New #ISEPpapers! Towards a trait-based framework for protist ecology and evolution: Mahwash Jamy et al. https://www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/fulltext/S0966-842X(25)00251-3

"Recently developed environment- and taxon-specific trait databases are a strong foundation for studies of #protist functional diversity, but efforts remain fragmented... a unified trait database for #protists is timely, achievable, and would catalyze transformative research on their #biodiversity, #ecology and #evolution."

New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Regulated development of cannibalistic supergiant cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.671124v2

"we describe a ciliate undergoing drastic morphological transformations... supergiants increase in size, change shape, and modify their behaviour to cannibalize clonal relatives."

#protists #microbes #ciliates

New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Modeling site-and-branch-heterogeneity with GFmix https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669136v1.full

#Evolution #Bioinformatics #Phylogeny #TreeOfLife

New #ISEPpapers! Selective loss of ATP carriers in favour of SLC25A43 orthologues in metamonad #mitochondria adapted to #anaerobiosis: Natalia Janowicz et al. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsob.240202

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Metamonads

New #ISEPpapers! The fluid dynamics and functional diversity of the flagella of free-living flagellates https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/the-fluid-dynamics-and-functional-diversity-of-the-flagella-of-fr

#Protists #Microbes #FluidDynamics #Biophysics

New #ISEPpapers! Eukaryote-Wide Distribution of a Family of Longin Domain-Containing GAP Complexes for Small GTPases https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tra.70016 by Anna Novák Vanclová et al.

#Protists #Microbes #Archaea #Eukaryogenesis #Evolution #Eukaryotes

Rediscovery of the Protist Glissandra: Elucidating the Common Features of the Uncharacterized CRuMs Lineage https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/research-news/20250604180000.html

#ISEPpapers by Euki Yazaki et al.: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.250057

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution

New #ISEPpapers! High Protistan Parasite Occurrence During Fall in a Warm, Low Sea Ice Year in the Eastern #BeringSea: Tanika Ladd et al. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeu.70018

"Surface water temperature was identified as a key predictor of apicomplexan compositional abundance and may be important in the life histories of #parasites and their hosts... transfer of energy and biomass can differ drastically across years with differential #SeaIce influence"

#Protists #Microbes #Ecology #ClimateChange

New #ISEPpapers! New T2T assembly of #Cryptosporidium parvum IOWA II annotated with Legacy-Compatible Gene identifiers https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-05364-3

#Protists #Microbes #Parasites #Genomics #Bioinformatics #Genome #Sequencing

New #ISEPpapers! Repeated duplications and losses shaped SMC complex evolution from archaeal ancestors to modern eukaryotes: Jolien van Hooff et al. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725006266

#Protists #Microbes #Archaea #Eukaryogenesis #Evolution

New #ISEPpapers! An Update on the Morphology and Phylogeny of the Nanoplanktonic Dinoflagellate Prorocentrum nux: Solenn Mordret et al. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeu.70019

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Algae #Plankton

New #ISEPpapers! Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny of Endosymbiotic #Ciliates (Peritrichia, Mobilida) of Marine #Invertebrates with Descriptions of Two #NewSpecies Urceolaria clepsydra n. sp. and Urceolaria bratalia n. sp. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeu.70003

#Protists #Microbes #Symbiosis #Microscopy

#ISEPpapers 26: October 2024 to March 2025 https://www.isep-protists.com/post/iseppapers-26

Your twenty-sixth digest of papers and preprints published by members of the International Society for Evolutionary Protistology is here!

#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Evolution #Bacteria #Archaea #Symbiosis #Parasites #TreeOfLife

New #ISEPpapers #prerint! Drastic genome reduction driven by parasitic lifestyle: Two complete genomes of endosymbiotic bacteria possibly hosted by a dinoflagellate https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.03.631278v1.abstract

#bacteria #symbiosis #genomics #algae #protists

New #ISEPpapers! Characterization of Allobodo yubaba sp. nov. and Novijibodo darinka gen. et sp. nov., cultivable free‐living species of the phylogenetically enigmatic kinetoplastid taxon Allobodonidae https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11771631/ by Julia Packer et al.

"#Kinetoplastids are a large and diverse #protist group, spanning ecologically important free‐living forms to medically important #parasites."

#Protists #Microbes #NewSpecies

New #ISEPpapers! Phylogenomic resolution of marine to freshwater dinoflagellate transitions https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wraf031/8029727 by Mahara Mtawali et al.

#protists #algae #microbes #evolution

New #ISEPpapers! Diplonemid #protists possess exotic endomembrane machinery, impacting models of membrane trafficking in modern and ancient eukaryotes https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982225001952 by Kristína Záhonová et al., @DacksLabECB

"Heterotrophic protists possess machinery sporadically present in model organisms... LECA likely was a homogenous population with complex cell biology... General cell biological frameworks should integrate data from diverse eukaryotes"

#microbes #genomics #evolution #diplonemids

New #ISEPpapers! Hijacking and integration of algal #plastids and #mitochondria in a polar planktonic host: Ananya Kedige Rao et al. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00392-6

"Hosts steal active plastids, mitochondria, and nuclei from the microalga #Phaeocystis... Stolen plastids increase in volume, and their photosynthetic activity is boosted... Stolen mitochondria transform into a network in close association with plastids"

#Microbes #Algae #Protists #Symbiosis #Organelles #Plankton

New #ISEPpapers! Comparative Analysis of #Protist Communities in #Oilsands Tailings Using Amplicon Sequencing and #Metagenomics: Kristína Záhonová et al. https://enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1462-2920.70029

#Protists #Microbes #Biology

New #ISEPpapers! An expanded phylogenomic analysis of #Heterolobosea reveals the deep relationships, non-canonical genetic codes, and cryptic flagellate stages in the group https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790325000065

"The first broadly-sampled phylogenomic analyses of the phylum Heterolobosea... The first two cases of genetic code alterations in Heterolobosea... Evidence for cryptic #flagellates in #Acrasidae and loss of flagella in #Neovahlkampfia."

#Protists #Microbes #Genomics