Anouk Willemsen
@willemsenanouk.bsky.social
Scientist working on genome evolution, viruses, computational molecular evolution, and experimental evolution. 👩🏼🔬 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇪🇸🇫🇷🇦🇹
https://veelab.univie.ac.at/
https://veelab.univie.ac.at/
Pinned
New work out!
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
Reposting for #VirEvol
Antigenic map of H5 influenza viruses spanning their evolutionary history. 3 clusters (surprisingly few!) w no cross immunity. 6 key aa identified. 2344b, 2321a, 2344h in different clusters. Big jump in antigenicity from 234 to 2344b important finding.
👉 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...
👉 www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...
September 17, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposting for #VirEvol
Proud moment to see the first Master student of the team (Lotte Mayer) successfully defend her Master's thesis work digging into viral factories of #giantViruses.
A link to part of her work:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
@erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @cemess.bsky.social @dome-vienna.bsky.social
A link to part of her work:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
@erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @cemess.bsky.social @dome-vienna.bsky.social
September 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Proud moment to see the first Master student of the team (Lotte Mayer) successfully defend her Master's thesis work digging into viral factories of #giantViruses.
A link to part of her work:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
@erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @cemess.bsky.social @dome-vienna.bsky.social
A link to part of her work:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
@erc.europa.eu @univie.ac.at @cemess.bsky.social @dome-vienna.bsky.social
Last week #ESEB2025 wrapped up. It was a great opportunity to chat with colleagues, hear about great evolutionary research, present the group's work, and be a proud PI of Laura, who did a great job presenting her PhD work! Two years to go until next ESEB!
@eseb2025.bsky.social
@eseb2025.bsky.social
August 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Last week #ESEB2025 wrapped up. It was a great opportunity to chat with colleagues, hear about great evolutionary research, present the group's work, and be a proud PI of Laura, who did a great job presenting her PhD work! Two years to go until next ESEB!
@eseb2025.bsky.social
@eseb2025.bsky.social
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
our paper is online! rdcu.be/exXBX . Who would have thought that some #giantviruses not only have #histones, but even histone variants that make weird #nucleosomes (pdb 9CVT). Fantastic work from Ale Villalta and Chelsea Toner, with Hugo Bisio @molbiolgv.bsky.social and Chantal Abergel
Melbournevirus encodes a shorter H2B-H2A doublet histone variant that forms structurally distinct nucleosome structures
Nature Communications - Melbournevirus encodes a conserved shorter H2B-H2A doublet variant. Here the authors report a cryo-EM structure of a nucleosome-like particle reconstituted with viral H4-H3...
rdcu.be
July 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
our paper is online! rdcu.be/exXBX . Who would have thought that some #giantviruses not only have #histones, but even histone variants that make weird #nucleosomes (pdb 9CVT). Fantastic work from Ale Villalta and Chelsea Toner, with Hugo Bisio @molbiolgv.bsky.social and Chantal Abergel
Heat Shock Protein 70 (AKA HSP70) in Mimiviridae and Phycodnaviridae likely originated from horizontal transfer from their protist hosts. By @sfelena.bsky.social & @amaachi.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#giantVirus #VirEvol
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#giantVirus #VirEvol
Multiple origins, one function: evolutionary pathways of HSP70 proteins in viruses
Heat shock proteins 70 (HSP70) are highly conserved molecular chaperones found across all domains of life, where they play essential roles in cellular stress responses. While HSP70 homologs have been ...
doi.org
July 14, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Heat Shock Protein 70 (AKA HSP70) in Mimiviridae and Phycodnaviridae likely originated from horizontal transfer from their protist hosts. By @sfelena.bsky.social & @amaachi.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#giantVirus #VirEvol
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#giantVirus #VirEvol
Out now in its final peer-reviewed form @asm.org's Journal of Virology!
doi.org/10.1128/jvi....
@dome-vienna.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @amersocvirology.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1128/jvi....
@dome-vienna.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @amersocvirology.bsky.social
June 13, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Out now in its final peer-reviewed form @asm.org's Journal of Virology!
doi.org/10.1128/jvi....
@dome-vienna.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @amersocvirology.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1128/jvi....
@dome-vienna.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @amersocvirology.bsky.social
New work out!
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
May 8, 2025 at 11:35 AM
New work out!
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
Spearheaded by Lotte, we have developed a single-molecule messenger RNA fluorescence in situ hybridisation (smFISH) protocol for #giantViruses in an #Acanthamoeba host.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/4
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky @dome-vienna.bsky.social @cemess.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
by now you probably know that #giantviruses have #histones, but some also have histone variants! Check out our latest preprint on an essential H2B-H2A histone variant in Melbournevirus - a fantastic collaboration with the Abergel Lab, spearheaded by Ale Villalta. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM
by now you probably know that #giantviruses have #histones, but some also have histone variants! Check out our latest preprint on an essential H2B-H2A histone variant in Melbournevirus - a fantastic collaboration with the Abergel Lab, spearheaded by Ale Villalta. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
Pacmanvirus isolated from the Lost City hydrothermal field extends the concept of transpoviron beyond the family Mimiviridae academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs
January 10, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Pacmanvirus isolated from the Lost City hydrothermal field extends the concept of transpoviron beyond the family Mimiviridae academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc... #jcampubs
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
Looking for a postdoc in environmental virology? Fascinated by giant viruses and their glycobiology?
