iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

"#RIP Domestic dog 🐕 A GWAS of 6,000 dogs, the first consumer genomics study in any non-human species, found a 98.6kb DNA duplication near eye development gene ALX4 that explains the famous blue eyes of Siberian Huskies. One tiny copy change! #2026MMM #RIP journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

"Fig 1.

A) Manhattan plot of associations with blue vs. brown eyes across the genomes of 3,180 dogs. Horizontal lines represent the thresholds for suggestive (grey; P < 1x10-5) and significant (black; P < 5x10-8) associations. B) Read depth (scaled by the average depth across the interval for each dog) in 10-kb sliding windows across the CFA18 GWAS peak region, for the six Siberian Huskies with publicly available whole genome sequence data (blue) and 11 dogs from other breeds (grey). Five of the six huskies and five of the 11 other breeds carry the GWAS allele associated with blue eyes (dot at 44,924,848). Black vertical lines indicate paired-end reads that aligned 98.6-kb from their mate and in an opposite orientation. Photo credit: Aleksey Gnilenkov"

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

A new cat coat color (“salmiak,” or salty licorice - yum!) isn’t due to a mutation in the gene KIT, but to a deletion of DNA next to it. Cats with this white hair pattern are missing ~95,000 bases .... maybe removing regulatory DNA that controls how KIT is used. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1111/age....

"Salmiak coat coloration in cats. Hallmarks include tuxedo (bicolor) white spotting despite absence of known white spotting alleles (Ws, g), and pigment dilution within individual hairs, producing pale or unpigmented tips across the body, legs, and tail. Additional features include colored spotting within white areas of the forelegs and chest, intensified pigmentation over the scapular region, and a very pale tail tip.

(a) Solid black; (b) solid blue; (c) brown mackerel tabby with heterozygous sibling; (d) long-haired solid black; (e) solid black; (f) tortoiseshell"

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Is your golden retriever friendly because of its breed? Genetics says: not really. A citizen science study of 18,000+ dogs found breed explains only 9% of behavioral variation in individual dogs. Personality predates modern breeds by thousands of years. #2026MMM www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Effect of breed on behavior.
(A) Biddability is among eight behavioral factors defined from surveys. SE, standard error. (B) Dogs in some breeds tend to score unusually high or low for this factor compared with dogs overall. (C and D) Border collies score lower on average for biddability (vertical line at median) but vary widely (C), including genetically confirmed border collies (D). (E) In mixed-breed dogs, border collie ancestry has a small genetic effect on biddability. [Photo credits: K. Wirka (Sprocket); M. Wisniewski (Caboose); B. Hoadley (Molly); M. Logsdon (Hunter); A. Macias (Lily); S. Staples (TWooie)]"

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

White Stork keeps its antibiotic resistance genes to itself. No genetic similarity between stork gut bacteria and soil/food microbes—only water shows a strong match, changing the inferred transmission pathway. White stork: a sentinel, not a vector. #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1128/spec...

Correlation matrix showing Spearman rank correlation coefficients between selected functional groups of bacteria isolated from different environments (soil, water, and cloacal samples). The results indicate moderate negative relationships among certain bacterial groups, suggesting limited exchange or overlap in the microbial composition across these habitats.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Fecal genetics in White Stork reveals widespread antibiotic resistance. Because White Stork likes eating our trash? NO. No strong correlation with landfill feeding. Instead, exposure likely comes from other sources, like livestock pastures #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

Graphical abstract from Francisco et al 2025

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a deadly virus that infects carnivores. Weckworth et al. (2020) revealed that CDV outbreak in the Serengeti was caused by spillover from canids (incl. 🐕) and ultimately caused the lion population in the region to decline by 30%. doi.org/10.1111/mec.... #2026MMM

Phylogenetic tree of canine distemper virus genomes from lions, hyenas, domestic dogs, bat-eared foxes, and hyenas. Colors represent different lion prides. Tree shows putative CDV origin in canids (domestic dogs and bat-eared foxes) spilling over into hyenas and lions.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Semi-wild orangutans are more likely to be infected with nodular worms than free-ranging orangutans. This may be due to a decreased arboreal lifestyle, more soil contact, changes in diet, and overlapping ranges with other wildlife species and livestock #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Haplotype network of parasitic nematode haplotypes. The color indicates sampling location with green representing semi-wild populations in Bukit Lawang and blue/red representing free-ranging populations. The size of the circles represents frequency of haplotype, with sequences from semi-wild locations heavily-represented

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Alu elements are DNA pieces that can copy and reinsert themselves. Orangutan genomes only show ~250 recent Alu insertions compared to 1000s in chimps and humans. This may explain why their genome structure is more stable and evolving more slowly than other great apes #2026MMM doi.org/10.1038/natu...

