Our latest discovery of “lowest recorded temperature for eukaryotic cell motility” going all the way down to -15deg C. Come for the crazy cold Arctic & stay for diatoms. Will write longer thread - but enjoy video below of diatoms gliding on frozen ice surfaces. Congrats @zqing.bsky.social & team. - ThreadSky

prakashlab.bsky.social • 98 days ago

Our latest discovery of “lowest recorded temperature for eukaryotic cell motility” going all the way down to -15deg C. Come for the crazy cold Arctic & stay for diatoms. Will write longer thread - but enjoy video below of diatoms gliding on frozen ice surfaces. Congrats @zqing.bsky.social & team.

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thibautbrunet.bsky.social•98 days ago

Very cool finding! (I assume you always get the same joke…)

prakashlab.bsky.social•98 days ago

No - this is a good one 😂

prakashlab.bsky.social•98 days ago

As we loose these ecosystems (fastest warming on the planet with ice cover disappearing), we also loose remarkable biological innovations. As I often say “Every species is (a million) an idea”

florentwaltz.bsky.social•98 days ago

Those little Navicula are moving so much at 0°C, super intriguing ! (refrained myself to use "cool" 🥶)

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Indeed. And they continue to surf the ice even at -15. Lots coming soon on this front - will write a longer thread when I have a quiet moment.

laxvid.bsky.social•97 days ago

So cool!

bangulo.bsky.social•97 days ago

Super cool! Their movement is anything but glacial 🧊

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

What’s exciting is we also have them in culture in the lab so we can dive in.. Also, since the earth has frozen multiple times (snowball earth), this might have been a crucial adaptation. Will tell you a lot more when we meet next.

bangulo.bsky.social•97 days ago

Omg I’m so excited to hear more, especially with your patented use of available materials to demonstrate concepts, I’ll be sure to have some snow or icees on hand for that purpose haha

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Diatoms on the rock - 🧊 - drinks on me.

johntngo.bsky.social•97 days ago

Would love to know the sequence of its transcription initiation sites.... What dimension? Compositions? Also, what is the speed of ribosomes and vesicle formation and trafficking? Lots of interesting questions!

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

We are just putting the resources together. We have some vesicle data already but a lot on our hand.

shahlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Do you think these diatoms are internally at -15 or might they be able to maintain a higher internal temperature at micro/nanoscopic scales?

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Local temperature inside mitochondria is an involved issue - but the cells indeed are at -15C.

florentwaltz.bsky.social•97 days ago

oh that is even more intriguing ... This recent paper (https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01087-0?rss=yes ) says mitochondria should be more active under cold temperature (at least in mammals). But there's probably a low threshold where activity drops. Maybe your Navicula guys have a way to overcome this.

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Indeed - all of them have single maxima of optimality. We have talked about the ideal temperature - but adaptability comes from being able to handle the extremes. So many worm holes 🕳️ have opened up.

florentwaltz.bsky.social•97 days ago

Too bad they are so big, otherwise I would have had a look with tomography 🔬!
I whish you have somebody digging on the mitochondria part. Papers claimed (a bit controversial https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003992) that mitochondria are super hot, wondering what's happening here

prakashlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

Yes - we are indeed looking at the mitochondria. Will reach out to chat if we get organelle isolations working. This paper is the tip of the “iceberg” 😂 for us - a lot more coming soon.

shahlab.bsky.social•97 days ago

So cool!

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