MSc. Paul-Adrian Bulzu, Ph.D.

Job Position: Postdoc - Department of Aquatic Microbial Ecology (AME)

Contact details

Phone: +420 387 77 5819
E-mail: paul.bulzu@hbu.cas.cz
Web: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Bulzu
Room: 022

Description

The primary focus of my current research revolves around the ecology and genomics of freshwater microbial eukaryotes with a special emphasis on the origin and early evolution of the eukaryotic cell.

In the light of recent research, eukaryotes emerged from the interplay between an archaeal host sharing close ancestry with extant Asgard archaea and an alphaproteobacterial endosymbiont that eventually gave rise to mitochondria. Since their original discovery in the vicinity of hot hydrothermal vents in the Northern Atlantic, an ever-increasing number of Asgard representatives have been recovered by genome-resolved metagenomics from a wide range of environments. However, the lack of complete genomes and availability of only a single cultured representative (Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum) have hindered previous attempts at performing in-depth phylogenetic and metabolic inferrences for this clade. Asgard archaea became the focal point of my PhD after our team discovered them in organic-rich sediments from two Romanian lakes (Amara and Tekirghiol). Since then, I embarked on unraveling their metabolic networks, their putative eukaryotic-like cellular features and on resolving the evolutionary history of Asgards with respect to eukaryotes, other archaeal clades and between different lineages comprising this superphylum.

In our endeavor of exploring the microbial world, we make use of culture-independent high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics to shed light on the genome structure, metabolic capabilities, and evolutionary history of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.

Publications
Total found: 10 records
Bogdan D.F., Baricz A.I., Chiciudean I., Bulzu P., Cristea A., Năstase-Bucur R., Levei E.A., Cadar O., Sitar C., Banciu H.L., Moldovan O.T. (2023) Diversity, distribution and organic substrates preferences of microbial communities of a low anthropic activity cave in North-Western Romania. Frontiers in Microbiology 14 : 962452.
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.962452
Haidau C., Bulzu P., Mirea I.C., Bucur R., Moldovan O.T. (2023) Potential environmental drivers of fossil bones degradation—a metabarcoding approach in two Carpathian caves. Geomicrobiology Journal 40 : 654–666.
DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2023.2227625
Kavagutti V., Bulzu P., Chiriac M., Salcher M., Mukherjee I., Shabarova T., Grujčić V., Mehrshad M., Kasalický V., Andrei A.S., Jezberová J., Seďa J., Rychtecký P., Znachor P., Šimek K., Ghai R. (2023) High‑resolution metagenomic reconstruction of the freshwater spring bloom. Microbiome 11 : 15.
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01451-4
Moldovan O.T., Carrell A.A., Bulzu P., Levei E., Bucur R., Sitar C., Faur L., Mirea I.C., Șenila M., Cadar O., Podar M. (2023) The gut microbiome mediates adaptation to scarce food in Coleoptera. Environmental Microbiome 18 : 80.
DOI: 10.1186/s40793-023-00537-2
Bulzu P., Kavagutti V., Andrei A.S., Ghai R. (2022) The evolutionary kaleidoscope of rhodopsins. mSystems 7 : e00405-22.
DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00405-22
Chiriac M., Bulzu P., Andrei A.S., Okazaki Y., Nakano S., Haber M., Kavagutti V., Layoun P., Ghai R., Salcher M. (2022) Ecogenomics sheds light on diverse lifestyle strategies in freshwater CPR. Microbiome 10 : 84.
DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01274-3
Bulzu P., Kavagutti V., Chiriac M., Vavourakis C.D. , Inoue K. , Kandori H. , Andrei A.S., Ghai R. (2021) Heliorhodopsin evolution is driven by photosensory promiscuity in monoderms. mSphere 6 : e00661-21.
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00661-21
Saha S., Bulzu P., Urajová P., Mareš J., Konert G., Manoel J.C., Macho M. , Ewe D., Hrouzek P., Masojídek J., Ghai R., Sourav K. (2021) Quorum-sensing signals from epibiont mediate the induction of novel microviridins in the mat-forming cyanobacterial genus Nostoc. mSphere 6 : e00562-21.
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00562-21
Park S.J., Andrei A., Bulzu P., Kavagutti V., Ghai R., Mosier A.C. (2020) Expanded diversity and metabolic versatility of marine nitrite-oxidizing bacteria revealed by cultivation-and genomics-based approaches. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 86 : e01667-20.
DOI: doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01667-20
Salcher M., Andrei A., Bulzu P., Keresztes Z.G., Banciu H.L., Ghai R. (2020) Visualization of Lokiarchaeia and Heimdallarchaeia (Asgardarchaeota) by fluorescence in situ hybridization and catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD-FISH) mSphere 5 : e00686-20.
DOI: doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00686-20

CONTACT

Biology Centre CAS
Institute of Hydrobiology
Na Sádkách 702/7
370 05 České Budějovice

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