ECSO Lab

Welcome to the Evolution of Cells, Symbionts, and Organelles Lab website! We are located in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University (IN, USA). We are part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Research Area and the Center for Plant Biology. One of the central questions that drive our research is ‘How does cellular complexity increase?’ Our research thus focuses on major transitions in cell evolution. Two of the immediate interests of the lab are (1) the origin of eukaryotes and their mitochondria, and (2) the origin and function of purple photosymbioses.

Some of the questions we will be tackling are:

What was the nature of the mitochondrial ancestor?
What was the genetic contribution of the mitochondrial ancestor to eukaryotes?
How did mitochondria affect the physiology and evolution of eukaryotes?
What are the mechanistic bases of purple photosymbioses?
How have purple photosymbioses evolved?

See our research here to learn more.

Opportunities

I am always looking for highly motivated students to join the ECSO Lab! If you are passionate about symbiosis and cell evolution, please do get in touch to discuss possibilities. If you are a student that belongs to an underrepresented or minority group, consider applying to the Graduate Diversity Visitation Program (GDVP) for a chance to visit Purdue and our lab with all expenses covered for four days. You can reach me at samunozg{at}purdue[dot]edu

News

Dec 12, 2023	The article “The energetic costs of cellular complexity in evolution” is out today in Trends in Microbiology! It explores the micro- and macroevolutionary costs of increases in cellular complexity. Follow this link for a 50-day free access to the article.
Dec 12, 2023	We welcome Research Assistants Penelope Vu, MSc and Konrad Schwartz, BSc to the ECSO Lab!
Oct 4, 2023	Together with the Friedman lab at UT Southwestern, we have released a new preprint that reports a new interactor of the crista-developing MICOS complex in fungi. Check it out here.
Sep 1, 2023	We welcome Dr. Dongseok Kim to the ECSO Lab! Dr. Kim recently obtained his PhD from the laboratory of Dr. Hwan Su Yoon at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. Learn more about Dongseok here.
Aug 14, 2023	Dr. Muñoz-Gómez was featured in a piece in Live Science that discusses a recent study by Geiger et al. in Science Advances. Read here.

Selected publications

The energetic costs of cellular complexity in evolution

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez

Trends in Microbiology, 2024

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_2024,
  title = {The energetic costs of cellular complexity in evolution},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A.},
  journal = {Trends in Microbiology},
  volume = {32},
  number = {8},
  pages = {746-755},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1016/j.tim.2024.01.003},
}

Intracytoplasmic-membrane development in alphaproteobacteria involves the homolog of the mitochondrial crista-developing protein Mic60

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez, L.R. Cadena, A.T. Gardiner, and 13 more authors

Current Biology, 2023

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_etal_2023c,
  title = {Intracytoplasmic-membrane development in alphaproteobacteria involves the homolog of the mitochondrial crista-developing protein Mic60},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A. and Cadena, L.R. and Gardiner, A.T. and Leger, M.M. and Sheikh, S. and Connell, L.B. and Bilý, T. and Kopejtka, K. and Beatty, J.T. and Kopejtka, K. and Beatty, J.T. and Koblížek, M. and Roger, A.J. and Slamovits, C.H. and Lukeš, J. and Hashimi, H.},
  journal = {Current Biology},
  volume = {33},
  number = {},
  pages = {1-13},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2023.02.059},
}

Purple photosymbioses

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez, and S. Hess

Current Biology, 2023

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_hess_2023,
  title = {Purple photosymbioses},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A. and Hess, S.},
  journal = {Current Biology},
  volume = {33},
  number = {},
  pages = {R159-R179},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.015},
}

Energetics and evolution of anaerobic microbial eukaryotes

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez

Nature Microbiology, 2023

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_2023,
  title = {Energetics and evolution of anaerobic microbial eukaryotes},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A.},
  journal = {Nature Microbiology},
  volume = {8},
  number = {},
  pages = {197-203},
  year = {2023},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1038/s41564-022-01299-2},
}

The role of mitochondrial energetics in the origin and diversification of eukaryotes

P.E. Schavemaker, and S.A. Muñoz-Gómez

Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2022

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_schavemaker_2022,
  title = {The role of mitochondrial energetics in the origin and diversification of eukaryotes},
  author = {Schavemaker, P.E. and Muñoz-Gómez, S.A.},
  journal = {Nature Ecology and Evolution},
  volume = {6},
  number = {},
  pages = {1307--1317},
  year = {2022},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1038/s41559-022-01833-9},
}

Site-and-branch-heterogeneous analyses of an expanded dataset favors mitochondria as sister to known Alphaproteobacteria

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez, E. Susko, K. Williamson, and 5 more authors

Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2022

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_etal_2022,
  title = {Site-and-branch-heterogeneous analyses of an expanded dataset favors mitochondria as sister to known Alphaproteobacteria},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A. and Susko, E. and Williamson, K. and Eme, L. and Slamovits, C.H. and Moreira, D. and López-García, P. and Roger, A.J.},
  journal = {Nature Ecology and Evolution},
  volume = {6},
  number = {},
  pages = {253--262},
  year = {2022},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1038/s41559-021-01638-2},
}

A microbial eukaryote with a unique combination of purple bacteria and green algae as endosymbionts

S.A. Muñoz-Gómez, M. Kreutz, and S. Hess

Science Advances, 2021

Bib HTML PDF

@article{munoz-gomez_etal_2021b,
  title = {A microbial eukaryote with a unique combination of purple bacteria and green algae as endosymbionts},
  author = {Muñoz-Gómez, S.A. and Kreutz, M. and Hess, S.},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  volume = {7},
  number = {},
  pages = {eabg4102},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {},
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.abg4102},
}