Tera Levin
@teralevin.bsky.social
Assistant professor of Biological Sciences at Pitt, studying evolution, genes, and microbes. Same as @tera_levin in the other place. #NewPI She/her
In the tgrBC region, dozens of genes (including tgrBs & Cs, blues & purples) were gained and lost, even between closely related amoebae. Outside the black marker genes, the chromosome returned to normal. This chaos suggested that local DNA breaks & repairs generate the hyper-variable sequences 💥 8/
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
In the tgrBC region, dozens of genes (including tgrBs & Cs, blues & purples) were gained and lost, even between closely related amoebae. Outside the black marker genes, the chromosome returned to normal. This chaos suggested that local DNA breaks & repairs generate the hyper-variable sequences 💥 8/
The genome quality was fantastic! We got chromosome-scale contigs that often extended to centromeres and telomeres (black & white triangles). We discovered some chromosomal rearrangements, but overall there was strong synteny (gene order) preserved across the genomes. 6/
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
The genome quality was fantastic! We got chromosome-scale contigs that often extended to centromeres and telomeres (black & white triangles). We discovered some chromosomal rearrangements, but overall there was strong synteny (gene order) preserved across the genomes. 6/
To find out, we created a new panel of amoeba genomes at the ideal genetic distance for comparative genomics! Dicty genomes are highly repetitive with low %GC, so long read sequencing was essential here to get high quality genomes. We sequenced all the colorful genomes in this tree 5/
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
To find out, we created a new panel of amoeba genomes at the ideal genetic distance for comparative genomics! Dicty genomes are highly repetitive with low %GC, so long read sequencing was essential here to get high quality genomes. We sequenced all the colorful genomes in this tree 5/
Amoebae can avoid aggregating with cheaters using their self/non-self recognition genes called tgrB1 and tgrC1 🐅. In beautiful work from Hirose 2011, red/green amoebae with matching tgrBCs aggregate to make yellow structures, while those with non-compatible tgrs segregate and exclude each other. 3/
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Amoebae can avoid aggregating with cheaters using their self/non-self recognition genes called tgrB1 and tgrC1 🐅. In beautiful work from Hirose 2011, red/green amoebae with matching tgrBCs aggregate to make yellow structures, while those with non-compatible tgrs segregate and exclude each other. 3/
Dicty amoebae have multiple different life cycles, including a 'social' cycle where cells develop into a multicellular fruiting body. But look out! 👀 Only some amoebae become replicative spores during this process while others die, making the social cycle exploitable by cheaters. 2/
![Drawing of the Dictyostelium life cycles. During vegetative growth, amoebae replicate asexually through mitosis. During the social cycle, cells [asexually] aggregate and are facultatively multicellular, creating fruiting bodies with replicative spores at the top. But some cells die to form the bottom of the fruiting body, meaning they can be exploited by other genotypes. The sexual cycle of Dictyostelium is wild! Not the topic for today but tl,dr; there are 3+ sexes, the diploid cell cannibalizes its neighbors, then forms recombinants during meiosis even though it lacks some key meiotic genes like Spo11. Bizarre stuff!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vskftlukijurbt4xhqkftxsx/bafkreid3xe3ynnlb46exilt332wofdffxrqcxmv6msp6glvpafu53gvv2e@jpeg)
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Dicty amoebae have multiple different life cycles, including a 'social' cycle where cells develop into a multicellular fruiting body. But look out! 👀 Only some amoebae become replicative spores during this process while others die, making the social cycle exploitable by cheaters. 2/
Pretty fantastic in Pittsburgh too, but my phone photos are terrible
March 14, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Pretty fantastic in Pittsburgh too, but my phone photos are terrible
Got my sign ready for the @standupforscience.bsky.social event at noon today! Show me yours!
Can’t wait to come together and support each other ✊
Can’t wait to come together and support each other ✊
March 7, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Got my sign ready for the @standupforscience.bsky.social event at noon today! Show me yours!
Can’t wait to come together and support each other ✊
Can’t wait to come together and support each other ✊
For those in Pittsburgh: join me next Sat Feb 8 at the Climate Can’t Wait rally in Schenley Park!
For those elsewhere, you can find and connect with local folks who care about environmental and climate issues here: www.sierraclub.org/chapters
For those elsewhere, you can find and connect with local folks who care about environmental and climate issues here: www.sierraclub.org/chapters
February 2, 2025 at 9:43 PM
For those in Pittsburgh: join me next Sat Feb 8 at the Climate Can’t Wait rally in Schenley Park!
For those elsewhere, you can find and connect with local folks who care about environmental and climate issues here: www.sierraclub.org/chapters
For those elsewhere, you can find and connect with local folks who care about environmental and climate issues here: www.sierraclub.org/chapters
First, there are differences in gene content from variable gene duplication, retention and loss. Whereas all species have CASP1 and all primates have CASP4, there have been repeated losses of caspases 5, 11, 12, and the CARD genes in primates and rodents. 4/n
October 31, 2024 at 8:17 PM
First, there are differences in gene content from variable gene duplication, retention and loss. Whereas all species have CASP1 and all primates have CASP4, there have been repeated losses of caspases 5, 11, 12, and the CARD genes in primates and rodents. 4/n
New paper from the lab now published in MBE:
Evolutionary dynamics of pro-inflammatory caspases in primates and rodents! We found some cool stuff about how these immune proteins rapidly evolve, with implications for functional studies 1/n
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Evolutionary dynamics of pro-inflammatory caspases in primates and rodents! We found some cool stuff about how these immune proteins rapidly evolve, with implications for functional studies 1/n
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
October 31, 2024 at 8:13 PM
New paper from the lab now published in MBE:
Evolutionary dynamics of pro-inflammatory caspases in primates and rodents! We found some cool stuff about how these immune proteins rapidly evolve, with implications for functional studies 1/n
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Evolutionary dynamics of pro-inflammatory caspases in primates and rodents! We found some cool stuff about how these immune proteins rapidly evolve, with implications for functional studies 1/n
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Hello folks!