A phylogeny shows the evolutionary relationships among the great apes. The pie charts show total number of mobile genetic element insertions. On the right, insertion rates per million years is shown. Data shows that orangutans have much fewer Alu element insertions compared to humans and chimpanzees.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Cell lines are a useful genetic resource for species conservation and research. Researchers established cell cultures from skin samples of a hippo for the first time. Karyotypes from these cells showed 36 chromosomes, confirming the origin as a female common hippo. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1002/cbin...

Karyotyping of the established hippo fibroblast cell culture. (a) Karyotyping of the fibroblast cell culture was performed based on the Giemsa staining method. A representative of the cell spreads is shown here. Scale bar = 10 μm.(b) A total of 36 chromosomes were rearranged into 18 pairs, one of which was X chromosomes.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Giraffe was thwarted this round and in fact, some geographic features may thwart interbreeding between giraffe (sub)species. Genome sequences from 78 giraffes from 13 countries in Africa suggest the Central African rainforest may be a key barrier #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.051

(A) Genetic differentiation between giraffe subspecies (values correspond to pairwise Hudson FST estimates derived from the site frequency spectrum). (B) Estimating Effective Migration Surfaces (EEMS) plot of migration rates (log(m); colored brown [low gene flow] to blue [high gene flow]) between locations of sampled giraffes throughout Africa. Colors of dots correspond to (sub)species colored in (A). (C) EEMS plot of migration rates in east Africa (black box in (B)).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Giraffes have long necks and a long history of scientists debating their taxonomy! 1 species with 9 subspecies had generally been accepted, but whole genome data from 50 giraffes from all previously recognized subspecies support 4 species and 7 subspecies! #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.033

Overview of Admixture results based on genome-wide SNPs supporting four giraffe species (top)—northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), the reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata), the Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi), and the southern giraffe (G. giraffa)—and 7 subspecies (bottom). Colors correspond to (sub)species membership. Map of sub-Saharan Africa shows the geographic ranges of each giraffe (sub)species where colors correspond to (sub)species colors from Admixture results.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Genome analysis of 8 rhino species (extinct & living) show an overall decline in pop size in the past 2 million years. Although this low genetic diversity may be a long-term feature of the rhino family, it has likely been worsened by recent human-driven pop declines #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

A graph showing time since the present on the x-axis and effective population size in the y-axis. Each curve represents one species. Species are grouped by geographic distribution: Africa, black and white rhinoceroses; South Asia, Sumatran, Javan, and greater one-horned rhinoceroses; and northern Eurasia, Siberian unicorn, Merck’s, and woolly rhinoceroses.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Across 57 Arabian Oryx samples, only three MHC (gene involved in infectious disease resistance) alleles were observed. However, the 3 alleles are highly different from each other, which may help the oryx population recognize many different pathogens #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1111/j.00...

A graph showing heterozygosity at each amino acid position in the Arabian Oryx MHC gene. The positions marked with asterisks are antigen binding sites. The highest heterozygosity is observed at these sites, which may help the population recognize a wide array of pathogens even though there are few alleles.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

After a herd of Arabian oryx suffered an outbreak from an unknown agent, Coronavirus (CoV) particles were found in sick individuals. CoV particles were present in several tissues, including intestines and heart. This work could help treat infected herds. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1128/spec...

