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Philipp Engel

@pengellab.bsky.social

1.2K followers 580 following 26 posts

Microbiologist at UNIL Switzerland, interested in Microbiota-host interactions, symbiosis, evolution and genomics, and social bees engelbeelab.com

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Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 17h

Thanks for re-posting, Seth. Most of these bacteria are found almost exclusively in honeybees, suggesting that they have diversified within this host group, but not through strict co-speciation, but rather via frequent symbiont gains, losses, and host switches across different honeybee species.

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

... at @embl.org Heidelberg, the Cayman team in the Zeller lab; and @fbm-unil.bsky.social , Florent Mazel and the GTF.
This paper will enable future research on gut symbionts of native Asian honeybees, and we hope it advances our broader understanding of microbiota evolution in bees and beyond.🤞

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

Many thanks to everyone who supported this work! In Malaysia: our @snsf.ch Spirit grant collaborators Sze Huei Yek & Asha Pallujam (UMS, Monash U), the Nature Inspired team, the Orang Asli community, MY Bee Savior, & many beekeepers. At @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social India, Axel Brockmann & his team...

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

Unfortunately, we couldn't fully convince the reviewers/editors on this point, leading to a lengthy review process and ultimately a rather generic published title. We encourage you to read the bioRxiv preprint (10.1101/2024.09.11.612390) and the review documents shared with the final version.📝

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

It's widely accepted that bee gut bacteria co-diversified with their hosts, but this hasn't been tested, aside from a study on bumblebees (10.1111/mec.12209). Using a standard statistical framework, we found weak co-speciation signals & much less than reported for mammalian gut symbionts 🦍🐭👫🦠.

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

One of the biggest surprises? We found little evidence for co-speciation between hosts and their gut symbionts. Instead, we observed a dynamic pattern of symbiont gains, losses & replacements, leading to functional differences between host species. We see this as the paper's most important message 👇

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

Microbial communities were mostly host-specific, but not entirely. We found both specialist and generalist bacteria, even within the same bacterial genera. Interestingly, some generalists appeared host-specific only at the strain level, hinting at recent host switches.

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

Notably, the giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) hosted unique microbial taxa not found in the other species. Among them: Dysgonomonas species with a large set of pectin-degrading genes, suggesting a key role in pollen digestion. 🦠🏵️

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

We recovered thousands of metagenome-assembled bacterial genomes from these bees' metagenomes, uncovering surprising patterns in host–microbe relationships 🦠. We identified several novel bacterial species, expanding the known diversity of gut microbes in honeybees.... 🐝

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 19h

Happy to announce that our comparative metagenomic analysis of the gut microbiota of five honeybee species - spearheaded by @aiswarya.bsky.social - is finally published in a peer-reviewed journal! rdcu.be/eKMCs @fbm-unil.bsky.social @dmf-unil.bsky.social 🧵👇

Evolution of gut microbiota across honeybee species revealed by comparative metagenomics

Nature Communications - Here, the authors perform metagenomic analysis of honeybee gut microbes, uncovering many previously unidentified species and host specific differences in composition and...

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · 28d

Fascinating work and a fun 🧵 about the ‘behind the paper’!

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Benjamin Wolfe @benwolfe.bsky.social · 28d

Such a delight to share our work on the evolution of a cheese rind fungus in @currentbiology.bsky.social.

This is the fantastic PhD work of @nicolasleonlouw.bsky.social and resulted from amazing collaborations, a wedding proposal(!), an undergrad course, & more!

🧵

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Long-term monitoring of a North American cheese cave reveals mechanisms and consequences of fungal adaptation

Using a unique longitudinal sampling approach, Louw et al. demonstrate how a cheese-associated Penicillium population has adapted in an artisan cheese production facility in Vermont, USA. Adaptation i...

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Snorre Sulheim @sulheim.bsky.social · Aug 20

Excited to share the first results from my postdoc at @dmf-unil.bsky.social with @saramitri.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Microbes release lower-value metabolites at higher rates

Microbes release a wide range of metabolites into their environment, yet the reasons for this release and the factors that influence release rates are not well understood. Here, using a combination of...

www.biorxiv.org

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Feb 18

We are looking for a bioinformatician with expertise in microbiome data analysis join our team at the University of Lausanne. The successful candidate will lead and support research projects within nccr-microbiomes.ch. More details here: shorturl.at/mC46o . Please share with potential candidates.

