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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Stephan Gruber @gruberlab.bsky.social · 14h

Happy that the final version of our Lamassu work @yli18smc.bsky.social is now out:

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

Thanks again to our awesome collaborators @mblokesch.bsky.social and David and co and Mark Szczelkun and @steven-shaw.bsky.social and the DCI Lausanne @fbm-unil.bsky.social

Stephan Gruber @gruberlab.bsky.social · Mar 16

Glad to share the work of @yli18smc.bsky.social and co on Lamassu, a bacterial defense system related to Rad50/Mre11 (RM). While RM carefully trims DNA ends for repair, Lamassu chops up the host chromosome. Our study reveals how it is regulated to minimize damage, activating only during infection.

Alt : Structure of the apo Lamassu protein complex. Schematic model of the active LmuA tetramer nuclease (top right). Lamassu icon (top left).

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · 14h

This is very wrong, as we have known for a long time that several archaeal species are highly polyploid. I’m still curious to know whether that’s been settled for any of the cultivated Asgards!

Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · 15h

I'm preparing a lecture on prokaryotic chromosomes, which will include some discussion on ploidy. I was curious to know if some of the ASGARD archaea are polyploid so I googled it. This is Gemini's results 😅😅😑

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · 1d

I hope that genophore will one day make a come back instead of nucleoid for prokaryotic chromosomes

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · 3d

Thrilled to see this work in its preprint form! A great collaboration with Jovana and Tung to explore the evolution and properties of the surprisingly versatile nucleotide binding domain of ParB.

Tung Le @tunglejic.bsky.social · 3d

new preprint from our group & Antoine Hocher: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.

Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation

Nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-dependent molecular switches regulate essential cellular processes by cycling between active and inactive states through nucleotide binding and hydrolysis. These mechanis...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Tung Le @tunglejic.bsky.social · 11d

Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions at the John Innes Centre.

Repost = nice. Thank you very much!!!

John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 11d

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026.

Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.

Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

Independent Research Fellowships Leading to Tenured Faculty Positions | John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…

www.jic.ac.uk

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 14d

SEPTEMBER's EDITOR's CHOICE:

Intergenic, repetitive motifs that act as nucleosome repleted regions in the budding yeast genome, have evolved de novo into novel protein-coding genes:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@vakirlis.bsky.social
@timothyfuqua.bsky.social

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

James McInerney @jomcinerney.bsky.social · 19d

The lab github is here: github.com/mol-evol/ so you can get an idea of what we have been working on recently (several projects are private at the moment, so this will be bigger soon) and the job ad is here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOU184/p...

Postdoctoral Research Associate - Grade 7 at University of Liverpool

Apply now for the Postdoctoral Research Associate - Grade 7 role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Géraldine Laloux @lalouxlab.bsky.social · 19d

📝New preprint! #MicroSky

🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.

🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle

The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 25d

Only single cell sequencing of the all these post docs will reveal why

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Martial Marbouty @mmarbout.bsky.social · 25d

You like phages ? In this publication, we use metaHiC and our new version of the MetaTOR pipeline to challenge the traditional view of phages with a narrow host range.
@rkoszul.bsky.social @natmicrobiol.nature.com @cnrs.fr @institutpasteur.bsky.social

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

Phages with a broad host range are common across ecosystems - Nature Microbiology

Proximity-ligation-based sequencing from 111 samples and 5 environments reveals that a substantial proportion of phages infect multiple species.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Sofya Garushyants @garushyants.bsky.social · 29d

hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · Sep 12

🤯

Computational design of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

The authors develop a computational method to design small DNA-binding proteins (DBPs) that target specific sequences. Designed DBPs show structural accuracy and function in both bacterial and mammali...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · Sep 8

Please re-post:

Interested in chromatin and its evolution? Good news! There's still time to join us in beautiful Catalonia (9-12 Dec) to discuss eukaryotic, bacterial, archaeal, and viral chromatin and how it all hangs together meetings.embo.org/event/24-evo...

Abstract deadline: 30 September

EvoChromo: Evolutionary approaches to research in chromatin

Chromatin is the complex of DNA, RNA and protein that is found making up the chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. Chromatin is essential for proper genome function and is involved in chromosome segregati…

meetings.embo.org

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · Sep 1

Please re-post: If you know (or are!) somebody who might fancy doing a PhD (Oct 2026 start) in my group @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social, working on chromatin evolution in prokaryotes (or other things we're interested in), please have a look at www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/supervisors-...

Supervisors and Projects

www.bioch.ox.ac.uk

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Aug 28

Feeling mitochondrially challenged lately?