(A) RT-qPCR results confirming the presence of coronavirus in tissue samples from a sick Arabian oryx. (B-I) Immunohistochemistry staining using anti-nucleocapsid antibodies in different tissue samples from a sick animal. Strong positive signals are indicated by black arrows

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Around 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild and are scattered across South/South-East Asia in isolated populations. Whole genome data confirms 4 subspecies—Bornean, Sumatran, Mainland, and Sri Lankan—and suggests they began diverging 169,000-48,000 yrs ago. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72019

Asian elephant populations included in this study (colored by their IUCN subspecies designation and confirmed with whole genome data).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Gorilla is gone and so is the “ghost” lineage that left its mark on 3% of eastern gorilla DNA! This archaic group split >3 mya from the ancestor of living gorillas. It has not been sampled directly--it was only detected via its DNA in eastern gorillas #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02145-2

Model of gorilla population history over more than 3 million years in the past. A model including archaic admixture from a “ghost” lineage into the common ancestor of eastern gorillas (mountain + eastern lowland gorillas) best explains the empirical data. Numbers on teal blocks correspond to inferred effective population sizes.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In the last century, Grauer’s+mountain (⛰) gorillas (🦍) ⬇️ but ⛰🦍 now show signs of some recovery. 🦍 genomes today have ⬇️diversity, ⬆️inbreeding, + ⬆️costly mutations vs 100 yr old samples only in Grauer’s (not ⛰) 🦍, maybe b/c of ⛰🦍 recovery + longer-term past #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.055

(A) Heterozygosity of gorilla individuals genome-wide (solid outlined boxplots) and outside runs of homozygosity (ROH [inbred regions]; dotted outlined boxplots). Each black dot corresponds to one gorilla individual. ** = p < 0.01; NS = not significant. Pink corresponds to modern western lowland gorillas; orange and yellow correspond to historic and modern Grauer’s (eastern lowland) gorillas, respectively; dark grey and light grey correspond to historic and modern mountain gorillas, respectively. (B) Proportion of gorilla genomes in ROH >100 kb (open bars), and long ROH 2.5-10 Mb (solid bars). Error bars = ±1 SD; * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01; NS = not significant. Colors as in (A).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Humpback whales (+ many other whales) have evolved large body sizes + long lives. Cancer should ⬆️ w/body size + age but whales do not suffer ⬆️ cancer risk. 212 genes in the humpback whale genome show evidence of positive selection, some of which may ⬇️ cancer #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz099

(A) Species tree relationships of six cetaceans with genome assemblies, including the humpback whale. Branch lengths are in coalescent units. Boxed numbers correspond to the number of positively selected genes per branch. (B) Gene Ontology (GO) biological process terms for positively selected genes across all cetaceans. (C) Cancer gene names and functions from the COSMIC database that are under positive selection in cetaceans. Superscripts next to gene names correspond to tumor suppressor gene (T), oncogene (O), and fusion gene (F) and asterisks correspond to FDR corrected p-value < 0.01 (**), 0.001 (***), 0.0001 (****).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

#RIP Eurasian Eagle Owl 🦉 Owl feathers have comb-like serrated edges and a velvety surface that muffle air turbulence for near-silent flight. Nocturnal owls like Bubo bubo have more serrations than day-active owls of similar size. Super stealth! #2026MMM doi.org/10.1371/jour...

"Fig 9. Serrated structures on owl wings.

The serrations of all 7 investigated owl species are presented for 4 different measurement positions. Note the variation in shape between the different species and between the different positions within one species. The black bars represent 1 mm.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149236.g009"

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Eastern & western grey fox populations split ~800,000 years ago, making them more genetically distinct than most animal species that share a name. DNA from 378 foxes pinpoints where these ancient lineages still meet today: the Great Plains! #2026MMM doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

