Our takeaway: if we want to understand forest soils, we need to look beyond fungi. Metatranscriptomics reveal important players that PCR-based approaches miss.
Really happy to share our new article: Protistan Predators Outshine Fungi in Forest Soil Activity. #ProtistsOnSky #MicrobialEcology #Soil
Protists accounted for ~20.1% of reads, while fungi accounted for merely ~9.1%. Among eukaryotes, Arcellinida stood out as the most abundant order, not fungi! Protists are not just bystanders, they are important predators that may strongly shape forest soil food webs! (pic:Arcellinida feeding hypha)
We all know #fungi are the dominant microbial #eukaryotes in #forest #soils… or are they really?
In our new paper, we revisited 51 forest metatranscriptomes from 4 European and North American forest regions - and found that protistan predators outshine fungi in activity!
It even has some Medusa thing going on :D
If you rotate this image by 90°, it resembles a menacing smiley face in Mesodinium. Scary!
I agree with what Yash said. First Bodonids, then Cercomonads, last one Bodonis again :)
You know what they say: There are plenty of Syracosphaera pulchra in the sea. One day you’ll find one that stays and settles for you :)
Following up on my last post, here is a glimpse into the culture room, where our protists are now growing and awaiting exploration. Excited to see everything fully operational! As you see, there is still a lot of shelf space to fill - one step at a time. Now back to proposal writing 🫡 #protists
@zlatogursky.bsky.social is correct, it looks weird that the pseudopodia are one-sided, but he also said "unless [...] Cochliopodium". I looked at it again, and at the end of the video it retracts pseudopodia and looks like a normal Cochliopodium. No doubts here from my side. Vasiliy is correct.
Also true!
Sorry to disagree, haha, but I think this is a swimming stage of an Amoebozoa. The pseudopodia are too thick to my liking especially at the base :D
The molecular lab, culture and microscopy rooms, and bioinformatic server, are now fully set up! I’m very grateful for my new position 🎉 We’re already generating results and insights in Koblenz, and I’m looking forward to the years ahead! Now, I "just" need to get the proposals funded 🫡 #protists
Hi both! Thanks Gautam for the offer - I am super interested and now have the funds. I will contact you soon via email. Comment on Omayas message: There are other groups of organisms I am now also working on, some without a shell, which should be easier.
Hi Gautam! Would you let me know when the next workshops are?
If you read anything today, read this. Stunning images. Love it!
I think the January picture should be of interest to you :D I have never seen a better image of Paulinella!
Thank you so much for sharing! :)
Our new workgroup, and one of its latest papers on #ProtistsOnSky and #AntimicrobialResistance - has been featured in the news!
www.ardmediathek.de/embed/Y3JpZD...
You should and can be proud! Well done!
W - O - W! I am super impressed. Cool thing! I dreamt of doing similar work (but never did). Congratulations, super cool. Will read it in detail in the next couple days, but it already looks stunning - love the figures!
Wow! This is genuinely the coolest paper I have seen in a long while. Love it, love the videos, love the methodology, love the extrapolation to the other suctoria. I am not even a ciliate-guy but this is truly awesome. Thanks!
"This will do" 😂
In case anyone’s wondering how things are going in my new position at the University of Koblenz - I think this picture makes it pretty clear we’re in great spirits! 😄 Julia and I are out sampling #cyanobacteria and #protistsonsky on local lakes :)
Thank you so much! I was always interested to see what heterotrophic protists actually do to the system. Yes, they eat, but how does this affect crucial background chemistry. Which compounds do they digest and generate? I am happy this paper contributes to this question :)
Yeah Labyrinthula or somehow this direction is a good guess!
LM Pictures are also very nice :)
Super cool!
Keep us updated :D
