Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes

Microbial eukaryotes remain understudied despite their critical ecological importance, with the exception of a few established models. They are often small, difficult to culture, and resistant to standard labeling and imaging techniques. Here, we use ultrastructure expansion microscopy (U-ExM) to carry out high-resolution volumetric imaging of over 200 cultured planktonic eukaryotes across major lineages. By combining U-ExM with pan- and specific immuno-labeling, we reveal microtubule and centrin-containing elements and assign molecular identities to enigmatic cytoskeletal structures observed previously only by electron microscopy. This comprehensive resource provides a basis for understanding cytoskeletal diversity, phenotypic plasticity, and evolutionary dynamics. Moreover, our approach extends to mixed environmental samples, paving the way for environmental cell biology at ultrastructural resolution-a crucial step toward understanding and protecting ecosystems in the face of accelerating biodiversity loss.

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Publication Details

Journal
Cell
Published
2025-10-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.09.027
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Protist diversity and phylogeny
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.22
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article

Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes

Jonas Hellgoth, Omaya Dudin, Sergio Seoane, G.K. Dey et al.
5 citations
Cell
Protist diversity and phylogeny
3.22
article

Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes

Jonas Hellgoth, Omaya Dudin, Sergio Seoane, G.K. Dey, Ian Probert, Felix Mikus, Virginie Hamel, Estibalitz Txurruka, Jone Bilbao, Paul Guichard, Marine Olivetta, Yana Eglit, Nikolaus Leisch, Susanne Borgers, Margarida Araújo, Hiral Shah, Yannick Schwab, Armando Rubio-Ramos, Filip Husník, Chandni Bhickta, Paulina Cherek, Clémence Saint-Donat
article en
5 citations

Abstract

Microbial eukaryotes remain understudied despite their critical ecological importance, with the exception of a few established models. They are often small, difficult to culture, and resistant to standard labeling and imaging techniques. Here, we use ultrastructure expansion microscopy (U-ExM) to carry out high-resolution volumetric imaging of over 200 cultured planktonic eukaryotes across major lineages. By combining U-ExM with pan- and specific immuno-labeling, we reveal microtubule and centrin-containing elements and assign molecular identities to enigmatic cytoskeletal structures observed previously only by electron microscopy. This comprehensive resource provides a basis for understanding cytoskeletal diversity, phenotypic plasticity, and evolutionary dynamics. Moreover, our approach extends to mixed environmental samples, paving the way for environmental cell biology at ultrastructural resolution-a crucial step toward understanding and protecting ecosystems in the face of accelerating biodiversity loss.

CellVol. 188(26)
University of Geneva (CH), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (JP), Station Biologique de Roscoff (FR), Sorbonne Université (FR), European Molecular Biology Laboratory (DE), European Molecular Biology Laboratory (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Protist diversity and phylogeny
3.22
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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