Analysis of 400 bp mtDNA control region sequence data from samples of gray fox (Urocyon spp.). (A) Map shows the ranges of 7 morphologically-based gray fox (U. cinereoargenteus) subspecies (Hall, 1981) and the island fox (U. littoralis); the locations of sample groups (n = 34) and samples (n = 781) used in the analysis, including newly generated sequences (circles), and previously published sequences (squares; Bozarth et al., 2011; Goddard et al., 2015; Hofman et al., 2015); and 3 possible locations of a hypothesized secondary contact zone between deeply divergent eastern and western gray fox lineages (Goddard et al., 2015). Samples are colored according to whether its haplotype fell into the East (white) or West (black) clade. (B) Median joining haplotype network. Each circle represents a unique haplotype, with size proportional to frequency, as well as a pie chart with color indicating the morphologically-based taxonomic assignment of the corresponding samples. Black circles reflect inferred haplotypes not present in the dataset, and hash marks on the lines connecting haplotypes represent the number of mutations separating them. A minimum of 13 steps separates East and West haplotypes. (C) Principal coordinates plot from population pairwise Fst (K2P-corrected) values, with sample groups colored according to morphologically-based taxa shown in the map. The first axis explained 47.8% of the variation and clearly divided western from eastern sample groups at the Great Plains, the second axis explained 11.3% of the variation and separated sample groups within the East (note only scores for East sample groups are shown since West sample groups had scores near 0 for the second axis), and the third axis explained 7.9% of the variation and separated sample groups within the West (note only scores for West sample groups are shown since East sample groups had scores near 0 for the third axis).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Owls are the only nocturnal raptors. A genome-wide scan across 11 owl species found positive selection on vision genes (e.g. dim-light detection) AND hearing genes (e.g. inner ear development) at the very origin of owls. Their DNA evolved to rule the night! #2026MMM academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Fig. 3.Functional overrepresentation of GO terms and KEGG pathways among the genes with a signal of weak positive or relaxed purifying selection (list ii). The GO terms were clustered in seven groups by the ClueGO software (shown in different colors). Each group can contain several GO terms with shared genes. The groups “plasma membrane bounded cell projection” (salmon) and “sensory perception” (purple) form the main part of the network with 87 genes. This main part also overlaps in several genes with the groups “sensory perception of sound” (blue), “transmembrane transporter complex” (gold), “myosin complex” (turquoise), and “supramolecular fiber” (lime). The functional group “DNA conformation change” with 13 genes forms another, more isolated cluster.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Small but mighty survivors. House mice followed humans into Andes & survived even at high altitudes. Genomic data reveals a threshold effect: hypoxia-related genes show dramatic allele frequency changes in mice living @ highest elevations (~3800m/11,176 stoats) doi.org/10.1093/gene... #2026MMM #RIP

Population allele frequency of autosomal candidate SNPs by elevation. Individual SNPs (gray) and linear regression with all candidates (black) across elevation. (A) Northern transect LFMM candidates with q = 0.05. (B) Southern transect LFMM candidates with q = 0.05. (C) Northern transect, SNPs from top 1 % of PBSn1 results. (D) Southern transect, SNPs from top 1 % of PBSn1 results. SNPs with large allele frequency change (LAFC) from below to above ∼2900 m in red.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Dogs aren't the only ones who evolved to eat your leftovers. House mice, rats & pigs have MANY extra copies of the amylase gene that helps digest starch. Big clue about who has been eating our table scraps for 1000s of years. doi.org/10.7554/eLif... bsky.app/profile/cega... #2026MMM

"Amylase gene copy number bursts across mammals.
Boxes represent all haploid amylase gene copies found in representative species or among clades across the mammalian phylogeny. Lighter colored boxes represent the variation in copy numbers found in at least two individuals of a given species or in reference genomes of at least two species within a clade. Triangles at the end of branches indicate that copy numbers of more than one species belonging to the same clade were shown together as a single column. The numbers in parentheses following clade names indicate the number of species used for estimating the gene copy numbers."

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Kasai et al. (2012) used chromosome painting to show extensive homology (70%!) between Nile Crocodile (2n = 32) & chicken (2n = 78) chromosomes (focusing on larger chromosomes) despite a common ancestor 230 MYA! doi.org/10.1159/0003... #2026MMM

"The phylogenic tree between G. g. domesticus , T. s. elegans and C. niloticus is based on 2 hypotheses; a branch point leading to crocodile lineage is different between morphological (A) and
molecular (B) studies. Idiograms show chromosome homology of GGA1–8 and Z with TSC and CNI chromosomes revealed by cross-species chromosome painting. Homologous regions are identified by colour. The uncoloured regions, TSC4p and 8p have no homology to GGA1–8 and Z. Fissions of ancestral metacentric chromosomes have occurred during crocodile evolution, resulting in the formation of metacentric chromosomes with other acrocentric chromosomes by fusion.
"

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Spectacled bear didn’t win but don’t worry, it will not be forgotten! Spectacled bears are unique in many ways relative to their bear cousins, incl. having 52 chromosomes vs. 74 in the American/Asian black bear, sun bear, sloth bear, brown bear, & polar bear! #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1159/000132455

Comparison of spectacled bear chromosomes (left chromosome in each pair and number below each pair) vs. brown bear chromosomes (right chromosome in each pair and numbers to the right of each pair).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Analysis of autosomal DNA from wild eastern gorilla feces reveals that the species split into the mountain gorilla and Grauer’s (aka eastern lowland) gorilla subspecies relatively recently at ~10,000 years ago, perhaps due to changes in forest distribution. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0811