We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology!
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...
We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology!
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...
Post-Doc Protist Viruses
career.mpi-bremen.de
December 9, 2024 at 11:07 AM
Looking for a postdoc in environmental virology? Fascinated by giant viruses and their glycobiology?
We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology!
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...
We have a position available at the MPI for Marine Microbiology!
@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
career.mpi-bremen.de/jobposting/8...
Reposting for #VirEvol and #giantViruses
Couldn’t find a virology starter pack so here’s one to get the ball rolling. Repost/reply if you are a virologist so I can find and add you to the list!
go.bsky.app/SinqoJU
go.bsky.app/SinqoJU
November 10, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Reposting for #VirEvol and #giantViruses
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
there is a new #giantvirus in town! and it speaks Finnish! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Genomic and structural insights into Jyvaskylavirus, the first giant virus isolated from Finland
Giant viruses of protists are a diverse and likely ubiquitous group of organisms. Here, we describe Jyvaskylavirus, the first giant virus isolated from Finland. This clade B marseillevirus was found i...
www.biorxiv.org
November 5, 2024 at 2:55 PM
there is a new #giantvirus in town! and it speaks Finnish! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
behold our paper on Medusavirus nucleosomes. Fantastic work by Chelsea Toner, @nhoitsma.bsky.social, and Sashi Weerawarana This giant virus also encodes a linker histone, more about that in the paper 🧪👩🔬 🧵.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 23, 2024 at 6:19 PM
behold our paper on Medusavirus nucleosomes. Fantastic work by Chelsea Toner, @nhoitsma.bsky.social, and Sashi Weerawarana This giant virus also encodes a linker histone, more about that in the paper 🧪👩🔬 🧵.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We sequenced some new #genomes!
Novel high-quality #amoeba genomes reveal widespread #codonUsage mismatch between #giantViruses and their hosts.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🖥️🧬
1/4
Novel high-quality #amoeba genomes reveal widespread #codonUsage mismatch between #giantViruses and their hosts.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🖥️🧬
1/4
October 25, 2024 at 1:03 PM
We sequenced some new #genomes!
Novel high-quality #amoeba genomes reveal widespread #codonUsage mismatch between #giantViruses and their hosts.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🖥️🧬
1/4
Novel high-quality #amoeba genomes reveal widespread #codonUsage mismatch between #giantViruses and their hosts.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
#ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🖥️🧬
1/4
Back to the lab after a week of really great research on #virus #evolution in Roscoff! The VEE team was represented by Laura, @danischwarz.bsky.social, @dominikluecking.bsky.social, and myself. (Im)patiently waiting for the next edition of this great meeting!
#VirEvol #CJM2024_virEvol
#VirEvol #CJM2024_virEvol
October 21, 2024 at 12:40 PM
Back to the lab after a week of really great research on #virus #evolution in Roscoff! The VEE team was represented by Laura, @danischwarz.bsky.social, @dominikluecking.bsky.social, and myself. (Im)patiently waiting for the next edition of this great meeting!
#VirEvol #CJM2024_virEvol
#VirEvol #CJM2024_virEvol
#Txonomy update for the family #Circoviridae, by @viralnomad.bsky.social, @mkrupovic.bsky.social & co.
doi.org/10.1007/s007...
#VirEvol
doi.org/10.1007/s007...
#VirEvol
2024 taxonomy update for the family Circoviridae - Archives of Virology
Circovirids have a circular single-stranded DNA genome packed into a small icosahedral capsid. They are classified within two genera, Circovirus and Cyclovirus, in the family Circoviridae (phylum Cres...
doi.org
August 19, 2024 at 7:43 AM
#Txonomy update for the family #Circoviridae, by @viralnomad.bsky.social, @mkrupovic.bsky.social & co.
doi.org/10.1007/s007...
#VirEvol
doi.org/10.1007/s007...
#VirEvol
The polinton-like supergroup of #viruses: #evolution, molecular biology, and #taxonomy
Review by Koonin, Fischer, Kuhn,and @mkrupovic.bsky.social
#VirEvol and related to #giantVirus
doi.org/10.1128/mmbr...
Review by Koonin, Fischer, Kuhn,and @mkrupovic.bsky.social
#VirEvol and related to #giantVirus
doi.org/10.1128/mmbr...