Opportunités de carrière : Research Associate position in bioinformatics support (22124)

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Feb 5

We are looking for a postdoc in bioinformatics interested in broad questions about the ecology and evolution of host-associated microbiomes using social bees as model. Please share with potential candidates and if interested apply here: career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...

Career Opportunities: Postdoctoral position in bioinformatics/gut microbiota ecology and evolution (22087)

career5.successfactors.eu

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · Nov 19

New perspective with a comprehensive overview of the microbiome heritability concept

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Estimates of microbiome heritability across hosts - Nature Microbiology

In this Perspective, Morris and Bohannan discuss heritability of microbiome-mediated traits across hosts and future research questions with implications for animal and plant breeding.

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Nov 13

I am hiring! PhD studentship available through the SWbio DTP. The interested student will investigate the evolution of innate immune signalling in a model species group. Infection biology & #Drosophila genetics combined! #ImmunoSky #AcademicSky

More info:
mahansonresearch.weebly.com/blog/phd-stu...

PhD studentship! Deadline Dec 11th 2024

SWbio application link: https://www.swbio.ac.uk/biomolecular-and-biophysical-studies/ For inquiries, please email: [email protected] Based in: University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UK....

mahansonresearch.weebly.com

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Jack A Gilbert @gilbertjacka.bsky.social · Nov 11

CALL TO ACTION: By publishing this Editorial concurrently across journals, we are demanding immediate, tangible steps that harness the power of microbiology and the expertise of researchers and policymakers to safeguard the planet for future generations. doi.org/10.1128/msys...

Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe | mSystems

This paper is a call to action. By publishing concurrently across journals like an emergency bulletin, we are not merely making a plea for awareness about climate change. Instead, we are demanding imm...

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Nov 6

PhD position available in our lab in 🇨🇭! Interested in microbial ecology and evolution in the context of #Symbiosis, #Microbiota, #Bees? Like to analyze shotgun metagenomics data with the possibility for fieldwork and experiments? This is for you. Apply here: shorturl.at/swHf1 #SymbioSky

Opportunités de carrière : PhD position in gut microbiota ecology and evolution (21945)

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Nov 6

Super nice work Omaya! Congrats.

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · May 8

Today in our #Symbiosis and #Evolution seminar series: @andrewhq9.bsky.social on the #HoneyBee #microbiota and the metabolic crosstalk between and among host and symbionts

@dome-vienna.bsky.social @pengellab.bsky.social #SymbioSky

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Yolanda Schaerli @yschaerli.bsky.social · Mar 5

Very happy to see this published! 🤩Congratulations to Audam and all co-authors. This is the result of a very nice collaboration with the @pengellab.bsky.social as part of the NCCR Microbiomes.

Yolanda Schaerli @yschaerli.bsky.social · Mar 5

#PLOSBiology: An engineered bacterial symbiont allows noninvasive biosensing of the honey bee gut environment dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

An engineered bacterial symbiont allows noninvasive biosensing of the honey bee gut environment

The honey bee is a powerful model system to probe host-gut microbiota interactions. This study describes the genetic engineering of a native bacterial symbiont of the honey bee to non-invasively sense...

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Luis Teixeira @lmvteixeira.bsky.social · Feb 21

Join us in the south of Portugal for the SymbNET International Conference on Host-Microbe Symbiosis. 10-13 June. Registration is open until 15th March. More details at igc.idloom.events/symbnet-conf... #SymbioSky

Reposted by Philipp Engel

Alejandro Manzano Marín @amanzanom.bsky.social · Feb 18

#SymbNET International Conference on Host-Microbe #Symbiosis. June 10 - 13, 2024. Olhão, Portugal

igc.idloom.events/symbnet-conf...

#SymbioSky

SymbNET International Conference on Host-Microbe Symbiosis

SymbNET International Conference on Host-Microbe Symbiosis Olhão, Portugal About Hosts and microbes form long-term symbiotic interactions that shape their biology at multiple levels, from physiology...

igc.idloom.events

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Jan 26

Don't miss this opportunity! Few days left to apply to the Tenure-track assistant professor position in our Department at the University of Lausanne and with the NCCR Microbiomes. Topics: microbial interactions, microbiome research, microbial symbiosis (...) Deadline: Jan 31! tinyurl.com/4k2mevax

Philipp Engel @pengellab.bsky.social · Dec 8

Our Department at University of Lausanne is recruiting a tenure-track Assist. Prof. on microbial interactions linked to the nccr-microbiomes.ch Don't miss this opportunity to join a friendly, dynamic department in a city with hard-to-beat quality of life. Apply tinyurl.com/4k2mevax by Jan 31! 🧪