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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Misha Matz @heatshok.bsky.social · 19h

🧪🌏 Cool results from @pcleves.bsky.social, re: basic mechanisms of coral-algal symbiosis. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1) Symbiotic vacuoles are arrested lysosomes. (2) The bicarbonate transporter for the coral's carbon concentration loop is SCL26A11

Effect of CRISPR/Cas9 knockdown of SLC26A11 (bicarbonate transporter in symbiotic membrane) on young coral recruit (Galaxea fascicularis). Left panel - control, right panel - knockdown. Brown dots = algae.

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

This was a collaborative project by the entire Cleves Lab. We have worked hard to develop methods for RNAi, CRISPR/Cas9, and lab-induced spawning of the coral, Galaxea fascicularis. Thank you to @pcleves.bsky.social for supporting me during this project!

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We conclude that symbiosis relies on the function of lysosomal proteins. How the algae resist digestion will require further investigation, but the co-option of lysosomal proteins for symbiosis may provide insight into the repeated evolution of photosymbiosis across animal taxa. 11/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

Excitingly, we found that mutating this gene in Galaxea also causes a loss of symbiosis, despite the independent evolution of photosymbiosis in these taxa! The defect is likely caused by breaking the supply of inorganic carbon and sulfate to the algae, required for the symbiont to thrive. 10/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

Finally, we asked if this gene is also required for symbiosis in the coral, Galaxea fascicularis, which we can now spawn in the lab. Look forward to a new preprint on this work! 9/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We performed CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis on this gene in Aiptasia and found it caused a mosaic phenotype, with mutant animals exhibiting both low and high symbiont density regions that correlated with mutation frequency. 8/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

In the final section of this work, we wanted to test the function of SLC26A11, a lysosomal bicarbonate/sulfate transporter that we discovered in our proteome. We hypothesized that this protein plays a key role in providing inorganic carbon to fuel algal photosynthesis. IF confirmation below. 7/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

Next, using RNAi, we found that two key lysosomal proteins (LAMP1B, and a subunit of V-ATPase) are required for proper symbiosis formation. 6/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

The enrichment of lysosomal proteins was intriguing, so we developed new antibodies to confirm the lysosomal identity of the symbiosome with new super-resolution microscopy methods. 5/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We found that the symbiosome has dynamic membrane trafficking, lysosomal, digestive enzymes, and transporter proteins, providing insights into how the symbiosome is formed, its cellular origins, and the types of molecules that are exchanged. 4/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We then analyzed the symbiosome proteome. Remarkably, we found most of the proteins that were previously known to be symbiosomal based on careful antibody work (annotated on fig)! In addition, we found ~180 new symbiosome proteins. So now let’s look their predicted functions… 3/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We first developed a method to isolate the symbiosome from the sea anemone, Aiptasia, using simple biochemistry techniques. The key was the use of an antibody for RHBG, a symbiosomal ammonium transporter, to track the isolation of the symbiosome. 2/12 🧵

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Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 20h

We're excited to share with everyone a preprint of our manuscript that resolves the cellular origins of the symbiosome in cnidarian-algal symbiosis through proteomics of the symbiosome, RNAi, and CRISPR/Cas9 experiments. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Read on below!

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · 4d

A new underwater microscope designed & built by Scripps is providing an unprecedented glimpse into the hidden world of corals. 🪸🔬 @californiacurated.bsky.social shares how this imaging system is revealing new insights that could help save #CoralReefs. californiacurated.substack.com/p/a-microsco...

Corals Revealed as Never Before Through a Groundbreaking New Microscope in California

A new imaging system developed at Scripps allows researchers to see coral polyps and their algae symbionts like never before, offering insights that could help save reefs before they vanish.

californiacurated.substack.com

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Summer Whitesell @linimentcake.bsky.social · 9d

www.goodnewsnetwork.org/florida-cora... Conservation efforts for coral reefs in Florida are paying off. This is a very #goodthing! #positivity #positivevibes

Florida Coral Nursery Spawns for the First Time Since 2023, Contributing to Reef Resilience

Beneath the waves of Key Largo, beautiful staghorn coral have spawned in mass since a 2023 bleaching event left biologists worried.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13d

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Christy Schnitzler @christyschnitz.bsky.social · 15d

Now Hiring! Whitney Laboratory Assistant/Associate Professor in Marine Bioscience
Apply & More Info - explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
We seek a creative, collaborative scientist whose research harnesses or advances cutting-edge tools. Please help spread the word & reach out with any questions!

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

lukethompsonphd.bsky.social @lukethompsonphd.bsky.social · Sep 8

My group at NOAA/Miami is hiring a postdoc to lead a marine eDNA biodiversity effort (Bio-GO-SHIP). You'll develop and deploy high-throughput metabarcoding assays for ocean DNA. Help make foundational contributions to global marine biodiversity monitoring! t.co/p53s7E0YiL

https://explore.msujobs.msstate.edu/cw/en-us/job/509519

t.co

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

John Parkinson @parkinsonje.bsky.social · Aug 29

USF media produced a nice article about our lab!

Many thanks to those who put it together, and of course to my students who make the research possible.

www.usf.edu/arts-science...

In the Parkinson Lab at USF, saving Florida's Coral Reef is a top priority

University of South Florida

www.usf.edu

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Asher Hellbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · Aug 13

Well, let me put this in terms that a scientist might understand: when you throw your colleagues to the wolves, you are training them to expect to be fed

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · Aug 13

In which a Yale prof calls for jettisoning humanities to make way for science-only universities.

“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”

Unyoke the Sciences From the Humanities

Arts and sciences typically cohabitate. Should they?

thedispatch.com

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Mike Moore @gypsumbotany.bsky.social · Aug 5

🚨🚨 New tenure track position in #ConservationBiology @oberlincollege.bsky.social in the #Biology department--come join us, and contribute to our brand new Environmental Science major too! #biologyjobs #ecologyjobs

jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/16671

Assistant Professor of Biology

The Biology Department at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time tenure track faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences in conservation ecology. Initial appointment to this po...

jobs.oberlin.edu

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Aug 10

My team has updated our free database of POSTDOC fellowships.

This database contains 286 entries. For each entry, we provide a link, short description, deadline, amount, and eligibility criteria.

Download this updated and expanded database here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Anthony M. Bonacolta @ambonacolta.bsky.social · Aug 7

This research involved diving every 6 hours for 3 straight days with @bradweilerdives.bsky.social in Curaçao 🇨🇼 🤿 . Check out how the coral holobiont’s gene expression and microbial community (including protists!) changes over these diel cycles! 🪸 ⏰

Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨New Preprint Alert🚨 P. strigosa, a reef-building coral shows tightly regulated transcriptional control over natural diel cycles. #CoralReefs #Symbiosky #bioinformatics #marinemicrobes #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Aug 6

The stories we tell matter. I know this not from watching but from memory. I was just a child, held behind barbed wire in a U.S. internment camp, when an atomic bomb obliterated Hiroshima—killing members of my family.

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Reposted by Shumpei Maruyama

Jun B. Cai @junbcai.bsky.social · Aug 5

First publication with lpita.bsky.social looking at Aiptaisia oral regeneration!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Aiptasia oral regeneration is host-controlled but supported by symbiont-derived photosynthates - Symbiosis

The study of oral regeneration in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana (commonly called Aiptasia) - a prominent model for the study of coral-algal symbiosis - offers the unique opportunity to investiga...

link.springer.com

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