What started as weird, unknown organisms became tools for the field. Establishing new models; creating community. #multicellularity #ichthyosporeans #protistsOnSky @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
We know somewhere lie the closest relatives of animals we still haven’t discovered. Marina & Alicia presenting our search for the unknown #Magnificent8 at #ProtistologyOpen2026! @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] #protistsonsky #multicellularity
Check the summary (in Spanish) by @[email protected] on our work on plasmalogen biosynthesis pathway evolution in eukaryotes. #protistsOnSky

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:b4o5jzpt7ako7lv343qlo66j/post/3mj33efmxgc24
#Ichthyosporea are not just the 5–6 species we and others have helped establish as models. Our recent synthesis suggests that ~95% of their species-level diversity remains uncultivated. In other words, we still know only a fraction of the map! #protistsonSky @[email protected] @[email protected]
Cheaper and sustainable transfection is always a good thing! Thanks @[email protected] for sharing this! #choanoflagellates #protistsonSky #nonmodels

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uhvmpxupupiq36qvw27pl7d7/post/3mh6rzqv6z22r
Many cellular innovations later used by animals were assembled long before animals evolved.We show that aerobic plasmalogen biosynthesis likely entered eukaryotes early from Myxobacteria, highlighting how bacterial genes shaped the cellular landscape from which animals emerged. 🧬✨ #protistsOnSky
link 👉https://pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2529738123 @[email protected] We also directly detected plasmalogens in our beloved Chromosphaera perkinsii and Capsaspora. #ichthyosporeans #holozoans #protistsonSky #LGT @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
Behind our research on animal origins are many brilliant women scientists. Happy International Women’s Day 💜 #protistsOnSky @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] #InternationalWomensDay #WomenInScience
We know their DNA. We know where they live. But we have no idea what they look like. The search for the 8 missing lineages closest to animals #ProtistsonSky @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] youtu.be/i4uhEXw6G0c

The Magnificent 8
The Magnificent 8

YouTube
Great to see our paper on light-intensity dependent swimming patterns in #Chlamydomonas out now in Phys Rev Lett. as an Editors' suggestion! With a nice commentary by @[email protected]. Chlamy actively modulate the beat planes of their #cilia! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... #protistsonsky