Lukas VF Novak
banner
animalculum.bsky.social
Lukas VF Novak
@animalculum.bsky.social
Postdoc in evolution of microbes. I study protists losing mitochondria, algae stealing plastids, and bacteria living on nothing but sulfur. IUEM, Plouzané, BZH, FR. https://lukasnovak.eu/ https://scholar.social/@animalculum he/him
#Arctic #algae aren't immobile or entombed. They're not just surviving either—they're gliding into record books phys.org/news/2025-09...

Ice gliding #diatoms establish record-low temperature limits for motility in a eukaryotic cell www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#protists #microbes #extremophiles
September 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Partnership between #algae & #bacteria reveals secrets of evolution phys.org/news/2025-08...

Stepwise genome #evolution from a facultative symbiont to an endosymbiont in the N2-fixing symbioses www.cell.com/current-biol... #protists by @vesnagrujcic.bsky.social, @mehrshmali.bsky.social, et al.
August 31, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Tiny marine #protist shells reveal clues for how ice ages start phys.org/news/2025-08...

Progressively greater biological #CarbonStorage in the deep Atlantic during glacial inception: Monica Garity et al. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#Protists #Microbes #Foraminifera #Climate #DeepSea #IceAge
August 28, 2025 at 3:20 PM
How #diatoms thrive in—and light up—the Southern Ocean phys.org/news/2025-08... agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... #protists #algae

"An area of the #SouthernOcean that's long confused satellites by reflecting large amounts of turquoise light appears to be full of silica-rich diatoms"
August 5, 2025 at 8:20 AM
New genome announcement from our team:

Draft genome sequence of Desulfobacterota strain M19, a mesophilic sulfur-disproportionating bacterium from a #DeepSea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

#Bacteria #Microbes #Genomics #HydrothermalVents #Extremophiles
June 10, 2025 at 12:01 PM
How an organelle evolves in #symbiosis with a cell: Intermediate stage sheds light on the assimilation process phys.org/news/2025-03...

A nucleus-encoded dynamin-like protein controls endosymbiont division in the trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#Protists #Microbes
May 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
A Most Useful Light Switch schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2... paper from 2023: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Diatoms grow well in iron-limited waters. They switch their energy-generating photoreceptor to a proton-translocating #rhodopsin.

#Protists #Algae via @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
May 22, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Algae May Speed Melting of Antarctic Ice eos.org/articles/new... paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"The newly discovered algal communities may represent one of the largest photosynthetic habitats in #Antarctica."

#Protists #Algae #SnowAlgae #Microbes #ClimateChange
May 17, 2025 at 11:46 AM
After 7,000 years without light and oxygen in #BalticSea mud, researchers bring prehistoric #algae back to life phys.org/news/2025-03...

Resurrection of a #diatom after 7000 years from anoxic Baltic Sea sediment: Sarah Bolius et al. academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

#Protists #Diatoms #Microbes
April 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Newly discovered algae species offers insights into plant evolution and UV protection phys.org/news/2025-02...

New Strains of the Deep Branching Streptophyte Streptofilum... Description of S. arcticum sp. nov enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#Protists #Algae #NewSpecies
April 23, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Giving up on #photosynthesis: How a borrowed bacterial gene allows marine #diatoms to live on a #seaweed diet phys.org/news/2025-04...

Diatom heterotrophy on brown algal polysaccharides emerged through HGT, gene duplication, & neofunctionalization journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

#algae #protists
April 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Ancient marine organism's dual-layer structure reveals both past and present ocean environments phys.org/news/2025-02...

A cosmopolitan calcifying benthic #foraminifera in agglutinated disguise as a geochemical recorder of coastal environments www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#Protists #Microbes
March 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Symbiotic #bacteria ride along with single-celled #protists in ocean's upper layer phys.org/news/2025-02...

#Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
February 13, 2025 at 6:43 AM
How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-lif... @quantamagazine.bsky.social

Photosynthetic light requirement near the theoretical minimum detected in Arctic microalgae: Clara Hoppe et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Protists #Algae #Diatoms #Arctic
January 31, 2025 at 11:10 AM
In search of red snow microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com/2025/01/26/i... #protists

" #SnowAlgae have been known for a long time – earliest records are from the alps in the late 18th century... and first recognised as #algae 40 years later when an expedition was exploring the North-West passage "
January 26, 2025 at 9:45 PM
New research on #protists sheds light on #DeepSea energy sources www.whoi.edu/press-room/n...

Array of metabolic pathways in a kleptoplastidic #foraminifera supports #chemoautotrophy in dark, euxinic seafloor sediments academic.oup.com/ismej/articl... by Fatma Gomaa et al., @whoi.bsky.social
January 17, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Tiny microbe colonies communicate to coordinate their behavior www.uib.no/en/michaelsa...

Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes by @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @pawelburkhardt.bsky.social
January 14, 2025 at 12:33 PM
#ClimateChange Threatens Key Ocean #Plankton Groups www.mpic.de/5618027/klim...

Migrating is not enough for modern planktonic #foraminifera in a changing ocean: Sonia Chaabane et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes #Acidification #ClimateCrisis #Climate
January 12, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Discovery of enzyme pathway may lead to #leishmaniasis treatments phys.org/news/2024-12...

" #Leishmania have biochemical similarities to #fungi... But scientists were unable to effectively use #antifungals... those #azoles don't work unless they inhibit the new pathway"

#Protists #Parasites
January 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Comprehensive analysis reveals hidden genomic #evolution of brown algae phys.org/news/2024-12...

Evolutionary #genomics of the emergence of #BrownAlgae as key components of coastal ecosystems www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

#Protists #Algae #ProtistsOnSky #Seaweed #Biology
December 22, 2024 at 2:41 PM
#Phytochromes: The 'eyes' that enable #microalgae to find their way in aquatic depths phys.org/news/2024-12...

#Diatom phytochromes integrate the underwater light spectrum to sense depth: Carole Duchêne et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Algae #Diatoms #Microbes
December 18, 2024 at 8:03 PM
This #amoeba eats prey like #owls do www.sciencenews.org/article/amoe...

The vampyrellid amoeba #Strigomyxa ruptor gen. et sp. nov. and its remarkable strategy to acquire algal cell contents onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#Protists #Algae #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #Microbes
December 14, 2024 at 10:33 AM
Research reveals even single-cell organisms exhibit habituation, a simple form of learning phys.org/news/2024-11...

Biochemically plausible models of habituation for single-cell learning: Lina Eckert et al. www.cell.com/current-biol...

#Protists #Microbes #Ciliates #ProtistsOnSky
December 12, 2024 at 11:58 AM
Advanced genetic techniques & #microscopy offer new insights into anaerobic ciliate + methanogen #symbiosis phys.org/news/2024-10...

Methanogenic #symbionts of anaerobic #ciliates are host, habitat specific academic.oup.com/ismej/articl... #protists by @micrott.bsky.social @symbiosisrox.bsky.social
December 11, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Scientists discover #mitochondria -like #symbionts with surprising metabolic capacities phys.org/news/2024-12...

Genetic potential for aerobic respiration and #denitrification in globally distributed respiratory #endosymbionts www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#protists #ciliates #microbes #symbiosis
December 10, 2024 at 12:16 PM