RE Monson

Senior Tutor of Churchill College, Biochemist and Microbiologist at Cambridge University, obsessive follower of food trucks. Nothing official is posted here!

[Veera Rajagopal  @doctorveera]

A mind-blowing paper has come out today in @Nature

In 2016, JC Venter Institute scientists trimmed a bacterial genome to its barest minimum required for life to synthesize what they called a "minimal genome" (https://t.co/Rk8oZJ0bUj).

Today, a group of scientists from Indiana University reports how that minimal genome evolved over 2000 generations in comparison to the non-minimal genome.

The authors found that even when you reduce a bacterial genome to its absolute minimum where every nucleotide matters, the genome undergoes mutational events generation after generation as much as the non-minimal genome. One simply cannot stop the evolution.

Just over 300 days of evolution (equivalent to 40,000 years in humans) the minimal cell has gained everything it lacked in fitness on day one in comparison to the non-minimal cell.

When comparing the evolved traits between the minimal and non-minimal cells, the scientists found something striking. The evolutionary process increased the cell size of non-minimal cells but not that of the minimal cell. But that is not the striking part.

The scientists were able to identify the key mutation that resulted in cell size evolution. And it turned out that the mutation that helped the non-minimal cells to grow bigger is the same that helped the minimal cells to stay smaller. Growing bigger had a survival advantage for non-minimal cells and not growing bigger had a survival advantage for minimal cells. So, the mutation had a context-dependent effect. This just demonstrates that the evolutionary effects on traits have no absolute direction. All that matter is what is beneficial for the organism's survival.

The conclusion of the paper is metaphorically a quote from the Jurassic Park movie:

“Listen, if there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us is that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories, and it crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but . . . life finds a way". (https://t.co/UlxRlb86CT)

https://t.co/zA9OAqSoAu

[Churchill College @ChurchillCol]

We are two thirds of the way through Giving Day! Have you watched the Giving Day film to hear just how much your support means to our students? With 12 hours to go, your gift could complete a Giving Day challenge and unlock match funding. Help to spread the word using #ChuGives

[Hallez Lab @HallezLab]

Happy that the first work done by @aaquinteroyanes during his postdoc in the lab is now out in @PLOSGenetics
https://t.co/L1L9CS67ci

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

An absolute pleasure to judge these talks - such an inspiring and creative group of students.

[Churchill College @ChurchillCol]

Congratulations to everyone who took on the tough task of summing up their PhD or Masters research in 2 minutes in @ChurchillCol MCR’s fantastic Super Short Summaries event! 👏

[Tawfique Hasan @TawfiqueHasan]

Check out the great thread by @ChurchillCol PhD researcher Sophia on #aptamer based OECTs for miniaturisation of #sensors in @ScienceAdvances paper. With Plaxco Lab in UCSB, and @GeorgeMalliaras, @scotttomkeene, @han_sanggil from @BioelectronicsL @cambridge_ee @Cambridge_Eng

[Webb Lab @alexwebblab]

I work in one of the largest and friendliest plant science departments in the world @plantsci. Come join us. We have an opening for an Associate Professor in Plant Biochemistry and related areas. Let's change the world together. https://t.co/zzi6ZdMOPM

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

@OKaneCahir @ChurchillCol @mairikilkenny Absolutely thrilled to welcome @mairikilkenny to @ChurchillCol

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

@ChurchillCol Who I have also just realised is on twitter - @ArthurRadley13 !!!

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

Great to see such interesting work from @ChurchillCol student Arthur Radley!

[Sara-Jane Dunn @EssJayD]

Proud to see the work of an excellent PhD student, Arthur Radley, now published in @stemcellreports - a cool method to do feature selection in single cell data mitigating noise https://t.co/6o6eZdEhaP Work together with Austin Smith, Elena Corujo-Simon and Jenny Nichols

[Cambridge Development & Alumni Relations @YoursCambridge]

Alumnus Greg Lock is passionate about ensuring that the same life-changing opportunities he experienced at #Cambridge are available to others.

The Greg and Rosie Lock Cambridge Bursaries will enable more #Welsh state school pupils to study #STEM subjects @ChurchillCol.

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

@ozgegizlenci Congrats Ozge!!!!

[Tim Blower @BlowerLab]

New antibiotics! 💊🧫🤓 Lovely work out of the Salmond lab from @RMonson_ @miguel_matilla @Allie_Mei (and others!).
https://t.co/rEUwEFXnh7

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

Though it was ten years in the making, it has been an amazing story that brought together groups (Mata & Salmond) from @CamBiochem and @ChemCambridge. A great and exciting project involving lots of great people (many not on Twitter!).

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

Really excited to share a paper from a decade of work between many different researchers but driven by people from George Salmond's lab (sadly he's not on twitter!).

https://t.co/YkAXz5SObn

@miguel_matilla drove the early stages and I picked up when he left.

[RE Monson @RMonson_]

Finian Leeper and Annabel Murphy from @ChemCambridge made strides purifying the compound so that we could show it killed fungal cells (helped here by @caiaDSduncan). We also found that it production was regulated in response to acidic pH, like those found in potatoes.

[Miguel_Matilla @miguel_matilla]

We describe in @mbiojournal the discovery of a new #antibiotic active against human and plant #pathogens. Its production is regulated by two #quorum sensing systems and enhanced under conditions that mimic the plant host. @QSPapers @BlastMeetings
https://t.co/t9rnOiSZPs

[Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci]

The Department is seeking a scientist of outstanding calibre to the Professorship of Plant Ecology 🎓 Our new colleague will provide leadership in plant ecology research and teaching in Cambridge, as well as nationally and internationally 🌿
Job details 👉https://t.co/I0vHbf3NyU