Lukas VF Novak
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animalculum.bsky.social
Lukas VF Novak
@animalculum.bsky.social
3K followers 10K following 52 posts
Postdoc in evolution of microbes. I study protists losing mitochondria, algae stealing plastids, and bacteria living on nothing but sulfur. He/Him

#ScienceConsulting for your creative project: https://lukasnovak.eu/science-consulting/
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animalculum.bsky.social
Urban streams: What are #diatoms trying to tell us? isdr.org/urban-stream... @youngisdr.bsky.social

Seasonal effects of #urbanization on diatom communities www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#Protists #ProtistsOnSky #Algae #Ecology #Microbes
microscopic pictures of two species of single-celled algae, comparing normal and deformed shapes
September 2, 2026 at 2:06 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
Swiss lake #symbiosis reveals unexpected role in nitrogen cycling phys.org/news/2026-06...

Redox gradients define the ecological niche of #ciliates with denitrifying #endosymbionts in anoxic lake waters academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

#Protists #Microbes #Bacteria #ProtistsOnSky
fluorescence microscopy pictures of microbial cells
August 23, 2026 at 11:48 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Predator of #RedTide plankton reveals unusual bioluminescence today.ucsd.edu/story/ruthle...

#Bioluminescence of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Polykrikos kofoidii onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#Protists #Algae #Plankton #Dinoflagellates #ProtistsOnSky
fluorescence microscopy picture of a microbial cell
August 21, 2026 at 8:30 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Two new papers from our team! Both about #DeepSea #Bacteria living on #sulfur. By @kalainxtremmicrob.bsky.social

#Genomics of Desulfobulbaceae B35: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#Proteomics of Dissulfuribacter thermophilus: enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
collage of figures from the two linked papers
August 20, 2026 at 6:43 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
No brain required: This is how the single-celled Stentor learns phys.org/news/2026-04...

Molecular pathways for learning in the single-cell #Stentor coeruleus www.cell.com/current-biol...

#Protists #Microbes #Ciliates #ProtistsOnSky
schematic representation of a molecular regulatory network inside a microbial cell
August 19, 2026 at 12:25 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
Microscopic life on volcanic ice giants: #diatoms of the Ecuadorian glaciers isdr.org/microscopic-... @youngisdr.bsky.social

#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Ecuador #Glaciers
electron microscopy picture of a boat-shaped microbial cell
August 17, 2026 at 8:53 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
New paper from my 2nd PostDoc is now published in The ISME Journal by @isme-microbes.bsky.social!

#Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats & has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

#Bacteria #Microbes #Evolution #DeepSea
a figure from the linked paper which shows A) a world map and B) a schematic representation of various natural and artificial habitats, both annotated with information about which sulfur disproportionating bacteria have been found in the specific regions and environments
March 2, 2026 at 1:12 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
How a parasite gave up sex to find more hosts—and why its victory won't last phys.org/news/2026-01...

Host range expansion of asexual parasite can be explained by loss of adaptions in Muller’s Ratchet www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Protists #Microbes #Parasites #Giardia #Evolution
electron microscopy picture of a microbial cell with multiple flagella
January 8, 2026 at 7:55 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Shelled #amoeba crawls like an octopus, shifting tactics on the go phys.org/news/2026-01...

Statistical and mechanical analysis of multi-pseudopodial locomotion in a testate amoeba, #Arcella sp. www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/pjab...

#Protists #Microbes #Amoebae
microscopic photos of a moving amoeba in a hemispherical shell
January 7, 2026 at 7:26 AM
Reposted by Lukas VF Novak
mariezelena.bsky.social
Our collaboration with @mbonhivers.bsky.social is now out in @plosbiology.org! 🎉Using U-ExM, we mapped the formation of the flagellar pocket collar in T. brucei. Huge thanks to everyone involved — one step closer to #PhDone!

#ExM #oneringtorulethemall #Bilbo1 #trypanosoma #protistsonsky
plosbiology.org PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Oct 10
The flagellar pocket collar (FPC) is a cytoskeletal structure essential for nutrient uptake & immune evasion in #Trypanosome. @mbonhivers.bsky.social &co use U-ExM to provide novel insights into FPC biogenesis, and reveal 2 unknown cytoskeletal structures @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4n3bWi6
A Trypanosoma brucei cell visualized by confocal microscopy after ultrastructure expansion. The cell was immunolabelled for the BILBO1 protein (yellow) and stained with fluorescent NHS-ester (grey). The flagellar pocket is highlighted in pink. Credit: Marie Zelená
October 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
Understanding the relationship between #foraminifera & their #symbionts can help corals phys.org/news/2025-09...

Specific host - #algae relationship, yet flexible bacterial #microbiome, in diatom-bearing foraminifera: Elsa Girard et al. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#Protists #Microbes #Diatoms
microscopic pictures of a microbe with a spiralling shell full of tiny brown cells of symbiotic algae
November 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
#Arctic #algae aren't immobile or entombed. They're not just surviving either—they're gliding into record books phys.org/news/2025-09...

