Alexander Chase (@microbomics) header
Alexander Chase (@microbomics) profile picture

Alexander Chase

@microbomics

Asst Professor @SMU Earth Sciences 🧬🌋 🌊 English Bulldog Enthusiast 🐶🐾 💙 UCLA bruin for life 🐻 💛

 Dallas, TX
microbomics.com/
Joined June 2013
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Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)Photo by Alexander Chase (@microbomics)
Alexander Chase retweeted
mBio (@mbiojournal) profile picture
mBio@mbiojournalSep 8
Same strain, different worlds: can lab evolution predict nature? Coding mutations were highly parallel in the lab, while field evolution repeatedly targeted intergenic regions. doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01700-2… @microbomics
Image from mBio (@mbiojournal)
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I’m excited to launch Microbial Planet, a new editorial-style section of the Chase Lab website for short research dispatches on microbial ecology, evolution, environmental genomics, biogeochemistry, and microbial chemical ecology.
🤖 Made with AI
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The launch also re-releases two earlier essays: - Reconstructing Microbial Life from Metagenomes: MAGs as reconstructed genomic hyp, not direct observations of organisms - BGCs and the Evolution of Microbial Chemistry: links between molecular innovation, ecology, and evolution
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I’ll use Microbial Planet for monthly or quarterly dispatches, plus a “From the Literature” section highlighting recent papers shaping how I think about microbial ecology and evolution. Now live on the Chase Lab website: microbomics.com/mp-dispatche…
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) profile picture
Cameron Thrash@jcamthrashMar 18
Density-dependent feedback and higher-order interactions enable coexistence in phage-bacteria community dynamics academic.oup.com/ismej/advan…
Density-dependent feedback and higher-order interactions enable coexistence in phage–bacteria...

Density-dependent feedback and higher-order interactions enable coexistence in phage–bacteria...

Abstract. Diverse phage–bacteria communities coexist at high densities in environmental, agricultural, and human-associated microbiomes. Phage–bacteria coe

academic.oup.com
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#JobPost: Scripps Oceanography is hiring a tenure-track faculty position! Are you an expert in the fields of natural products chemistry, chemical ecology, pharmacology, biotechnology, and chemical and synthetic biology? Apply here: apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF044…
"Join Our Team" text overlayed on a photo of the sun setting at Scripps Pier

ALT "Join Our Team" text overlayed on a photo of the sun setting at Scripps Pier

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Alexander Chase retweeted
Jason Sheltzer (@JSheltzer) profile picture
Jason Sheltzer@JSheltzerFeb 13
AI is cool and all... but a new paper in @ScienceMagazine kind of figured out the origin of life? The paper reports the discovery of a simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself.
Image from Jason Sheltzer (@JSheltzer)
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Huiluo Cao 曹慧荦 (@hlcao) profile picture
Huiluo Cao 曹慧荦@hlcaoFeb 3
Genome contamination may lead to an overestimation of horizontal gene transfer inferences | Nature Communications nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
Genome contamination may lead to an overestimation of horizontal gene transfer inferences

Genome contamination may lead to an overestimation of horizontal gene transfer inferences

Nature Communications - Genome contamination may lead to an overestimation of horizontal gene transfer inferences

nature.com
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Francisco R-Valera (@frovalera) profile picture
Francisco R-Valera@frovaleraJan 30
On the biological meaning of the population pangenome: Trends in Microbiology cell.com/trends/microbiology…
On the biological meaning of the population pangenome

On the biological meaning of the population pangenome

The prokaryotic pangenome, the full complement of genes within a species, is strikingly large. To understand how ecological forces shape this diversity, it is useful to examine the variable gene pool...

cell.com
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Alexandre Soares Rosado (@Rosado_AS) profile picture
Alexandre Soares Rosado@Rosado_ASJan 30
How Microbial Fossils Illuminate Life’s Origins asm.org/articles/2026/januar…
How Microbial Fossils Illuminate Life’s Origins

How Microbial Fossils Illuminate Life’s Origins

Microbial fossils offer clues about how early prokaryotes shaped Earth’s chemistry, offering rare glimpses into the origins of life and the planet’s first ecosystems over 3.5 billion years ago.

asm.org
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Be sure to check out our department AGUTV next week #AGU25 if you’re in NOLA! youtu.be/rkKNhxHh4fY?si=VfD7…
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) profile picture
Cameron Thrash@jcamthrash8 Dec 2025
Impact of acetate on CO2 fixation pathways in thermophilic and hydrogenotrophic bacteria academic.oup.com/ismecommun/…
Impact of acetate on CO2 fixation pathways in thermophilic and hydrogenotrophic bacteria

Impact of acetate on CO2 fixation pathways in thermophilic and hydrogenotrophic bacteria

Abstract. The bacterial-type Wood–Ljungdahl (WL) pathway and reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle are the dominant chemolithotrophic CO2 fixation path

academic.oup.com
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Jay Hartzell (@JCHartzell) profile picture
Jay Hartzell
@JCHartzell8 Dec 2025
A landmark moment for @SMU! The O’Donnell Foundation’s extraordinary commitment—one of the largest in SMU history—will launch a pioneering energy program and expand honors opportunities for top scholars. A transformational investment in Dallas - and in our future! Read more: smu.edu/news/latest/landmark…
Image from Jay Hartzell (@JCHartzell)
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🌊🌊🌊 Our PNAS paper on octocoral diterpene evolution is out - huge interdisciplinary effort led by @BurkhardtImmo @BradMoore_SIO and others @Scripps_Ocean - the first pub from our @oceanexplorer grant on the biopharmaceutical potential of the CCE 🪸🤿🧬 pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pn…
Diversification of diterpene biosynthesis occurred early in octocoral evolution | PNAS

Diversification of diterpene biosynthesis occurred early in octocoral evolution | PNAS

Octocorals are the major source of marine-derived bioactive terpenoids. However, the vast majority of explored chemistry is known from shallow-wate...

pnas.org
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Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation | Nature nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation

Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation

Nature - Genomic and biochemical analyses of prokaryotic sulfur metabolism identify diverse microorganisms with the capacity to oxidize sulfide using iron(iii).

nature.com
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) profile picture
Cameron Thrash@jcamthrash14 Aug 2025
Investigating bacterial evolution in nature with metagenomics sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) profile picture
Cameron Thrash@jcamthrash11 Aug 2025
Bioenergetics evolution: the link between Earth’s and Life’s history royalsocietypublishing.org/d…
Bioenergetics evolution: the link between Earth’s and Life’s history

Bioenergetics evolution: the link between Earth’s and Life’s history

Abstract. The history of life intrigues both researchers and society, as it is human nature to question our origins. Our understanding of microbial evoluti

royalsocietypublishing.org
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Steve Marek (@stephenmarek2) profile picture
Steve Marek@stephenmarek210 Jun 2025
Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.24…
Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS

Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS

Recent papers by physicists, chemists, and geologists lay claim to the discovery of new principles of evolution that have somehow eluded over a cen...

pnas.org
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Alexander Chase retweeted
Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) profile picture
Cameron Thrash@jcamthrash21 May 2025
Unearthing Vertical Stratified Archaeal Community and Associated Methane Metabolism in Thermokarst Sediments enviromicro-journals.onlinel…
Unearthing Vertical Stratified Archaeal Community and Associated Methane Metabolism in Thermokarst...

Unearthing Vertical Stratified Archaeal Community and Associated Methane Metabolism in Thermokarst...

Vertical stratification in thermokarst lake sediments drives archaeal community assembly, with declining diversity, deterministic selection, and modular networks at depth. Taxa shifts (e.g., rising...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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