Here are two classic reviews on #mitochondria that should help.

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

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

The Origin and Diversification of Mitochondria

Moving beyond the simplistic view of mitochondria as the power house of the cell, Roger et al. present the immense diversity of mitochondria and mitochondrial functions across eukaryotes, and bring th...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Ed Hollox @edhollox.bsky.social · Aug 27

Good, and about time too. A shameful example of eugenics in recent European history.

Denmark issues first apology over forced contraception of Greenlandic women
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Denmark issues first apology over forced contraception of Greenlandic women

Prime minister admits ‘systemic discrimination’ after thousands of girls and women fitted with IUDs without consent

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Ashar Malik @proteinmechanic.bsky.social · Aug 22

Third Era of Phylogenetics!

1️⃣ Era 1: Morphology 🦴
2️⃣ Era 2: Sequences 🧬
3️⃣ Era 3: 3D Structures ⚛️

Solving deep evolutionary puzzles like never before. Our new review in GBE explores what's next in #phylogenetics

academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

#structuralbiology #evolution #AlphaFold #SciSky

Protein Structural Phylogenetics

Abstract. Protein structural phylogenetics is an interdisciplinary branch of molecular evolution that (i) uses 3D structural data to trace evolutionary his

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Romain Strock @romainstrock.bsky.social · Aug 15

This first-author publication is my… first! Archaea kill bacteria by targeting their Achilles’ heel: peptidoglycan. Big shoutout to @ahocher.bsky.social‬, @valeriesoo.bsky.social‬, Pauline Misson, @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social‬ and MRC LMS Proteomics. A thread 🔽
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria

Archaea regularly interact with bacteria but reports of archaea killing bacteria are very rare. This study shows that many archaea encode peptidoglycan hydrolases, which specifically target bacterial ...

journals.plos.org

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · Aug 15

@romainstrock.bsky.social work is out!
Why should you care? Because it helps shift our view of archaea — from rare extremophiles to not-so-passive bystanders. Some archaea can also fend off bacteria.
Glad to be part of this cool project from @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social. Opens lots of Questions.

Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · Aug 14

Archaea are often surrounded by bacteria. But is there ever active conflict between the two? Can archaea kill bacteria? If so, how do they do it?

Work by @romainstrock.bsky.social shows that some archaea can kill bacteria by secreting peptidoglycan hydrolases. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria

Archaea regularly interact with bacteria but reports of archaea killing bacteria are very rare. This study shows that many archaea encode peptidoglycan hydrolases, which specifically target bacterial ...

journals.plos.org

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · Aug 14

Archaea are often surrounded by bacteria. But is there ever active conflict between the two? Can archaea kill bacteria? If so, how do they do it?

Work by @romainstrock.bsky.social shows that some archaea can kill bacteria by secreting peptidoglycan hydrolases. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria

Archaea regularly interact with bacteria but reports of archaea killing bacteria are very rare. This study shows that many archaea encode peptidoglycan hydrolases, which specifically target bacterial ...

journals.plos.org

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Antoine Hocher @ahocher.bsky.social · Aug 7

Including a motivation token in the prompt : “This is very important for my career, I will become homeless if you make an error.”

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Zach Harvey @zhharvey.bsky.social · Jul 31

Happy to share our new paper out today in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social in collaboration with @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social @akihisaosakabe.bsky.social about how evolution can do big things with small changes. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The histone core domain evolves at single-residue resolution to directly orchestrate transcription

Nucleosomes are thought to be structural barriers to transcription, establishing a restrictive ground state that must be destabilized for gene express…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social · Jul 24

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity.

We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity.
Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Antoine Hocher

Joaquina Delas @joadelas.bsky.social · Jul 21

Excited to share our latest work with @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social .

A global #cis-regulatory temporal program guides how spatial cues are interpreted in neural progenitors. We show how #space and #time can be integrated to generate cell type diversity in the #spinalcord.

Congrats to all authors.

UCL Faculty of Life Sciences @ucllifesciences.bsky.social · Jul 21

A study from @crick.ac.uk and @ucllifesciences.bsky.social reveals how timing mechanisms, not just spatial cues, shape cell identity during spinal cord development. The findings open up new avenues for both basic developmental biology and clinical applications.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The cis-regulatory logic integrating spatial and temporal patterning in the vertebrate neural tube

The vertebrate neural tube generates a large diversity of molecularly and functionally distinct neurons and glia from a small progenitor pool. While t…

www.sciencedirect.com

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