Ice gliding #diatoms establish record-low temperature limits for motility in a eukaryotic cell www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#protists #microbes #extremophiles
schematic pictures and microscopic photos showing various aspects of movement in single-celled algae
September 13, 2025 at 10:51 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Partnership between #algae & #bacteria reveals secrets of evolution phys.org/news/2025-08...

Stepwise genome #evolution from a facultative symbiont to an endosymbiont in the N2-fixing symbioses www.cell.com/current-biol... #protists by @vesnagrujcic.bsky.social, @mehrshmali.bsky.social, et al.
photo of a string of algal cells and the same string under fluorescence microscopy showing glowing blobs inside each cell
August 31, 2025 at 11:32 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Tiny marine #protist shells reveal clues for how ice ages start phys.org/news/2025-08...

Progressively greater biological #CarbonStorage in the deep Atlantic during glacial inception: Monica Garity et al. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#Protists #Microbes #Foraminifera #Climate #DeepSea #IceAge
photo of a white microscopic snail-like shell
August 28, 2025 at 3:20 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
How #diatoms thrive in—and light up—the Southern Ocean phys.org/news/2025-08... agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... #protists #algae

"An area of the #SouthernOcean that's long confused satellites by reflecting large amounts of turquoise light appears to be full of silica-rich diatoms"
photo of a large iceberg in a stormy polar ocean
August 5, 2025 at 8:20 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
New genome announcement from our team:

Draft genome sequence of Desulfobacterota strain M19, a mesophilic sulfur-disproportionating bacterium from a #DeepSea hydrothermal vent on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

#Bacteria #Microbes #Genomics #HydrothermalVents #Extremophiles
Underwater photo of a deep sea hydrothermal vent - a formation of rugged rocky spikes in dark water. Photo by Ifremer.
June 10, 2025 at 12:01 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
How an organelle evolves in #symbiosis with a cell: Intermediate stage sheds light on the assimilation process phys.org/news/2025-03...

A nucleus-encoded dynamin-like protein controls endosymbiont division in the trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#Protists #Microbes
fluorescence microscopy pictures of microbial cells
May 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
A Most Useful Light Switch schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2... paper from 2023: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Diatoms grow well in iron-limited waters. They switch their energy-generating photoreceptor to a proton-translocating #rhodopsin.

#Protists #Algae via @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
electron-microscopy picture of rod-shaped single-celled algae
May 22, 2025 at 9:03 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Algae May Speed Melting of Antarctic Ice eos.org/articles/new... paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"The newly discovered algal communities may represent one of the largest photosynthetic habitats in #Antarctica."

#Protists #Algae #SnowAlgae #Microbes #ClimateChange
A microscopic image of various single-celled algae. Some are round and bright red, others are elongated and much darker.
May 17, 2025 at 11:46 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
After 7,000 years without light and oxygen in #BalticSea mud, researchers bring prehistoric #algae back to life phys.org/news/2025-03...

Resurrection of a #diatom after 7000 years from anoxic Baltic Sea sediment: Sarah Bolius et al. academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

#Protists #Diatoms #Microbes
microscopic picture of chains of single-celled algae
April 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
Newly discovered algae species offers insights into plant evolution and UV protection phys.org/news/2025-02...

New Strains of the Deep Branching Streptophyte Streptofilum... Description of S. arcticum sp. nov enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#Protists #Algae #NewSpecies
microscopic photos of green single-celled algae
April 23, 2025 at 11:49 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Giving up on #photosynthesis: How a borrowed bacterial gene allows marine #diatoms to live on a #seaweed diet phys.org/news/2025-04...

Diatom heterotrophy on brown algal polysaccharides emerged through HGT, gene duplication, & neofunctionalization journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

#algae #protists
Summary of genetic events discussed in the article
April 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
Ancient marine organism's dual-layer structure reveals both past and present ocean environments phys.org/news/2025-02...

A cosmopolitan calcifying benthic #foraminifera in agglutinated disguise as a geochemical recorder of coastal environments www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

#Protists #Microbes
photo of an irregularly shaped microscopic organism
March 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
animalculum.bsky.social
Symbiotic #bacteria ride along with single-celled #protists in ocean's upper layer phys.org/news/2025-02...

#Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
graphical abstracty of the study
February 13, 2025 at 6:43 AM
animalculum.bsky.social
How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light? www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-lif... @quantamagazine.bsky.social

Photosynthetic light requirement near the theoretical minimum detected in Arctic microalgae: Clara Hoppe et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Protists #Algae #Diatoms #Arctic
Simple illustration of algae of various geometric shapes under ice at night. One of them is shining bright green and white.
January 31, 2025 at 11:10 AM