aspergillus fumigatus biology, immunopathogenicity and drug resistance Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 02 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01180-zIn this Review, van de Veerdonk and colleagues explore Aspergillus fumigatus biology, the host immune responses and the fungal mechanisms of immune evasion, as well as emerging challenges such as virus-associated pulmonary aspergillosis and azole resistance, and reflect on future directions for therapeutics and patient care improvement.

ICYMI: New online! Aspergillus fumigatus biology, immunopathogenicity and drug resistance

Absolutely brilliant science communication by @unbiasedscipod.bsky.social and Marta Tufet of GAVI. Clear explanation of why placebo controlled trials are not required for vaccines already known to be efficacious. I had to share.

Figure 1 from the manuscript, which shows maxENT model predictions for the geographic distribution of 3 Aspergillus species

Figure 2. Predicted evolution of the geography over different decades for the 3 Aspergillus, showing an expansion of A fumigatus to more parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, decrease in A flavus in Africa and Australia, and decrease of A niger in Africa with expansion in Europe/Asia

What's this all about?

A new study from @normanvanrhijn.bsky.social and co which suggests that warmer climates will be more hospitable for environmental growth of Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger

assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-654... (preprint)

It is time to fear fungi.

Illustration depicting the ways in which fungi can exchange genetic material with each other. Starship mediated HGT is confirmed experimentally in this preprint.

We did it! We caught Starship #transposons moving between #fungal species in the lab, including between species separated by ~100my. We think Starships are a mediator of HGT in fungi, akin to conjugative elements in bacteria. Check out the preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections To combat long-overlooked fungal pathogens, researchers and regulators must embrace innovative science and policy.

@nature.com just highlight the risk of fungal infections.
It is time to fear fungi.🍄

"High time to tackle drug-resistant fungal infections"
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The last of us, Season 2, is out. 🍿
Fungi infections aren't just fiction. 🎦
They kill millions of people. ☠️
It is time to fear fungi. 🍄
gaffi.org

Bande dessinée – InScience : cultive ta santé avec l’Inserm ! · Inserm, La science pour la santé La bande dessinée InScience : cultive ta santé avec l’Inserm ! nous entraîne au cœur de la recherche biomédicale, avec pédagogie et humour. Ses deux tomes, écrits et dessinés par Maïté Robert, sont ac...

Superbe initiative de vulgarisation scientifique par @inserm.fr avec la bande dessinée InScience. A lire sans modération !

www.inserm.fr/culture-scie...

This is huge.
Can't wait to see a talk on it. Any virtual presentation soon ?
Would also love to see a similar analysis in fungi. 🍄

New Article: "An Oryza-specific histone H4 variant predisposes H4 lysine 5 acetylation to modulate salt stress responses" rdcu.be/eg0Zs

An Oryza-specific histone H4 variant (H4.V) forms condensed, less stable nucleosomes, regulating the salt stress transcriptome.

Microbial warfare brought us CRISPR. What big breakthroughs could be next? Gene editing and many other useful biotechnology tools came from studies of bacteria fighting off viral invaders. But scientists have only begun to unlock the secrets of this ancient arms race.

OK. I don't need to explain the importance of 'blue-sky' research to people on here, but this story in @nature.com is so cool! The area of research that delivered CRISPR gene editing has exploded and is turning up all kinds of cool tools for molecular biology. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Cracks in the Curriculum: The Hidden Deficiencies in Fungal Disease Coverage in Medical Books Abstract. Textbooks remain a primary source of reference and education for many health care professionals and students. This study assessed the mycology co

Cracks in the Curriculum: The Hidden Deficiencies in Fungal Disease Coverage in Medical Books

Isabela Rost / Alessandro Pasqualotto and colleagues

academic.oup.com/ofid/article...

Great news. But unfortunately, pathogenic fungi not funded...

