FY2022 Annual Report

Evolution, Cell Biology, and Symbiosis Unit
Assistant Professor Filip Husnik

Top row (From left to right) : Vasyl Vaskivskyi, Dovile Barcyte, Arno Hagenbeek, Yong Heng Phua, Courtney Dunphy, Jingyeong Choi, Filip Husnik, Yuki Kanai
Bottom row : Dewi Langlet, Yumiko Masukagami, Maria Alves dos Santos, Vera Emelianenko, Natkamol Jeamsinkul, Anastasia Borodina, Olha Sur

Abstract

The Evolution, Cell Biology, and Symbiosis Unit studies the effects of symbiotic interactions on the evolution and cell biology of the involved symbiotic partners. We are especially interested in the role of symbioses in major evolutionary transitions such as the origin of the eukaryotic cell and its symbiotic organelles, mitochondria and plastids. However, we also study much younger symbioses such as those found in microbial eukaryotes and animals. Currently, our research projects mostly focus on symbiotic microorganisms and organelles found in single-celled eukaryotes (foraminifera, dinoflagellates, ciliates, and a few other lineages), plants (parasites and mycoheterotrophs), and animals (corals and insects). 

1. Staff​

  • Dr. Yumiko Masukagami, Research Technician
  • Dr. Dewi Langlet, Staff Scientist
  • Dr. Courtney M. Dunphy, JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Dr. Maria Eduarda Alves dos Santos, JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Dr. Jinyeong Choi, NRF Korea Postdoctral Research Fellow
  • Dr. Dovile Barcyte, JSPS Short-Term Fellow 
  • Kimberlie Ward, Technician (until December 2022)
  • Machiko Shiomi, Research Unit Administrator (until October 2022)
  • Sachie Matsuoka, Research Unit Administrator

Students and visitors: ​

  • Javier Tejeda Moja, Ph.D. Student 
  • Pradeep Palanichamy, Ph.D. Student 
  • Yong Heng Phua, Ph.D. Student 
  • Arno Hagenbeek, Ph.D. Student 
  • Vera Emelianenko, Rotation Student 
  • Maya Street, Rotation Student 
  • Cong Liu, Rotation Student 
  • Mariia Naumova, Research Intern 
  • Mylena Santander, Research Intern 
  • Matthew McCormack, Research Intern 
  • Anastasia Borodina, Research Intern 
  • Nicolas Schroder, Research Intern 
  • Vasyl Vaskivskyi, Research Intern 
  • Natkamol Jeamsinkul, Research Intern 
  • Nicole Suzuki, Research Intern 
  • Olha Sur, Research Intern 
  • Daniel Mendez Sanchez, Visiting Research Student 
  • Dr. Iines Salonen, Visiting Researcher (JAMSTEC)

 

2. Collaborations

2.1 Endosymbioses of diverse microbial eukaryotes

  • Researchers:
    • Dr. Hidetaka Nomaki, JAMSTEC 
    • Dr. Iines Salonen, JAMSTEC 
    • Prof. Kazuhiko Fujita, University of Ryukyus 
    • Assoc. Prof. Naoya Shinzato, University of Ryukyus 
    • Assist. Prof. Kevin Wakeman, Hokkaido University 
    • Emma George, University of British Columbia 
    • Dr. Vittorio Boscaro, University of British Columbia 
    • Prof. Patrick Keeling, University of British Columbia 
    • Prof. Marek Elias, University of Ostrava 
    • Prof. Ivan Cepicka, Charles University 

2.2 Biology of coral symbioses

  • Researchers:
    • Dr. Masaru Mizuyama, AIST 
    • Dr. Akira Iguchi, AIST 
    • Assoc. Prof. James D. Reimer, University of Ryukyus 
    • 'Ale'a Dudoit,  University of Hawaiʻi 
    • Assoc. Prof. Rob Toonen, University of Hawaiʻi 

2.3 Eukaryogenesis and evolution of mitochondria

  • Researchers:
    • Dr. Akinori Yabuki, JAMSTEC 

2.4 Cell biology and genomics of scale insect symbioses

  • Researchers: 
    • Dr. Hirotaka Tanaka, Ehime University 
    • Assist. Prof. Yu Matsuura, University of Ryukyus 
    • Dr. Tomas Pluskal, IOCHB Prague 

2.5 Genomics of parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plants 

  • Researchers: 
    • Assoc. Prof. Kenji Suetsugu, Kobe University 
    • Dr. Petra Svetlikova, OIST

 

3. Activities and Findings

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4. Publications

4.1 Journals

Husnik F. Organellogenesis: Host proteins control symbiont cell divisions, Current Biology 2023, 33(1): PR22-PR25. 