Results of three pairwise population analyses of isolation with migration (IMA2) where “Virunga” and “Bwindi” correspond to mountain gorilla populations and “Eastern” corresponds to Grauer’s (aka eastern lowland) gorilla populations. For each pairwise population analysis, the results of six independent runs are shown, where the highest posterior probability value is listed followed by the 95% highest posterior density values in brackets. Bolded values are the means (±standard deviation) calculated over the six runs per pairwise population analysis.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The spectacled bear is the only extant bear in S. America! Autosomal+Y data suggest it diverged from its relatives the ursine bears (American + Asian black bear, sun bear, sloth bear, brown bear, polar bear) 5.9 mya—right before the Miocene➡️Pliocene transition. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu186

(A) Species tree based on 14 autosomal sites and 5.9 kb of the Y chromosome. (B) Gene tree of 5.9 kb of the Y chromosome. (C) Gene tree of mitochondrial genome data.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Roan antelopes have a wide distribution across the savannas of Africa. Yet, microsatellites + mtDNA for 131 animals sampled from 70 locations across their range reveal there are five distinct genetic groups of roan antelope consistent with five subspecies. #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14241

Analysis of nuclear microsatellite markers for roan antelope reveal five distinct genetic groups. (B) Structure results where each individual is represented by a vertical bar and colors denote group assignment based on nuclear DNA (north-west = blue, north-east = green, eastern = yellow, central = orange, southern = red). Below the vertical bars are triangles if sample is historic and squares correspond to the mtDNA lineage assignment of the individual (colored as above where white corresponds to individuals with no mtDNA data). (C) Geographic distribution of animals and their nuclear DNA groups colored by the groups identified by the Structure analysis in (B). Pie charts correspond to average genetic group designation per sampling location (locations are numbered 1-70). Six subspecies designations are from 1972 paper and were based on geographic ranges (not genetics). Inset: Principal components analysis of samples where each point corresponds to an individual and is colored by genetic group assignment identified by the Structure analysis in (B). Circles indicate contemporary samples and triangles indicate historic samples.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Female orangutans tend to stay near their birthplace while males travel long distances. This is reflected in their genetics: maternal mtDNA shows deep geographic structure while paternal Y chromosome DNA shows a mixing of the gene pool across regions. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/molb...

The median joining network maps the history of mutations. Each circle represents a separate haplotype, and each color is a different sampling site. Maternal mitochondrial DNA (A, top) mostly has circles of a single color and is fragmented, reflecting that females stay near their home range. Y chromosome DNA (B, bottom) has many shorter connections and circles of multiple colors reflecting a much more mixed population associated with male long-range dispersal.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The genome of the roan antelope is 2.56 gigabases long with 42% of it made up of repetitive DNA, similar in size and composition to close relatives like the sable antelope whose genome is 2.60 gigabases in length and composed of 47% repetitive DNA. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkab002

Table summarizing the type (leftmost column) and amount of repetitive DNA content in the roan antelope genome.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Lynx DNA reveals a strong genetic split between populations in different regions. Scandinavian lynx are highly distinct from their Finnish and Baltic neighbors regardless of how close they live to them. #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1023/A:10...

A graph plotting geographic distance (km) versus genetic distance (Fst). Within Scandinavian subpopulations (filled squares), genetic distance increases with geographic distance, indicating that lynx are breeding with nearby neighbors. Between Scandinavian and Finnish/Baltic populations (open circles), genetic distance is larger and does not change with geographic distance, indicating that Scandinavian lynx are a genetically isolated unit.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Eurasian lynx DNA from 148 museum specimens was analyzed. Researchers found that the ancestral group of lynx inhabited the southern part of their current range. Lynx then colonized the northeast after ice sheets withdrew around 20,000 years ago. doi.org/10.1371/jour... #2026MMM

A map showing lynx individuals being assigned to one of three haplotypes: A, B, or C. The highest haplotype diversity is observed in the Southern region. The most ancestral group of lynx likely inhabited this area

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Genetic monitoring is vital for the health of Arabian oryx populations. Seven unique maternal haplotypes have been identified. This data is important because preserving rare lineages is critical for conservation breeding #2026MMM doi.org/10.1266/ggs....

