The evolutionary mysteries of a rare parasitic plant https://www.oist.jp/news-center/news/2025/12/10/evolutionary-mysteries-rare-parasitic-plant

#Balanophora #evolution, metabolic retention in reduced #plastids, and the origins of obligate agamospermy: Petra Svetlikova et al. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.70761

"At the base of mossy trees, deep in the mountains of #Taiwan and mainland #Japan or in the subtropical forests of #Okinawa, grows what most might mistake for a mushroom – a very unique plant with some of the smallest flowers and seeds in the world"

10-Dec-2025
The evolutionary mysteries of a rare #parasitic plant
New study maps the strange #genomes of Asia-Pacific Balanophora species, giving new insights into the #evolution of parasitic #plants and an unconventional role of #plastids.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109271

#science #ecology

We❤️#reviews! And if you're #MORF-curious, we've got the #PlantScience paper for you!
Li et al. explore these essential regulators that affect the #editing efficiency of most editing sites in #plastids and #mitochondria!
https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.13967
@wileyplantsci
#PlantScience #JIPB #botany

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! Reduced plastid #genomes of colorless facultative pathogens Prototheca (#Chlorophyta) & retained for membrane transport genes https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-024-02089-4

"relatives of model #algae #Chlorella include two secondarily non-photosynthetic genera – #Helicosporidium (gut #parasites of #insects) and #Prototheca, which are predominantly free-living opportunistic #pathogens of diverse vertebrates, including humans"

#Protists #Microbes #Plastids #Genomics #Evolution #Biology

A single cell's siesta: How non-moving #microbes manage to avoid bright light https://phys.org/news/2024-11-cell-siesta-celled-bright.html

Light-regulated #chloroplast morphodynamics in a single-celled dinoflagellate https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2411725121

"The structure that allows the chloroplast to make necessary changes was found to be a network of thin filaments. Together, these filaments form a material that can easily contract and expand in all directions."

#Protists #Algae #Organelles #Plastids #Dinoflagellates #Biology #CellBiology

#Plastids can be engineered to enhance #photosynthetic & metabolic traits in #plants. This study identifies a #chloroplast-targeting peptide that is highly efficient in delivering biologically functional proteins to plastids in plants #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3XFeNDk

New #ISEPpapers! Complex Endosymbioses I: From Primary to Complex #Plastids, Serial Endosymbiotic Events https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-3726-5_2 #microbes #protists #algae #symbiosis

New #ISEPpapers! New #plastids, old #proteins: repeated endosymbiotic acquisitions in kareniacean dinoflagellates https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44319-024-00103-y #microbes #protists #algae #symbiosis

New #ISEPpapers! New #plastids, old #proteins: repeated endosymbiotic acquisitions in kareniacean #dinoflagellates. By Anna MG Novák Vanclová et al. https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44319-024-00103-y

"extant kareniacean plastids are in fact not all of the same origin, as two of the studied species possess plastids from different haptophyte orders than the rest."

#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Symbiosis #Evolution

New #ISEPpapers #preprint! #Nucleomorph #phylogenomics suggests a deep and ancient origin of cryptophyte #plastids within #Rhodophyta: @animalculum et al. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.10.584144v2

"Our analyses place cryptophyte #nucleomorphs as sister to the #extremophilic #Cyanidiophytina. This conflicts with published analyses based on plastidial genes that placed red complex #plastids closer to the mesophilic #Rhodophytina"

#Protists #Algae #Evolution #Genomics #Phylogeny #Photosynthesis #Microbes

#Polyploidy and long-distance dispersal jointly shape global #species #diversification in #yellowcress, finds study.

#Rorippa #plastids #phylogenomics

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-polyploidy-long-distance-dispersal-jointly-global.html

The #symbioses that gave rise to primary #organelles are key events in the origin of #Eukaryotes. @PierreSGarcia @FredBarras & @SGribaldo use markers from 2 conserved machineries for [Fe-S] cluster biogenesis to support an early emergence of #mitochondria & #plastids within #Alphaproteobacteria & #Cyanobacteria #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3FNP5E5

The 548,445bp long mitochondrial genome and its multiple repeat-mediated alternative configurations in diploid oat Avena longiglumis from Qing Liu et al #SCBG South China Botanical Garden #CAS @BMC Plant Biology https://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-023-04217-8 #botany #oats #mitochondria #genomics #plastids

Another #introduction for the latest wave!

I am a professor at Arizona State University. My lab studies host-beneficial #microbial infections in #eukaryotic cells. We are interested in how these infections are similar to and different from #pathogens, #mitochondria, and #plastids. We use #EvolutionaryBiology, #CellBiology, #genomics, #biochemistry, and #imaging as tools, and mostly study #bacteria that infect #insect cells but also work in other cool systems such as #plants and #lichens.