Keertana Tallapragada
@keertana.bsky.social
In a symbiosis with aphids and their bacteria in Parker lab. PhD candidate @UNCBio. She/Her
Personal website:
https://sites.google.com/view/keertana-tallapragada/home
Personal website:
https://sites.google.com/view/keertana-tallapragada/home
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
The ecological roles of bacterial #immune systems are poorly understood. Rafael Custodio @ellinoralseth.bsky.social @brockhurstlab.bsky.social @brownlab.bsky.social & Edze Westra explore how mobile genetic elements and bacterial defenses shape #microbiome structure and function 🧪
Bacterial immune systems as causes and consequences of microbiome structure
Bacterial immune systems have evolved in response to diverse molecular "parasites", yet their ecological roles remain poorly understood. This Essay explores how interactions between mobile genetic…
plos.io
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
The ecological roles of bacterial #immune systems are poorly understood. Rafael Custodio @ellinoralseth.bsky.social @brockhurstlab.bsky.social @brownlab.bsky.social & Edze Westra explore how mobile genetic elements and bacterial defenses shape #microbiome structure and function 🧪
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Look at the super-efficiency on these weaver #ants!
The Ringelmann effect, first described in humans, applies to many cooperative systems, but a recent CB paper showed how weaver ants overcome it.
Just one example where the (hu)manosphere could learn from ants...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
The Ringelmann effect, first described in humans, applies to many cooperative systems, but a recent CB paper showed how weaver ants overcome it.
Just one example where the (hu)manosphere could learn from ants...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Superefficient teamwork in weaver ants
Nesting weaver ants combine into chains to pull leaves together. Stewardson, Carlesso,
et al. show that, unlike humans, weaver ant teams are superefficient: individual force
output grows alongside tea...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Look at the super-efficiency on these weaver #ants!
The Ringelmann effect, first described in humans, applies to many cooperative systems, but a recent CB paper showed how weaver ants overcome it.
Just one example where the (hu)manosphere could learn from ants...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
The Ringelmann effect, first described in humans, applies to many cooperative systems, but a recent CB paper showed how weaver ants overcome it.
Just one example where the (hu)manosphere could learn from ants...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy
Nature Communications - It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core...
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Great thread. Can’t wait to read this paper!
Two weeks ago now @jennytung.bsky.social and I published a new review in Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, entitled “Evolutionary genetics meets ecological immunology: insights into the evolution of immune systems.” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A thread below...
A thread below...
Evolutionary genetics meets ecological immunology: insights into the evolution of immune systems
Immune genes show remarkably consistent evidence of selection, modification, and diversification across the tree of life. Parasites are a key force in…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Great thread. Can’t wait to read this paper!
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Let me use this as an opportunity to talk about Jordi et al's very cool paper, now out in PNAS 🧪:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Let me use this as an opportunity to talk about Jordi et al's very cool paper, now out in PNAS 🧪:
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
You can read our news and views here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
My ask of any science enthusiasts who tell the story of Rosalind Franklin:
Don't make her life be about the DNA debacle. She died far too young, but she was a promising scientist in her own right, a mentor and scientific author.
Not for Watson or Crick, but for her legacy.
Don't make her life be about the DNA debacle. She died far too young, but she was a promising scientist in her own right, a mentor and scientific author.
Not for Watson or Crick, but for her legacy.
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism
have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant
but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:17 AM
My ask of any science enthusiasts who tell the story of Rosalind Franklin:
Don't make her life be about the DNA debacle. She died far too young, but she was a promising scientist in her own right, a mentor and scientific author.
Not for Watson or Crick, but for her legacy.
Don't make her life be about the DNA debacle. She died far too young, but she was a promising scientist in her own right, a mentor and scientific author.
Not for Watson or Crick, but for her legacy.
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Had to draw a cartoon for this fascinating finding!
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SymbioSky
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SymbioSky
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Had to draw a cartoon for this fascinating finding!
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SymbioSky
Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SymbioSky
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Great new postdoc fellowship for foundational plant research.
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
October 14, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Great new postdoc fellowship for foundational plant research.
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
If you’re into genetics and genomics of plant reproductive evolution or adaptive convergence (incl in the cool and charismatic nightshades!) I’d be happy to talk about possible projects!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Host-mediated niche construction of bacterial communities in an aquatic microecosystem
Abstract. Microbes coordinate homeostasis in host-associated and environmental ecosystems alike, but the connectivity of these biomes is seldom considered.