With exciting new grants and new projects in our lab, ✨we are hiring!✨ Please share with prospective Ph.D. students and/or postdocs interested in evolution, genetics, and microbes!
Extra bonus points for those with a background or interest in microeukaryotes (protists) or nonmodel orgs
With exciting new grants and new projects in our lab, ✨we are hiring!✨ Please share with prospective Ph.D. students and/or postdocs interested in evolution, genetics, and microbes!
Extra bonus points for those with a background or interest in microeukaryotes (protists) or nonmodel orgs
September 3, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Hello folks!
With exciting new grants and new projects in our lab, ✨we are hiring!✨ Please share with prospective Ph.D. students and/or postdocs interested in evolution, genetics, and microbes!
Extra bonus points for those with a background or interest in microeukaryotes (protists) or nonmodel orgs
With exciting new grants and new projects in our lab, ✨we are hiring!✨ Please share with prospective Ph.D. students and/or postdocs interested in evolution, genetics, and microbes!
Extra bonus points for those with a background or interest in microeukaryotes (protists) or nonmodel orgs
Mushrooming season is coming! Saw these on my walk to work
August 20, 2024 at 1:22 PM
Mushrooming season is coming! Saw these on my walk to work
What an awesome art exhibit welcoming us to the MBL! Looking forward to a fun time teaching in the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis course this week! #teamamoeba 🧪
July 27, 2024 at 1:14 PM
What an awesome art exhibit welcoming us to the MBL! Looking forward to a fun time teaching in the Molecular and Cell Biology of Symbiosis course this week! #teamamoeba 🧪
Thanks to my lab and
@boylelab.bsky.social
for re-upping the celebration of our recent BWF PATH award! What a nice surprise, even if I did get frosting all over myself 😂
@boylelab.bsky.social
for re-upping the celebration of our recent BWF PATH award! What a nice surprise, even if I did get frosting all over myself 😂
July 10, 2024 at 11:19 PM
Thanks to my lab and
@boylelab.bsky.social
for re-upping the celebration of our recent BWF PATH award! What a nice surprise, even if I did get frosting all over myself 😂
@boylelab.bsky.social
for re-upping the celebration of our recent BWF PATH award! What a nice surprise, even if I did get frosting all over myself 😂
🧪🦠Missing out on #ASMicrobe this year, but I wanted to announce that the Levin lab at Pitt is growing! Pls RT!
🎉We’re recruiting grad students and postdocs to study host-microbe battlegrounds in natural environments, shaping pathogen evolution before these microbes infect humans
🎉We’re recruiting grad students and postdocs to study host-microbe battlegrounds in natural environments, shaping pathogen evolution before these microbes infect humans
June 14, 2024 at 3:26 PM
🧪🦠Missing out on #ASMicrobe this year, but I wanted to announce that the Levin lab at Pitt is growing! Pls RT!
🎉We’re recruiting grad students and postdocs to study host-microbe battlegrounds in natural environments, shaping pathogen evolution before these microbes infect humans
🎉We’re recruiting grad students and postdocs to study host-microbe battlegrounds in natural environments, shaping pathogen evolution before these microbes infect humans
Scenes from my walk to and from work #summerinPGH
June 10, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Scenes from my walk to and from work #summerinPGH
Evil clown signaling
February 15, 2024 at 5:22 PM
Evil clown signaling
and at the end, the hulking mass of a former viaduct, collapsed across the valley floor 4/
December 31, 2023 at 8:07 PM
and at the end, the hulking mass of a former viaduct, collapsed across the valley floor 4/
the branches of the forest hundreds of feet below you 3/
December 31, 2023 at 8:05 PM
the branches of the forest hundreds of feet below you 3/
Walk out to the end, with the frigid wind whipping past you and you will see 2/
December 31, 2023 at 8:03 PM
Walk out to the end, with the frigid wind whipping past you and you will see 2/
Went on a trip to see the Kinzua skywalk. Why, you may ask, is there a hulking mass that looks like a bridge out into nothing? 1/
December 31, 2023 at 8:02 PM
Went on a trip to see the Kinzua skywalk. Why, you may ask, is there a hulking mass that looks like a bridge out into nothing? 1/
Gazing upon it in daily anticipation from now till December
November 11, 2023 at 6:36 PM
Gazing upon it in daily anticipation from now till December
Excited to be visiting the UW microbiology dept today! Looking forward to fun science chats with friends old and new
October 3, 2023 at 4:03 PM
Excited to be visiting the UW microbiology dept today! Looking forward to fun science chats with friends old and new
Join us for a great meeting! Infectious Diseases Through an Evolutionary Lens, Oct 17-19 in London
Poster abstracts and registration open through this Friday
www.biologists.com/meetings/dmminfectious2023/
Poster abstracts and registration open through this Friday
www.biologists.com/meetings/dmminfectious2023/
August 30, 2023 at 2:39 PM
Join us for a great meeting! Infectious Diseases Through an Evolutionary Lens, Oct 17-19 in London
Poster abstracts and registration open through this Friday
www.biologists.com/meetings/dmminfectious2023/
Poster abstracts and registration open through this Friday
www.biologists.com/meetings/dmminfectious2023/