New #ISEPpapers! Single-cell #phylogenomics identifies major groups of marine eugregarine endosymbionts (Apicomplexa) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790326000187
#protists #microbes #parasites #evolution #phylogeny #symbiosis
How a #parasite gave up sex to find more hosts—and why its victory won't last https://phys.org/news/2026-01-parasite-gave-sex-hosts-victory.html
Host range expansion of asexual parasite can be explained by loss of adaptions in Muller’s Ratchet https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65843-4
"an asexual lineage of #Giardia managed to infect a wider range of hosts than its sexual ancestor... at a cost. Because these #parasites don't exchange genetic material, harmful mutations build up over time, leading to eventual collapse"
New #ISEPpapers! A genetic transformation system for the heterotrophic diatom #Nitzschia putrida (Bacillariophyceae) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpy.70070
Shelled #amoeba crawls like an octopus, shifting tactics on the go https://phys.org/news/2026-01-shelled-amoeba-octopus-shifting-tactics.html https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/pjab/advpub/0/advpub_pjab.102.001/_html/-char/en
"Commonly found in #peatlands and freshwater environments, #Arcella belongs to a group called testate #amoebae, characterized by having its body enclosed, almost entirely, within a dome-shaped shell... Through an opening on its underside, Arcella can mold its cell body to create finger-like projections called #pseudopodia to capture prey and move around."
New #ISEPpapers! Legacies of consecutive summer droughts on soil-borne plant parasitic #protists (Oomycota and Phytomyxea) and protistan consumers (Cercozoa) along an experimental plant diversity gradient https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.70756
New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Environmental #phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown #eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1.full
#Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Phylogeny #Proterozoic #Eukaryogenesis
New #ISEPpapers! The mitochondrial proteome of #diplonemids: from conventional pathways to eccentric RNA editing and transcript processing https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-025-12233-1
Photographing the hidden world of slime mould https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d9409p76qo
"These images, captured by photographer Barry Webb, provide a close-up view of single-celled #SlimeMoulds. A view that would not be possible with the naked eye... It's not fungi, it's not a plant, it's not animal... one picture would not do them justice, you can get virtually nothing in focus... he uses focus bracketing, where dozens of photos are taken."
Javier del Campo
ISEP
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺
cathill