A cladogram showing that the Arabian Oryx is a close relative of the scimitar-horned oryx. Specifically, the haplotype 7 is the population most similar to this other species.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The brown-throated sloth lost this round and in fact, many males in this species lose when competing for mates! Using 13 microsats, a small study found that 50% of all juveniles were sired by 1 male (and 74% of males did not reproduce at all!). #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051389

Distribution of reproductive success for adult male sloths (i.e., number of offspring sired per male; n = 20 total males). Non-grey bars correspond to males that produced offspring. Inset: Home ranges of adult male and female sloths across habitat types, where black lines correspond to home ranges of females that reproduced, white lines correspond to females that did not reproduce, and grey lines correspond to males that did not reproduce.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Did you know the 6 species of sloths still around today are classified as either two- or three-toed sloths? The brown-throated sloth is a three-toed sloth and mtDNA suggest that it, along with the other three-toed species, diverged from two-toed sloths ~30 mya! #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msv250

Left: mtDNA-based phylogenetic relationships of all extant xenarthran species (sloths, armadillos, and anteaters), including the brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus). Right: Divergence times for all extant xenarthran species based on mtDNA. Vertical lines define the main geological periods of the Cenozoic (E = early; M = middle; L = late; Pli. = Pliocene; P. = Pleistocene)

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Hippos are the closest relatives to cetaceans (whales, dolphins), but these two groups lost their hair independently. Genetics show that hair-related PADI3 and S100A3 became nonfunctional pseudogenes AFTER these two groups split. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1007/s002...

This phylogenetic tree marks with red arrows the pseudogenization (gene becoming nonfunctional) of PADI3 and S100A3, two hair-related genes. The two groups seem to have lost these genes independently. This is an example of convergent evolution in two aquatic animals.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Using mitochondrial and microsatellite data, Vergara et al. (2015) found that there is weak genetic structure of beech martens across the Iberian Peninsula, possibly driven by the rivers Ebro, Tagus, and Guadiana, which create semi-permeable geographic barriers. doi.org/10.1371/jour... #2026MMM #RIP

Analysis of population structure of microsatellite data using five distinct software (A-E) showing varying levels of structure in beech martens across the Iberian Peninsula.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Asian, African savanna, and African forest elephants are the only 3 species of elephantids left today.>300 sites in the genome suggest that the Asian elephant is most closely related to their famous extinct elephantid relative, the iconic woolly mammoth. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000564

Model of the demographic history for members of the family Elephantidae. TFS = forest-savanna elephant divergence time, TAM = Asian elephant-mammoth divergence time, TLox-Eur = African-Eurasian divergence time, and TElephantid-Mastodon = to elephantid-mastodon divergence time (all in in millions of years). Ν values = diploid effective population size preceding each split (in thousands).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Tomarovsky et al. used cytogenetics and DNA sequencing to reveal that the stone marten has a karyotype (# and arrangement of chromosomes) similar to the ancestral carnivoran karyotype. Low heterozygosity suggests that its conservation status should be re-evaluated. doi.org/10.1093/jher... #2026MMM

Violin plot showing the heterozygosity across a number of different carnivores (including the beech marten (Martes foina) as well as their conservation status.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Giant anteater's loss mirrors its real-world decline. Genetic simulations predict a 15% drop in allelic richness over the next 100 years even if current numbers are held. Stopping threats like roadkill and hunting is urgent to ensure this species's viability. #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.3389/fgen...

Researchers used the BOTTLESIM program to predict genetic diversity in giant anteaters over next 100 years if 100% (blue), 75% (red), 50% (gray), 25% (yellow), and 10% (green) of the current effective population size is maintained. (A) Number of alleles. (B) Number of effective alleles. (C) Expected heterozygosity. (D) Observed heterozygosity.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Giant anteater genetics confirm that they are habitat generalists. Haplotypes for both mitochondrial and nuclear markers are shared across biomes like Cerrado, Pantanal, and Amazonia. This suggests high connectivity and movement across diverse landscapes. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1007/s105...

The median joining network maps are color-coded according to their biomes of origin. Given that a lot of the circles (representing unique haplotypes) are found in diverse biomes, it indicates that giant anteater lineages are found across diverse locations.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Comparing mutations in the genomes of the giraffe vs. other mammals helps scientists find genes possibly responsible for the giraffe’s uniquely long neck. 7 changes in FGFRL1 (gene involved in skeletal + cardiovascular development) might provide important clues. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11519

FGFRL1 gene has 7 amino acid substitutions that are unique in giraffes but fixed in other mammals (see “Unique”) and/or predicted to alter the protein’s function (see “Polyphen”).

