Taylor priest
@taylorpriest.bsky.social
NOMIS-ETH fellow at Institute of Microbiology and Center of Origin and Prevalence of Life, ETH Zurich | microbial ecologist interested in diversification, evolution and mobile genetic elements | Parent of a beautiful Briard | food and fitness enthusiast
Pinned
Taylor priest
@taylorpriest.bsky.social
· Aug 14
The JEDI marker as a universal measure of planetary biodiversity
Despite its critical importance in the formation and maintenance of ecosystems and homeostasis on Earth, biodiversity remains a complex and non-unified concept. Consequently, standards for measuring b...
www.biorxiv.org
The JEDI marker - a new approach for measuring #biodiversity that captures all domains of life and is applicable across biological and ecological scales. It's time to change the way we perceive biodiversity - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Feeling grateful to end this year by contributing to a commentary on bioengineering the coral holobiont. This is my first manuscript as a professor and a dream come true to team up with leaders in coral probiotics, Raquel Peixoto and @reefgenomics.bsky.social. 🪸🧪🧬🦠
www.cell.com/one-earth/ab...
www.cell.com/one-earth/ab...
Bioengineering the coral holobiont: Evidence, hurdles, and pathways for rebuilding reefs
At the frontline of climate impacts, coral reef ecosystems now increasingly depend
on active intervention for their functional survival. Bioengineering the coral holobiont,
comprising the host, algal ...
www.cell.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Feeling grateful to end this year by contributing to a commentary on bioengineering the coral holobiont. This is my first manuscript as a professor and a dream come true to team up with leaders in coral probiotics, Raquel Peixoto and @reefgenomics.bsky.social. 🪸🧪🧬🦠
www.cell.com/one-earth/ab...
www.cell.com/one-earth/ab...
#Phage resistance in a marine bacterium through surface protein and intracellular mutations that impact the cell's stickiness and increases sinking rate - potential wider impact on carbon cycling - www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Phage resistance mutations in a marine bacterium impact biogeochemically relevant cellular processes - Nature Microbiology
Evading infection in Cellulophaga baltica comes with cellular changes that alter carbon cycling, metabolite secretion and sedimentation rates.
www.nature.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
#Phage resistance in a marine bacterium through surface protein and intracellular mutations that impact the cell's stickiness and increases sinking rate - potential wider impact on carbon cycling - www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Isolation of 81 new strains combined with a comprehensive genomic and ecological analysis revealed 29 monophyletic ecotypes (genera) within the Pelagibacterales www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New SAR11 isolate genomes and global marine metagenomes resolve ecologically relevant units within the Pelagibacterales - Nature Communications
Evolutionary and ecological insights into marine SAR11 bacteria require whole genome data. Here, the authors expand the number of complete SAR11 isolate genomes by 81 new strains from the tropical Pac...
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Isolation of 81 new strains combined with a comprehensive genomic and ecological analysis revealed 29 monophyletic ecotypes (genera) within the Pelagibacterales www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Conjugative plasmids help spread AMR genes. @andrewmatthews.bsky.social @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social & @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social show that #AMR loss in evolving populations involves streamlined #plasmids that gain a transmission advantage by deleting AMR genes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48NM0BL
December 15, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Conjugative plasmids help spread AMR genes. @andrewmatthews.bsky.social @sonjalehtinen.bsky.social & @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social show that #AMR loss in evolving populations involves streamlined #plasmids that gain a transmission advantage by deleting AMR genes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48NM0BL
Ecogenomics and functional biogeography of the Roseobacter group in the global oceans
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Ecogenomics and functional biogeography of the Roseobacter group in the global oceans based on 653 MAGs and SAGs - Microbiome
Background The Roseobacter group is a major component of prokaryotic communities in the global oceans. Information on this group is based predominantly on isolates and their genomic features and on th...
link.springer.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Ecogenomics and functional biogeography of the Roseobacter group in the global oceans
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Taylor priest
🧬🦠🚨 Another new paper alert, this time led by @maureenbug.bsky.social ! In collaboration with the Emerson lab and
@titus.idyll.org lab (@taylorreiter.bsky.social), both at UC Davis. Asking the question: what are we missing in short-read metagenome assembly, and why ?
doi.org/10.1093/narg...
