An honor to write a Science Perspective on this fascinating story led by Jonathan Zehr at UCSC.
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Introducing the nitroplast, a eukaryotic organelle derived from endosymbiotic bacteria, like mitochondria and chloroplast. The three organelles represent the machines for respiration, photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in a marine microalgae.

20 years ago we started as a volunteer students & here we are leading our independent research lines Mari Muñoz Marin ‼️ Cyanotrans

How many SAR11 cells are phage-infected in the environment? And what are zombies🧟‍♂️?

We studied phage infection in SAR11 using the🔬. Up to 19% of SAR11 cells were phage infected and many host cells were devoid of ribosomes🧟‍♂️!

What else did we find? A 🧵

researchsquare.com/article/rs-407…

Microevolution toward loss of photosynthesis: Mutations promoting dark-heterotrophic growth and suppressing photosynthetic growth in cyanobacteria dlvr.it/T5Qky4

Does the carbon dioxide that humans breathe out contribute to climate change? climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/does-c…

Wish Lynn Margulis and Albert Lehninger were alive to read this… #nitroplast #endosymbiont #nitrogenfixation #evolution

Penny Chisholm is hiring a technician! They are particularly interested in hiring someone looking for research and lab experience between undergrad and grad school: Senior Research Support Associate, Biology of Ocean Microbes careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/clie…

Single-cell RNA-seq of the rare virosphere reveals the native hosts of giant viruses in the marine environment nature.com/articles/s4156…

Happy and super excited to share our discovery of a protein fractal! We unravel the surprisingly simple emergence of these marvellous structures and show it might have even been an accident of evolution. Read the full story here

nature.com/articles/s4158…

Or just stick around 🧵

A nitrogen-fixing organelle, or “nitroplast,” has been identified in a marine alga. This discovery sheds light on the evolutionary transition from endosymbiont to organelle.

Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/6yX

Generalized biomolecular modeling and design with RoseTTAFold All-Atom science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

We are very proud to announce that Puri has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant #ERCAdG to work on symbiotic interactions and eukaryogenesis!
Our team's fourth ERC grant.

Happy to show our dissemination project based on screen printing with cyano ink at #Biocrust5 !

More info here:
yaprak.co/projects/cyano…

If you are into microbial population genetics and interested in doing a PhD to study marine environments (or if you know someone who may be a good fit), there is a new opportunity at the ERH Zurich with the Microbiome Research:

jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOPG_…

I'm so excited to share a paper out today demonstrating the first nitrogen-fixing eukaryote - the haptophyte algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii! Check out our paper, led by Tyler Coale and valentina loconte ... science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Recent pub about needing a solid scientific basis for nature-based climate solutions. It focuses on land ecosystems but the same applies for the ocean. Simply put - we need better data and theory before large-scale implementation - across environments. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…