Education
2015 PhD in geobiology, Macquarie University, Australia
Supervisor: Simon George
2006 MSc in molecular engineering, Kyoto University, Japan
Supervisor: Masahiro Kawasaki
2004 BSc in synthetic chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan
Supervisor: Susumu Kitagawa
Professional position
2024 – Present
Assistant professor at Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Project: Elucidating the biophysical evolution of biological membranes
2021 – 2024
Research scientist at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Section 3.2), Potsdam, Germany
Project: Geobiological analyses of 2-methylhopanoid biosynthesis as cyanobacterial biomarkers
Project: Lipidomics analysis of early-diverging land plants and reconstruction of terrestrialisation process
Advisor: Christian Hallmann
2016 – 2021
Postdoctoral scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology & Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States
Project: Resurrection of ancestral steroid biosynthesis enzymes, Therapeutic application of resurrected uricase
Advisor: Eric Gaucher, Lauren Williams
2016 – 2018
Agouron Geobiology Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, United States (Link; 2017)
Project: Resurrection of ancestral steroid biosynthesis enzymes
2015 – 2016
Postdoctoral scientist at Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Bremen, Germany
Project: Neoproterozoic diversification of aerobic metabolisms
Advisor: Christian Hallmann
2006 – 2011
Opt-device engineer at Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan
Project: R&D of liquid chromatograph, cavity-ring down spectroscope and DNA sequencer
Selected publications
1. F. Elling, Y. Hoshino, 2026. Bacterial Hopanoid and Steroid Biosynthesis, Function, Evolution, and Diagenesis, In Biogenesis of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Membranes. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology. Link
2. T. Matsuo, K. Ito-Miwa, Y. Hoshino, Y. Fujii, S. Kanno, K. Fujimoto et al. 2025. Archaean green-light environments drove the evolution of cyanobacteria’s light-harvesting system, Nat. Ecol. Evol. 9, 599-612. Link
3. Y. Hoshino, 2024. Terpenoids and membrane dynamics evolution, Front. Ecol. Evol. 12:1345733. Link
4. Y. Hoshino, L. Villanueva, 2023. Four billion years of microbial terpenome evolution, FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 47, fuad008. Link
5. Y. Hoshino, B. Nettersheim, D. Gold, C. Hallmann, G. Vinnichenko, L. van Maldegem, C. Bishop, J. Brocks, E. Gaucher, 2023. Genetics re-establish the utility of 2-methylhopanes as cyanobacterial biomarkers before 750 million years ago, Nat. Ecol. Evol. 7, 2045–2054. Link
6. Z. Li, Y. Hoshino, L. Tran, E. Gaucher, 2022. Phylogenetic articulation of uric acid evolution in mammals and how it informs a therapeutic uricase, Mol. Biol. Evol., 39, msab312. Link
7. Y. Hoshino, E. Gaucher, 2021. Evolution of bacterial steroid biosynthesis and its impact on eukaryogenesis, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 118 (25), e2101276118. Link
8. G. Gamiz-Arco, L. Gutierrez-Rus, V. Risso, B. Ibarra-Molero, Y. Hoshino, D. Petrović, A. Romero-Rivera, B. Seelig, J. Gavira, S. Kamerlin, E. Gaucher, J. Sanchez-Ruiz, 2020. Novel heme-binding enables allosteric modulation in an ancient TIM-barrel glycosidase, Nat. Comm., 12, 380. Link
9. L. van Maldegem, P. Sansjofre, J. Weijers, K. Wolkenstein, P. Strother, L. Wörmer, J. Hefter, B. Nettersheim, Y. Hoshino, S. Schouten, J. Sinninghe Damsté, N. Nath, C. Griesinger, N. Kuznetsov, M. Elie, M. Elvert, E. Tegelaar, G. Gleixner, C. Hallmann, 2019. Bisnorgammacerane traces predatory pressure and the persistent rise of algal ecosystems after Snowball Earth, Nat. Comm., 10:476. Link
10. Y. Hoshino, E. Gaucher, 2018. On the origin of isoprenoid biosynthesis, Mol. Biol. Evol., 35, 2185-2197. Link
11. Y. Hoshino, A. Poshibaeva, W. Meredith, C. Snape, V. Poshibaev, G. Versteegh, N. Kuznetsov, A. Leider, L. van Maldegem, M. Neumann, S. Naeher, M. Moczydłowska, J. Brocks, A. Jarrett, Q. Tang, S. Xiao, D. McKirdy, S. Das, J. Alvaro, P. Sansjofre, C. Hallmann, 2017. Cryogenian evolution of stigmasteroid biosynthesis, Sci. Adv., 3: e1700887. Link
12. J. Brocks, A. Jarrett, E. Sirantoine, C. Hallmann, Y. Hoshino, T. Liyanage, 2017. The rise of algae in Cryogenian oceans and the emergence of animals, Nature, 548, 578-581. Link
13. K. French, C. Hallmann, J. Hope, P. Schoon, J. Zumberge, Y. Hoshino, C. Peters, S. George, R. Buick, J. Brocks, R. Summons, 2015. Reappraisal of hydrocarbon biomarkers in Archean rocks, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 112, 5915-5920. Link
14. Y. Hoshino, S. George, 2015. Cyanobacterial inhabitation on the Archean rock surfaces in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, Astrobiology, 15, 559-574. Link
15. Y. Hoshino, D. Flannery, M. Walter, S. George, 2015. Investigation of hydrocarbon biomarkers preserved in an Archean rock at 2.7 Ga from the Fortescue Group in the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, Geobiology, 13, 99-111. Link
Selected presentations
(Plenary or invited talks)
2023 Terpenoids at the origin of life, Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) seminar, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan (Invited)
2022 Terpenoids at the origin of life, Graduate Program of Transformative Chem-Bio Research (GTR) seminar, Nagoya University, Japan (Invited)
2022 Lipid divide revisited, The Soehngen Institute of Anaerobic Microbiology (SIAM) seminar, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Netherlands (Invited)
2022 Evolutionary origin of isoprenoidal membranes, SIAM partner seminar, University of Wageningen, Netherlands (Invited)
2022 Evolution of eukaryotic cell wall biosynthesis and its implications for Proterozoic eukaryotic diversification, Japan International Geoscience Union Meeting, Japan (Plenary)
2021 Isoprenoids at the origin of life, Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA) Seminar, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Australia (Invited)
2021 Tracing the evolutionary origin of the eukaryotic cellular membrane, NeLLi 2021 Symposium: From New Lineages of Life to New Functions, DOE Joint Genome Institute (Selected)
2021 2-Methylhopanes as unique cyanobacterial biomarkers before 1.2 billion years ago, International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Montpellier, France (Plenary)
2020 Evolutionary origin of the eukaryotic cellular membrane and its geobiological implications, Geochemical Society of Japan, Japan (Invited)
2018 Life in the Universe, Department seminar, Department of Astronomy, Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan (Invited)