@titus.idyll.org lab (@taylorreiter.bsky.social), both at UC Davis. Asking the question: what are we missing in short-read metagenome assembly, and why ?
doi.org/10.1093/narg...
Comparison of short-read and long-read metagenome assemblies in a natural soil community highlights systematic bias in recovery of high-diversity populations
Abstract. Comparisons of long-read and short-read (meta)genome assemblies typically show that short-read sequence assemblies are less error-prone, but stru
doi.org
December 9, 2025 at 3:25 AM
🧬🦠🚨 Another new paper alert, this time led by @maureenbug.bsky.social ! In collaboration with the Emerson lab and
@titus.idyll.org lab (@taylorreiter.bsky.social), both at UC Davis. Asking the question: what are we missing in short-read metagenome assembly, and why ?
doi.org/10.1093/narg...
@titus.idyll.org lab (@taylorreiter.bsky.social), both at UC Davis. Asking the question: what are we missing in short-read metagenome assembly, and why ?
doi.org/10.1093/narg...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Landmark study in @Nature! 🇩🇰 The "Microflora Danica" project has created the first-ever national microbiome atlas. Led by Aalborg University, @fwf-at.bsky.social CoE Microplanet's Director @michiwagner4.bsky.social, and @daanspeth.bsky.social, Andrew Giguere @cemess.bsky.social analyzed nitrifiers.
December 4, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Landmark study in @Nature! 🇩🇰 The "Microflora Danica" project has created the first-ever national microbiome atlas. Led by Aalborg University, @fwf-at.bsky.social CoE Microplanet's Director @michiwagner4.bsky.social, and @daanspeth.bsky.social, Andrew Giguere @cemess.bsky.social analyzed nitrifiers.
Reposted by Taylor priest
#NatMicroPicks
A new protist with remnants of ancient mitochondrial DNA 🧬🦠
The eukaryotic tree of life grows with the addition Solarion arienae - a unique and peculiar protist species
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A new protist with remnants of ancient mitochondrial DNA 🧬🦠
The eukaryotic tree of life grows with the addition Solarion arienae - a unique and peculiar protist species
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rare microbial relict sheds light on an ancient eukaryotic supergroup - Nature
The discovery of an unusual protist named Solarion arienae, which has a mitochondrial genome with some intriguing features, provides insight into the early radiation of eukaryotic groups.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:49 PM
#NatMicroPicks
A new protist with remnants of ancient mitochondrial DNA 🧬🦠
The eukaryotic tree of life grows with the addition Solarion arienae - a unique and peculiar protist species
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A new protist with remnants of ancient mitochondrial DNA 🧬🦠
The eukaryotic tree of life grows with the addition Solarion arienae - a unique and peculiar protist species
#MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Taylor priest
📢 New preprint on bioRxiv!
We introduce V4-EXT, a revised 16S rRNA V4 primer set that dramatically improves detection of Patescibacteria and other undersampled lineages
✅ 938 samples
✅ More novel ASVs
Primer choice matters 👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@ppjevac.bsky.social #HuifengHu
We introduce V4-EXT, a revised 16S rRNA V4 primer set that dramatically improves detection of Patescibacteria and other undersampled lineages
✅ 938 samples
✅ More novel ASVs
Primer choice matters 👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@ppjevac.bsky.social #HuifengHu
November 27, 2025 at 5:38 PM
📢 New preprint on bioRxiv!