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Wildlife officials combat illegal hunting of chital deer, but their meat is not easy to recognize. Scientists created a fast DNA test that only fluoresces when chital DNA is present, which helps identify meat in the field to prevent illegal trading. #2026MMM #RIP doi.org/10.1007/s126...

Fluorescence over time of reactions amplifying Cytochrome B DNA. This genetics test uses primers (short DNA fragments) that only bind to chital DNA. A fluorescence signal is reported only in meat samples from chital deer. This test is fast (under 30 minutes), and requires minimal equipment that can be used in the field.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Field biologists may identify a species from environmental samples, but determining its sex may require genetic tests. A PCR reaction can identify the sex of chital tissue or fecal samples. A 5:1 male to female ratio was found from samples in India doi.org/10.1007/s120... #2026MMM

PCR products amplifying the amelogenin and SRY genes of deer environmental (tissue and fecal) samples were run on an agarose gel. Male samples show 3 bands (odd number lanes) while female samples show 1 band (even number lanes). A similar test can also be used to distinguish between different deer species.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

There are two remaining Indian rhinoceros populations. Genetic sequencing of rhinos from these two sites showed that Assam is the historical source while the Nepal group formed later when individuals moved from Assam #2026MMM doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

A parsimony network shows the distribution of rhino mitochondrial DNA haplotypes from individuals in each of the 2 remaining wild populations: Nepal and Assam.

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Avanzi et al. (2016) analyzed DNA from wild roadkill red squirrels & discovered some carry Mycobacterium leprae & M. lepromatosis which cause Hansen’s disease (aka leprosy). Also the strains of M. leprae were similar to those found in Medieval England! #2026MMM #RIP www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Squirrel sampling sites in the British Isles. Pie charts indicate the location of sites where squirrels were sighted or found and are color-coded as indicated in the box; numbers within circles indicate different animals tested where N > 1. Boxed circles refer to squirrels of unknown location. I, Ireland; S, Scotland; A, Isle of Arran; B, Brownsea Island; W, Isle of Wight. The figure was drawn in R (v3.2.23) with the package maps (v3.1.0) using the mapdata (v2.2-6) “worldHiresMapEnv” and the package plotrix (v3.6-2) for pie charts.
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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Grill et al. (2009) used mt DNA & microsatellites to study red squirrel population history finding that Calabrian squirrels are distinct & may be from a ‘refuge w/in refugia’ remaining isolated in the Pleistocene after which the rest of the squirrel crowd expanded doi.org/10.1111/j.13... #2026MMM

Neighbour-joining tree (Tamura–Nei) of cytochrome b haplotypes of various Sciurus species for which data was available from GenBank. Bootstrap values obtained with 2000 replicates. Distributions of the species are indicated with shades or circles: Sciurus vulgaris (Eurasia), S. v. meridionalis (southern Italy), S. lis (Japan), of S. aberti, S. niger, S. carolinensis, and S. stramineus (North America). From Grill et al. (2009) doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04215.x

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Mid-1800s ➡️ early 1900s, humpback whales dramatically ⬇️ due to hunting. The species has showed signs of recovery but their DNA still may harbor the cost of this decline; they have slightly ⬇️ genetic diversity and are slightly ⬆️ inbred than early 1900 whales. #2026MMM doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady7091

The proportion of each whale’s genome that is inbred (as measured by runs of homozygosity [ROH] larger than 1 million base pairs). Each vertical bar corresponds to an individual genome. Genomes of historic Southern Ocean whales from the early 1900s [HIS] are colored brown, contemporary Southern Ocean whales [SOU] are colored blue, and contemporary North Atlantic whales [NAT] are colored green.

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Reposted by Carlos Chavez Ramirez

Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME to the first night of ROUND 1 MONEY MAMMALS DIVISION! #2026MMM

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Carlos Chavez Ramirez @carloschalicothere.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

First preprint from my PhD work! We changed the chemical composition of cell-free (PURE) gene expression reactions to support robust replication of linear DNA templates. This system is based on the protein-primed Phi29 phage DNA replication machinery. We saw over 3000-fold amplification of DNA!

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