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Mosquito cell atlas is now published! Congratulations to @nadavshai.bsky.social and @oliviagoldman.net and the many other collaborators that contributed to this resource. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito
A comprehensive single-nucleus RNA-seq atlas of >367,000 nuclei from male and female
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes reveals sexual dimorphism in sensory systems and brain cell
types and widespread co-expres...
www.cell.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Mosquito cell atlas is now published! Congratulations to @nadavshai.bsky.social and @oliviagoldman.net and the many other collaborators that contributed to this resource. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
The Art of Transition Series: Monarch Butterfly (2025). Acrylic on canvas, 16x20".
~~~~~~
Where no crawly is creepy!
LindZeamays Illustration
LindZeamays.com
~~~~~~
🎨🐡🪳🪲🦋
~~~~~~
Where no crawly is creepy!
LindZeamays Illustration
LindZeamays.com
~~~~~~
🎨🐡🪳🪲🦋
October 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM
The Art of Transition Series: Monarch Butterfly (2025). Acrylic on canvas, 16x20".
~~~~~~
Where no crawly is creepy!
LindZeamays Illustration
LindZeamays.com
~~~~~~
🎨🐡🪳🪲🦋
~~~~~~
Where no crawly is creepy!
LindZeamays Illustration
LindZeamays.com
~~~~~~
🎨🐡🪳🪲🦋
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
New biology: stink bugs inoculate their eggs with a fungus that protects them from parasitoids
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Science Magazine - Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Tympanal organs have repeatedly evolved in diverse insects and were thought to be required for auditory perception (1).
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org
October 17, 2025 at 11:35 AM
New biology: stink bugs inoculate their eggs with a fungus that protects them from parasitoids
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
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!
1/12 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read on below!
1/12 🧵
October 13, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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!
1/12 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read on below!
1/12 🧵
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Our latest work reveals that arbitrium phages cross-communicate across species! These tiny viruses “listen” to signals from others, coordinating lysis-lysogeny decisions across species.
Original idea from @albertomarina.bsky.social and, as usual, he was right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Original idea from @albertomarina.bsky.social and, as usual, he was right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Phages communicate across species to shape microbial ecosystems
Arbitrium is a communication system that helps bacteriophages decide between lysis and lysogeny via secreted peptides. In arbitrium, the AimP peptide binds its cognate AimR receptor to repress aimX ex...
www.biorxiv.org
October 14, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Our latest work reveals that arbitrium phages cross-communicate across species! These tiny viruses “listen” to signals from others, coordinating lysis-lysogeny decisions across species.
Original idea from @albertomarina.bsky.social and, as usual, he was right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Original idea from @albertomarina.bsky.social and, as usual, he was right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Jo Holley led an undergrad team for this study, about wasps that are trying to be bees, using a new microbiome.
Honey wasps differ from other wasps in possessing large gut communities dominated by host-restricted bacteria | mBio
Honey-feeding social insects such as honey bees and bumble bees have conserved gut
bacterial communities that are transmitted among nestmates. These bacteria benefit
hosts by providing defense against...
journals.asm.org
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Jo Holley led an undergrad team for this study, about wasps that are trying to be bees, using a new microbiome.
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Historically, viruses were thought to primarily use host cell's translational machinery. New work from @harvardcellbio.bsky.social faculty Amy Lee reveals that a giant DNA virus encodes its own IF4F initiation complex, suggesting an unexpected evolutionary innovation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life
In contrast to living organisms, viruses were long thought to lack protein synthesis machinery and instead depend on host factors to translate viral transcripts. Here, we discover that giant DNA virus...
www.biorxiv.org
October 2, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Historically, viruses were thought to primarily use host cell's translational machinery. New work from @harvardcellbio.bsky.social faculty Amy Lee reveals that a giant DNA virus encodes its own IF4F initiation complex, suggesting an unexpected evolutionary innovation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly
The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most
butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that
this extraordinary karyotype is ...
tinyurl.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
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-...
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-...
August 10, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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-...
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-...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Hypermutable hotspot enables the rapid evolution of self/non-self recognition genes in Dictyostelium
Cells require highly polymorphic receptors to perform accurate self/non-self recognition. In the amoeba Dicytostelium discoideum, polymorphic TgrB1 & TgrC1 proteins are used to bind sister cells and e...
www.biorxiv.org
August 5, 2025 at 12:56 AM
I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code
The near-universal genetic code uses 64 codons to encode the 20 canonical amino acids and protein synthesis. Here we designed and generated Escherichia coli with a 4 Mb synthetic genome in which we re...
www.science.org
July 31, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
The Parker Lab at UNC Biology is hiring a postdoc to work on insect–microbe interactions.
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Post-Doc Research Associate
The researcher will be primarily responsible for carrying out investigations related to our lab's research, using an insect model system (aphids) to address mechanistic and evolutionary genetic questi...
unc.peopleadmin.com
August 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The Parker Lab at UNC Biology is hiring a postdoc to work on insect–microbe interactions.
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Reposted by Keertana Tallapragada
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵
July 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