We introduce V4-EXT, a revised 16S rRNA V4 primer set that dramatically improves detection of Patescibacteria and other undersampled lineages
✅ 938 samples
✅ More novel ASVs
Primer choice matters 👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@ppjevac.bsky.social #HuifengHu
We introduce V4-EXT, a revised 16S rRNA V4 primer set that dramatically improves detection of Patescibacteria and other undersampled lineages
✅ 938 samples
✅ More novel ASVs
Primer choice matters 👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@ppjevac.bsky.social #HuifengHu
Reposted by Taylor priest
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
GlobDB: a comprehensive species-dereplicated microbial genome resource
AbstractMotivation. Over the past years, substantial numbers of microbial species’ genomes have been deposited outside of conventional INSDC databases.Resu
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
The core genomic backbone of bacteria is not necessarily resilient to gene flow! A new study shows that introgression impacts, on average, 2% of the core genes of species - www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microevo #microeco #evolution
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy - Nature Communications
It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core genomes across 50 major bacte...
www.nature.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:23 AM
The core genomic backbone of bacteria is not necessarily resilient to gene flow! A new study shows that introgression impacts, on average, 2% of the core genes of species - www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microevo #microeco #evolution
Very cool study - a new approach for single cell genomics that captures a wealth of #virus diversity in only 300 nanolitres of #ocean water, including viruses that use non-canonical bases
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes - Nature Microbiology
Environmental micro-compartment genomics provides efficient and high-throughput single-particle DNA sequencing that captures overlooked members of microbial communities.
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Very cool study - a new approach for single cell genomics that captures a wealth of #virus diversity in only 300 nanolitres of #ocean water, including viruses that use non-canonical bases
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Taylor priest
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance - Nature Communications
Bacteria employ a range of competition systems that deliver toxins to inhibit competing strains. This study shows that these systems are particularly important for the ecology of virulent and antibiot...
www.nature.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Taylor priest
🚨vConTACT3 preprint live!🚨(Peer Review soon...!)
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
Scalable and systematic hierarchical virus taxonomy with vConTACT3
Viruses are key players in diverse ecosystems, but studying their impacts is technically and taxonomically challenging. Taxonomic complexities derive from undersampling, diverse DNA and RNA genomes wi...
doi.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
🚨vConTACT3 preprint live!🚨(Peer Review soon...!)
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
vConTACT3 delivers a unified, scalable, and transparent framework for genome-based virus taxonomy — helping translate big viral data into systematic classification.
🔗 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Improvements details below 👇
Reposted by Taylor priest
Scientists still have a very limited understanding of #marine #biodiversity. Jonathan Belmaker explores a new @plosbiology.org study that uses unprecedented global environmental DNA #eDNA sampling to reveal the extent of our ignorance 🧪 Paper: plos.io/47yRnEk Primer: plos.io/3XeJ2kl
November 3, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Scientists still have a very limited understanding of #marine #biodiversity. Jonathan Belmaker explores a new @plosbiology.org study that uses unprecedented global environmental DNA #eDNA sampling to reveal the extent of our ignorance 🧪 Paper: plos.io/47yRnEk Primer: plos.io/3XeJ2kl
Reposted by Taylor priest
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
November 2, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This paper has been a must! Great collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @yifanzhou.bsky.social, a N&V by a legend of halophilic archaea tinyurl.com/yc3dcv72, and one picture of one of our expeditions to Dallol making the cover of the November issue of @natmicrobiol.nature.com
rdcu.be/eLtCH
rdcu.be/eLtCH
GcMeta - a new global resource of metagenome-assembled genomes and their encoded functions with an easy to use, interactive and searchable website academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
gcMeta 2025: a global repository of metagenome-assembled genomes enabling cross-ecosystem microbial discovery and function research
Abstract. The rapid growth of metagenomic sequencing has generated an unprecedented wealth of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), transforming opportuniti
academic.oup.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:01 AM
GcMeta - a new global resource of metagenome-assembled genomes and their encoded functions with an easy to use, interactive and searchable website academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Reposted by Taylor priest
The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation
-in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
-in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation | The American Naturalist: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 2, 2025 at 7:48 AM
The evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation
-in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
-in American Naturalist by @stuwest.bsky.social, @annadewar.bsky.social, @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social, Laurence Belcher, and @asgriffin.bsky.social
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Taylor priest
@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Jumbo phage–mediated transduction of genomic islands | PNAS
Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer, typically mediated by mobile
genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages, and c...
www.pnas.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Postdoc vacancy: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation
☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov
Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation
☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov
Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
October 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Postdoc vacancy: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation
☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov
Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation
☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov
Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Phytoplankton blooms at the marginal ice zone in the central Arctic support elevated nitrogen fixation by non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs - www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Nitrogen fixation under declining Arctic sea ice - Communications Earth & Environment
Nitrogen fixation occurs under Arctic sea ice and is positively correlated with primary production, according to analyses of transects across the marginal ice zone and in the Central Arctic Ocean.
www.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Phytoplankton blooms at the marginal ice zone in the central Arctic support elevated nitrogen fixation by non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs - www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Reposted by Taylor priest
I'm delighted our paper is out: doi.org/10.1093/isme...