Syberg-Olsen MJ, Graber AI, Keeling PJ, McCutcheon JP, Husnik F: Pseudofinder: detection of pseudogenes in prokaryotic genomes [https://github.com/filip-husnik/pseudofinder], Molecular Biology and Evolution 2022, 39(7): msac153. 

Giannotti D, Boscaro V, Husnik F, Vannini C, Keeling P. At the threshold of symbiosis: the genome of obligately-endosymbiotic “Candidatus Nebulobacter yamunensis” is almost indistinguishable from that of a cultivable strain, Microbial Genomics 2022, 8(12): 000909. 

Boscaro B, Syberg-Olsen MJ, Irwin NAT, George E, Vannini C, Husnik F, Keeling PJ. All essential endosymbionts of the ciliate Euplotes are cyclically replaced, Current Biology 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.052. 

Tanaka H, Sasaki D, Choi J, Husnik F, Kamitani S. Two new species of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from Japan. Zootaxa 2022, 5168(3): 306-318. 

George EE, Tashyreva D, Kwong WK, Okamoto N, Horak A, Husnik F, Lukes J, Keeling PJ. Gene transfer agents in bacterial endosymbionts of microbial eukaryotes, Genome Biology and Evolution 2022, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac099. 

Phua YH, Husnik F, Lemer S, Wakeman KC: Phylogeny of benthic dinoflagellate Amphidinum (Dinophyceae) from the South Pacific Islands of Guam and Okinawa, with the description of A. pagoensis sp. nov. and A. uduigamensis sp. nov., Phycologia 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/00318884.2022.2033948. 

4.2 Books and other one-time publications

Nothing to report

4.3 Oral and Poster Presentations

Husnik, F. Organellogenesis: Provide, Divide, and Rule. ERATO Evolving Symbiosis Project International Seminar Series #21. March 15th, 2023, invited talk, online. 

Husnik, F. Two billion years of protist symbioses. International Society of Protistology (ISOP) student meeting, online March 3rd, 2023, invited talk, online. 

Husnik, F. Organellogenesis: Provide, Divide, and Rule. International Society of Evolutionary Protistology (ISEP) biennial meeting, January 19th, 2023, invited talk, online. 

Husnik, F. September 23rd, 2022, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, invited talk. 

Santos, M.E.A., Reimer, J.D, Mizuyama, M., Kise, H., Boo, W. H., Iguchi, A. Dudoi, A., Toonen, R., Kitahara, M.V., Husnik, F. Global diversity of coral symbionts. Tohoku University – OIST 3rd Joint Workshop on Biodiversity: From Genes and Species to Ecosystem Services and Resilience, Lightning talk, Tohoku, Japan, October 24-26 (2022). 

Husnik, F. Bacterial and archaeal symbioses with protists. EMBO Workshop on Comparative genomics of unicellular eukaryotes: Interactions and symbioses. September 12-17th 2022, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain, invited talk. 

Langlet D., Ruppli R., Phua YH., Fujita K., Husnik, F. Eukaryotic symbioses of large benthic foraminifera. Comparative genomics of unicellular eukaryotes: Interactions and symbioses. Poster, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain. September 12 – 17 (2022). 

Phua, YH., Tejeda JA, Roy MC, Langlet D., Bruno H., Lemer S., Wakeman KC., Husnik F. Phylogeny, Toxicity, and Symbioses of Benthic Dinoflagellates in the Pacific Islands. Comparative genomics of unicellular eukaryotes: Interactions and symbioses. Talk, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain. September 12 – 17 (2022). 

