Alessandro Torri

Molecular biologist. Interests: Immunology, Biochemistry, Philosophy of Science and Evolutionary Biology.
Project manager AI4AMR Consortium.

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

I’m thrilled to announce our new work on the origin of the RNA interference is out in @PLOSBiology.
Great interdisciplinary collaboration between Saleh’s lab (@SalehLabParis), Thomas Pradeu (@pradeu) and Johannes Jaeger (@yoginho). 1/6
https://t.co/mh0yenM9LX

[Isha Jain @ishahjain]

A century ago, “vitamin hunters” discovered micronutrients. Today, vitamins are taken adhoc. We revisited this with modern genetics: CRISPR screens -> new NAXD disease mouse -> over 40× lifespan increase w/ vitamin B3. Huge credit to Ankur & Skyler! https://t.co/0cRmrng7ux
🧵👇

[The Transmitter @_TheTransmitter]

FlyBase, a Drosophila database, will lose a third of its team in early October because the Harvard grant that covered the employees’ salaries was canceled. Scientists warn that losing FlyBase could devastate fly research.

By @claulopezneuro
https://t.co/ceeGjiHpOR

[Rojas-Ríos LAB @patrojrio]

Read (and please cite) our first mini-review on PIWI proteins and piRNAs as key regulators of stem cell biology, published in @FrontiersIn Cell and Dev Biology.
https://t.co/N80jY9uHci

[Richard Sever @cshperspectives]

Big news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's a dedicated organization to oversee the servers] https://t.co/4siujZbXxF 1/n

[Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him) @TomHoltzPaleo]

https://t.co/Y3AfswqWqM

[Arc Institute @arcinstitute]

🧬Introducing a powerful, programmable new mechanism for genome design: DNA recombination with bridge RNAs.

As the first natural RNA-guided DNA recombinase, this system enables insertion, excision, or inversion of any two DNA sequences.

Out today in @Nature, led by Arc scientists @pdhsu, @mgdurrant, and @ntperry13 🧵

Read more: https://t.co/fmL8ZefOyw
Image by @visualscience

[Will Ratcliff @wc_ratcliff]

New preprint up, showing how snowflake yeast overcome one of the greatest limitations on the evolution of multicellularity: diffusion. They do so by leveraging emergent biophysics to rapidly flow media through their bodies, like a sea sponge. 1/28

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

@cdmacquarrie I can't find my old protocol and my memory is fading, but I remember that I tried several autoclaved infusion of tea, mate or plant leaves. They all worked well with the right dilution. I fed them with klebsiella pneumoniae. Not sure it will help you with the scaling, though.

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

@PSarkies If i remember correctly, in The Origin of Genome Architecture, he wrote that the expansion of TEs for organisms with small Ne is independent of molecular processes. But he wrote it 17 years ago, he may have changed his mind :)

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

@PSarkies Note that this is not in contrast with Lynch Drift Barrier theory: with small Ne natural selection is less effective and RNAi (along with other processes) inserts a bias toward genomic expansion (however, I don’t think Lynch would agree with my point). 2/2

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

@PSarkies I vote for Compensation (not strictly related with the presence of RdRp). 😀
Regarding the point 6.4, I think Nina Fedoroff nailed it: reducing TEs fitness cost, RNAi is the cause of TEs proliferation and not a system evolved to control them (and I think Lu&Clark support it). 1/2

[Erik Svensson @EvolOdonata]

As usual, an interesting episode of @Big_Biology, with @MartinlabUSF and Art Woods interviewing @philipcball about his new book "How Life Works" and discussing agency and purpose in evolution
https://t.co/aa6jgKN8dJ

A thread with a few thoughts 1/n

[Alex Palazzo @ribonucleicacid]

The latest manuscript from my lab is on bioRxiv. We find that peaks of GC-content, which appear at the start of most human protein-coding genes, are evolving in a mostly non-adaptive manner. A short🧵
https://t.co/1zAaEEUZpF

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

On how protein-protein interactions can emerge purely by chance.

[Niklas @Steube_N]

Check out our latest paper @KaHochberg @mpi_marburg in fruitful collaboration w/ Marcus & Thomas @TUBerlin featuring blind chance as the leading architect for building a novel protein-protein interaction out now @NatureEcoEvo: https://t.co/pW1BuOr31m. 1/11🧵

[Cassandra Koh @koh_cassandra]

The future is bright for mosquito viromics (I hope!). @SalehLabParis and I put our thoughts in a nutshell in this Opinion piece. Thanks to the wonderful editorial team at @TrendsParasitol for their support and to our reviewers for improving our article.

[Ottavia Romoli @OttaviaRomoli]

Very happy to share our new paper Limitations in Harnessing Oral RNA Interference as an Antiviral Strategy in Aedes aegypti https://t.co/np00EmlHd3

[Alessandro Torri @AleTorr_i]

There is no other Troy
For me to burn

[The Lambrechts Lab @lambrechtslab.bsky.social @LambrechtsLab]

Does #arbovirus #emergence in humans require #adaptation to domestic #mosquitoes? Check out my new opinion piece addressing this question: https://t.co/6e7dlZVyVh