📅 Save the Date! The EMBO Workshop "Host-Parasite Relationship: From Mechanisms to Control Strategies" organized by @ParaFrap will take place on October 5-8, 2025, at Les Embiez Island. Stay updated on registration opening —enter your email here: coming-soon.embo.org/w25-83 #Science #Parasite

Fast & Fair peer review: a pilot study demonstrating feasibility of rapid, high-quality peer review in a biology journal Traditional peer review is slow, often delayed by the time-consuming process of identifying reviewers and lengthy review turnaround times. This study tests the feasibility of the Fast & Fair peer revi...

Built a peer review system that doesn’t take forever.
Spoiler: scientists love it.
Huge thanks to the amazing team at The Company of Biologists for making Fast & Fair happen.
Read the preprint: bit.ly/4iZ30st
#biologists100 @biologists.bsky.social @biologyopen.bsky.social

Thanks for the feedback !! ❤️
We’ll correct the ms (phylogenetic relationship is based on NCBI taxonomy, we’ll update with your refs !)

Rsc1 DNA-binding bromodomain drives RSC activity at A-rich promoters In yeast, the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler RSC orchestrates nucleosome positioning at promoters, yet the molecular determinants guiding RSC to chromatin remain unclear. Here, we investigate the RSC sub...

5️⃣ Many thanks to our collaborators, including @flowerwhatelse.bsky.social and Carlo Petosa (IBS) ! 🙏

Full story: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

5/5

4️⃣ Some bromodomains stick to the script but Rsc1-BD2 said: "I’ll evolve a basic patch and bind DNA instead."
BDs are more versatile than we thought!
#proteinplottwist #evolutiongoals

4/5

3️⃣ DNA sequence? 🔥
Rsc1-BD2 binds polyA motifs to guide Rsc1 to promoters.
And yes, more As = more binding = more gene expression. Coincidence? We think not.
#genomicdesign #promoterpower

3/5

2️⃣ Rsc1 AT-hook-BD2-BAH binds DNA and save the day.
It forms a basic patch with one job: stick to DNA 🧬
Disrupt it = 🪦 instant yeast death.
#DNAteam #yeastlife #scienceheroes

2/5

🚨Our new prepint 🚨
▶️ When a bromodomain goes rogue

Rsc1 bromodomain 2 doesn’t bind acetyl-lysines.
It grabs DNA instead — and yeast cells die 💀 without it.

Plot twist? Read our preprint:
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#chromatin #bromodrama #DNAlover

And a 🧵👇 1/5

Todays was the 28th meeting of the Grenoble #Epigenetics Club,
with enthusiastic talks from @hakimi.bsky.social , J. Timmins and Hana Petrzilkova.

Kindly hosted by W. Galej at EMBL Grenoble. Thanks !

epigenetics.fr

📢 #PhD and #postdoctoral positions available in Pedro Oliveira lab. We seek candidates for Microbial Genomic and Epigenetic teams to work on #epigenomics of #bacteria and #microbiomes. Start: Fall 2025.
Please RT!

@cea.fr @univparissaclay.bsky.social @genopole.bsky.social @upcite.bsky.social

I've been waiting so long for this. Great !

Enhancing Yeast Transformation: Achieving up to a Tenfold Increase Through a Single Adjustment in the Lithium Acetate–Polyethylene Glycol Method In red are the proposed improvements to the classical yeast transformation protocol.

A slight modification to the standard yeast lithium acetate transformation protocol increases transformation efficiency substantially.

Basically, 2 fold increase if you resuspend in 2M sorbitol after heat shock, and an additive increase with some sorbitol during heat shock.

Edith Heard, généticienne : « Il a fallu que je vienne en France pour planter des racines et m’épanouir » « Je ne serais pas arrivée là si… » Chaque semaine, « Le Monde » interroge une personnalité sur un moment décisif de son existence. La chercheuse franco-britannique, professeure au Collège de France, ...

🤩
Amazing interview of Edith Heard

www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art...

@science.org RNA polymerase II at histone genes predicts outcome in human cancer 🧬💊 @fredhutch.bsky.social @hhmi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ChatGPT just invented "histonic modifications".
I kind of like it.