Phua, YH., Tejeda JA, Roy MC, Langlet D., Bruno H., Lemer S., Wakeman KC., Husnik F. Phylogeny, Toxicity, and Symbioses of Benthic Dinoflagellates in the Pacific Islands. Conferences Jacques Monod 4 - From parasites to plankton and back: comparative biology and ecology of apicomplexans and dinoflagellates, Talk, Roscoff, France, September 5-9 (2022). 

Santos, M.E.A., Reimer, J.D, Mizuyama, M., Kise, H., Boo, W. H., Iguchi, A. Dudoi, A., Toonen, R., Kitahara, M.V., Husnik, F. Global diversity of Symbiodiniaceae and Corallicolida associated with corals. Conferences Jacques Monod 4 - From parasites to plankton and back: comparative biology and ecology of apicomplexans and dinoflagellates, Poster, Roscoff, France, September 5-9 (2022). 

Langlet D., Ruppli R., Phua YH., Fujita K., Husnik, F. Eukaryotic symbioses of large benthic foraminifera. Conferences Jacques Monod 4 - From parasites to plankton and back: comparative biology and ecology of apicomplexans and dinoflagellates, Poster, Roscoff, France, September 5-9 (2022). 

Choi, J., Palanichamy, P., Masukagami, Y., Tejeda, J.A., Husnik, F. Symbiont replacements are the rule rather than the exception in scale insects. 10th Congress of the International Society of Symbiosis, Lyon, France, July 25-29 (2022). 

Choi, J., Palanichamy, P., Masukagami, Y., Tejeda, J.A., Husnik, F. Symbiont replacements are the rule rather than the exception in scale insects. Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-19 (2022).  

Santos, M.E.A., Reimer, J.D, Mizuyama, M., Kise, H., Boo, W. H., Iguchi, A. Dudoi, A., Toonen, R., Kitahara, M.V., Husnik, F. Global diversity of coral endosymbionts. OIST-Tohoku U. Joint Symposium, Poster, OIST, Okinawa, April 25-26 (2022). 

Langlet, D., Ruppli, R., Fujita, K., Husnik, F. Metagenomics reveals diverse host-specific photosymbionts in Okinawan large benthic foraminifera, OIST-Tohoku U. Joint Symposium, Poster, OIST, Okinawa, April 25-26 (2022). 

Masukagami, Y., Millar, O., Naumova, M., Husnik, F. Developing experimental methods for the tiniest tiny marine predators and their symbioses. OIST-Tohoku U. Joint Symposium, Poster, OIST, Okinawa, April 25-26 (2022). 

5. Intellectual Property Rights and Other Specific Achievements

External funding acquired by unit members:​​

  • NRF Korea Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Jinyeong Choi) 
  • JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Maria Eduarda Alves dos Santos, from September 2021) 
  • JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Courtney M. Dunphy, from December 2020) 
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (main PI Yumiko Masukagami; FYs 2021-2023) 
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B (F. Husnik co-PI; FYs 2021-2023) 
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (main PI F. Husnik; FYs 2021-2022) 

6. Meetings and Events

6.1 Seminar: Beach microbiology - from a single cell to the community

  • Date: October 14, 2022
  • Venue: OIST Campus Lab4 L4F01
  • Speaker: Dr. Noriko Okamoto (Hakai Institute)

 

7. Other

Outreach 

2023

  • Husnik, F. Musashi Academy (High School and Junior High School), Tokyo, online, February 7th, 2023.
  • Choi, J., Emelianenko, V. Lab tour for AMICUS international junior high school students, March 3rd, 2023.
  • Langlet D., Husnik F., Harigaya H., Hoshizuna – science-art exhibition, OIST, March 25-31, 2023.

2022

  • Husnik, F. Lecture at the Shima workshop for Okinawan high school students, OIST, August 18th, 2022.
  • Masukagami, Y. Lab tour at the Shima workshop for Okinawan high school students, OIST, August 18th, 2022.
  • Santos, MEA. Lab tours during the 2022 OIST Research Appreciation Month.