The polinton-like supergroup of viruses: evolution, molecular biology, and taxonomy | Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
SUMMARYPolintons are 15–20 kb-long self-synthesizing transposons that are widespread in eukaryotic,
and in particular protist, genomes. Apart from a transposase and a protein-primed
DNA polymerase, po...
doi.org
August 4, 2024 at 5:22 PM
The polinton-like supergroup of #viruses: #evolution, molecular biology, and #taxonomy
Review by Koonin, Fischer, Kuhn,and @mkrupovic.bsky.social
#VirEvol and related to #giantVirus
doi.org/10.1128/mmbr...
Review by Koonin, Fischer, Kuhn,and @mkrupovic.bsky.social
#VirEvol and related to #giantVirus
doi.org/10.1128/mmbr...
Egoviruses: distant relatives of poxviruses abundant in the gut microbiome of humans and animals worldwide
Novel dsDNA viruses related to poxviruses in the gut - host unclear, but could be either the mammals themselves or a unicellular eukaryote in the gut
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Novel dsDNA viruses related to poxviruses in the gut - host unclear, but could be either the mammals themselves or a unicellular eukaryote in the gut
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 30, 2024 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
We finally put it together! The first ICTV #Virus #Taxonomy Challenge provides a dataset of thousands of contigs from diverse viruses, asking bioinformaticians to classify them in an automated, reproducible way. See: ictv-vbeg.github.io/ICTV-Taxonom... - tell your bioinformaticians and colleagues!
Why do we need a computational taxonomy?
A community challenge to evaluate and compare viral genome taxonomy classifiers
ictv-vbeg.github.io
June 20, 2024 at 7:08 AM
We finally put it together! The first ICTV #Virus #Taxonomy Challenge provides a dataset of thousands of contigs from diverse viruses, asking bioinformaticians to classify them in an automated, reproducible way. See: ictv-vbeg.github.io/ICTV-Taxonom... - tell your bioinformaticians and colleagues!
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
ZOMBIE CELLS!!! 😱🧟🦠
@janbruewer.bsky.social and colleagues discover how #viruses keep #SAR11 in check and even turn them into zombies!
Out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social Nat Comms
mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@janbruewer.bsky.social and colleagues discover how #viruses keep #SAR11 in check and even turn them into zombies!
Out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social Nat Comms
mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Zombie cells in the sea: Viruses keep the most common marine bacteria in check
mpi-bremen.de
May 17, 2024 at 8:55 AM
ZOMBIE CELLS!!! 😱🧟🦠
@janbruewer.bsky.social and colleagues discover how #viruses keep #SAR11 in check and even turn them into zombies!
Out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social Nat Comms
mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@janbruewer.bsky.social and colleagues discover how #viruses keep #SAR11 in check and even turn them into zombies!
Out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social Nat Comms
mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Great event last week strengthening research partnerships with colleagues from Kyoto University, particularly with the Ogata lab focusing on giant viruses
@cemess.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
@cemess.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
June 24, 2024 at 7:56 AM
Great event last week strengthening research partnerships with colleagues from Kyoto University, particularly with the Ogata lab focusing on giant viruses
@cemess.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
@cemess.bsky.social @univie.ac.at
New #giantVirus on the block alert!
Along with a great team of people lead by @patrickarthofer.bsky.social, Florian Panhölzl, and Matthias Horn, we describe a novel Catovirus infecting the amoeboflagellate #Naegleria
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Along with a great team of people lead by @patrickarthofer.bsky.social, Florian Panhölzl, and Matthias Horn, we describe a novel Catovirus infecting the amoeboflagellate #Naegleria
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria - Nature Communications
This is the first report on a virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria, including the lethal human pathogen N. fowleri. The new virus isolate, Catovirus naegleriensis (Naegleriavirus, NiV),...
doi.org
May 3, 2024 at 7:36 AM
New #giantVirus on the block alert!
Along with a great team of people lead by @patrickarthofer.bsky.social, Florian Panhölzl, and Matthias Horn, we describe a novel Catovirus infecting the amoeboflagellate #Naegleria
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Along with a great team of people lead by @patrickarthofer.bsky.social, Florian Panhölzl, and Matthias Horn, we describe a novel Catovirus infecting the amoeboflagellate #Naegleria
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposting for #VirEvol
Jumping DNA polymerases in bacteriophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.26.591309v1
Jumping DNA polymerases in bacteriophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.26.591309v1
Viruses with double-stranded (ds) DNA genomes in the realm Duplodnaviria share a conserved structura
www.biorxiv.org
April 28, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Reposting for #VirEvol
Reposted by Anouk Willemsen
Another giant virus with histones y'all. Medusavirus has them all, and even linker histone (maybe?). Check out our latest preprint by the amazing Chelsea Toner and @nhoitsma.bsky.social biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
April 15, 2024 at 12:42 PM
Another giant virus with histones y'all. Medusavirus has them all, and even linker histone (maybe?). Check out our latest preprint by the amazing Chelsea Toner and @nhoitsma.bsky.social biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...