With new SAR11 isolate genomes and time-series metagenomes, we reveal coastal and offshore SAR11 ecotypes, identify associated metabolic traits, and pinpoint selective gene sweeps as a likely evolutionary driver to niche partitioning. 🌊🦠
With new SAR11 isolate genomes and time-series metagenomes, we reveal coastal and offshore SAR11 ecotypes, identify associated metabolic traits, and pinpoint selective gene sweeps as a likely evolutionary driver to niche partitioning. 🌊🦠
Habitat-specificity in SAR11 is associated with a few genes under high selection
Abstract. The order Pelagibacterales (SAR11) is the most abundant group of heterotrophic bacteria in the global surface ocean, where individual sublineages
doi.org
October 20, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I'm delighted our paper is out: doi.org/10.1093/isme...
With new SAR11 isolate genomes and time-series metagenomes, we reveal coastal and offshore SAR11 ecotypes, identify associated metabolic traits, and pinpoint selective gene sweeps as a likely evolutionary driver to niche partitioning. 🌊🦠
With new SAR11 isolate genomes and time-series metagenomes, we reveal coastal and offshore SAR11 ecotypes, identify associated metabolic traits, and pinpoint selective gene sweeps as a likely evolutionary driver to niche partitioning. 🌊🦠
The ecological and phylogenetic partitioning of coastal and offshore SAR11 is underpinned by a handful of distinct metabolic traits under high selective pressure - academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Habitat-specificity in SAR11 is associated with a few genes under high selection
Abstract. The order Pelagibacterales (SAR11) is the most abundant group of heterotrophic bacteria in the global surface ocean, where individual sublineages
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:40 AM
The ecological and phylogenetic partitioning of coastal and offshore SAR11 is underpinned by a handful of distinct metabolic traits under high selective pressure - academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their nanosized DPANN symbionts reveal intricate nested interactions
Out now in Nature Microbiology, by Yifan Zhou, Mart Krupovic & colleagues.
@mkrupovic.bsky.social
@yifanzhou.bsky.social
@deemteam.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Out now in Nature Microbiology, by Yifan Zhou, Mart Krupovic & colleagues.
@mkrupovic.bsky.social
@yifanzhou.bsky.social
@deemteam.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their nanosized DPANN symbionts reveal intricate nested interactions - Nature Microbiology
An exploration of the viromes of haloarchaea and their ultra-small DPANN symbionts reveals plasmid-derived satellites of viruses from both archaeal groups, highlighting the complexity of nested symbio...
www.nature.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their nanosized DPANN symbionts reveal intricate nested interactions
Out now in Nature Microbiology, by Yifan Zhou, Mart Krupovic & colleagues.
@mkrupovic.bsky.social
@yifanzhou.bsky.social
@deemteam.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Out now in Nature Microbiology, by Yifan Zhou, Mart Krupovic & colleagues.
@mkrupovic.bsky.social
@yifanzhou.bsky.social
@deemteam.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Taylor priest
Our work on viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their DPANN symbionts is out today in Nature Microbiology!
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their nanosized DPANN symbionts reveal intricate nested interactions - Nature Microbiology
An exploration of the viromes of haloarchaea and their ultra-small DPANN symbionts reveals plasmid-derived satellites of viruses from both archaeal groups, highlighting the complexity of nested symbio...
www.nature.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Our work on viruses and virus satellites of haloarchaea and their DPANN symbionts is out today in Nature Microbiology!
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@mkrupovic.bsky.social @deemteam.bsky.social @anagtz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...