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Arlin Stoltzfus

@evolarlin.bsky.social
396 followers 40 following 68 posts

Mutation samples from the possible, selection from the actual #evobio #popgen #mutation book: bit.ly/3QNudjQ blog: molevol.org youtube: bit.ly/3aytCms

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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
wow, lots of information here, not just on frequency but handedness and maybe some other factors
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I have released my most powerful & high-yielding corn yet. It has already escaped my field & invaded three soybean farms. I fear it will soon kill all humans. But rather than quit corn & work to stop the apocalypse, I'm releasing even better corn in 3 months. Meanwhile, please use corn responsibly.
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Nature Communications @natcomms.nature.com · 02/08/2026
#Adaptation is assumed to proceed by survival of the fittest. The study shows that #mutation bias can drive adaptation via survival of the likeliest, steering bacteria along divergent paths to resistance with major consequences for control strategies. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Mutation-biased adaptation is consequential even in large bacterial populations - Nature Communications
Adaptation is assumed to proceed by survival of the fittest. The study shows that mutation bias can drive adaptation via survival of the likeliest, steering bacteria along divergent paths to resistanc...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"South Canada" works
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Arrival bias - plays a quantitatively important role in adaptation - addresses a long-standing gap in "Modern Synthesis" thinking - provides a formal basis to explore the intuition that evolution tends to do what is easy or accessible Tomorrow I'll talk about how to teach it to students
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
At our next evol-mut-circle seminar (18 August, 15:00 UTC), I will give a presentation on how to teach arrival bias to #evolution students. My slides and other materials will be available for anyone to use Please share. DM me to join or get connection info www.molevol.org/evol-mut-circle
molevol.org
evol-mut-circle
evol-mut-circle is an international group of scientists, philosophers, and historians interested in research on the role of mutation in evolution, particularly as a dispositional factor. The group …
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Jake Barber @jakenbarber.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
New paper from myself and Alejandro Couce out now in Nature Communications! We wanted to test the idea that mutation biased adaptation - aka arrival bias / arrival of the fittest - is only of importance in small population sizes... www.nature.com/articles/s41... (thread below)
nature.com
Mutation-biased adaptation is consequential even in large bacterial populations - Nature Communications
Adaptation is assumed to proceed by survival of the fittest. The study shows that mutation bias can drive adaptation via survival of the likeliest, steering bacteria along divergent paths to resistanc...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Our monthly evol-mut-circle seminar for July is coming up tomorrow (21 July, 15:00 UTC). Alex Palazzo will present "How non-adaptive evolution shapes the 5'ends of human protein-coding genes" DM me to join or get connection info www.molevol.org/evol-mut-cir... #evolution
doi.org
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I'm looking forward to Alex's talk tomorrow! For security reasons, I don't post the Zoom link online, but I will send it to anyone who asks.
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Alex Palazzo @ribonucleicacids.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Tuesday I will be talking about our work on how non-adaptive evolution shapes the 5'ends of human protein-coding genes as part of the evol-mut-circle online seminar series (@evolarlin.bsky.social should be posting details in the next day or so)
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Our monthly evol-mut-circle seminar for June is coming up tomorrow (16 June, 15:00 UTC). Matthew Jago will present "The role of extended sequence context in shaping mutational bias" (doi.org/10.1073/pnas...) DM me to join or get connection info www.molevol.org/evol-mut-cir... #evolution
molevol.org
evol-mut-circle
evol-mut-circle is an international group of scientists, philosophers, and historians interested in research on the role of mutation in evolution, particularly as a dispositional factor. The group …
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Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
Haoran Cai @haorancai.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I’m looking forward to presenting my project on the puzzles of fly wings evolution at the Evol-Mut-Circle seminar Tuesday, May 19th at 11:00 AM EDT/3:00 PM UTC molevol.org/2025/12/08/e... DM me for the Zoom info, or reach out to Arlin Stoltzfus (evolarlin@gmail.com) to sign up for the email list!
molevol.org
evol-mut-circle
evol-mut-circle is an international group of scientists, philosophers, and historians interested in research on the role of mutation in evolution, particularly as a dispositional factor. The group …
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Thanks, that's a flaw in my process. I followed and will DM details
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
tagging @weghornlab.bsky.social
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The evol-mut-circle seminar tomorrow at 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT) features Donate Weghorn (CRG Barcelona), "Transcription start sites experience a high influx of heritable variants fueled by early development", following www.nature.com/articles/s41... DM me to join the list & get full info
nature.com
Transcription start sites experience a high influx of heritable variants fueled by early development - Nature Communications
The impact of transcription on germline mutagenesis remains poorly understood. Here, the authors identify a mutational hotspot at transcription start sites in the human germline that is significantly ...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Coming up tomorrow in the evol-mut-circle seminar series
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
The next evol-mut-circle meeting happens Tues, 17 Feb, 15:00 UTC (8:30 pm India, 10 am EST). Marwan Tuffaha (York) will present her work on cancer drivers and mutation bias reversals academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... DM me to join the list for meeting info
academic.oup.com
Genome Biology and Evolution | Oxford Academic
The official journal of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Publishes original research on the evolutionary advances at the forefront of genomics, embracing genome-wide evolutionary inves...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
the first evol-mut-circle meeting of 2026 happens Tuesday, 20 Jan, 15:00 UTC (8:30 pm India, 10 am EST). Madeleine Oman will present "How Sequence Context-Dependent Mutability Drives Mutation Rate Variation in the Genome" academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... DM me to join the list for meeting info
academic.oup.com
How Sequence Context-Dependent Mutability Drives Mutation Rate Variation in the Genome
Abstract. The rate of mutations varies >100-fold across the genome, altering the rate of evolution, and susceptibility to genetic diseases. The stronges
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
our next evol-mut-circle seminar (21 Oct, 15:00 UTC) features Timothy Fuqua on "De novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than genomic DNA" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... DM me to join the email list. Full schedule: www.molevol.org/evol-mut-cir... #popgen, #mutation, #evobio
biorxiv.org
De-novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than from genomic DNA
Promoters are DNA sequences that help to initiate transcription. Point mutations can create de-novo promoters, which can consequently transcribe inactive genes or create novel transcripts. We know lit...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Next Tuesday (20 May), evol-mut-circle hosts a discussion on hypotheses to account for targeted hypomutation We'll have a panel of experts to help with the discussion, including some with key roles in this issue Message me to join the email list www.molevol.org/distinguishi...
molevol.org
Distinguishing hypotheses for the appearance of targeted hypomutation | Stoltzfus Research Group at IBBR
March 18, 2025 / Arlin Stoltzfus / 0 Comments
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Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
The CDC has literally been gutted today. There’s no need for “April Fools” when reality is a nightmare for every human on this planet. Thousand of scientists fired. Entire departments erased. 1/
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
colleague from CDC: "Taking it day by day. I'm very angry and sad. We lost some really good people."
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Yes, thanks! Quiroz, et al (incl. @grey-monroe.bsky.social) is relevant to understanding the proximate causes of non-random patterns of repair and mutation But this leaves open whether the driver is mutation or damage. That's the issue we are trying to tackle— how to tell these 2 hypotheses apart
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
...has most of the same implications as gene-targeted hypo-mutation, but is more parsimonious Later this spring, evol-mut-circle will host an open discussion of competing hypotheses, to include some of the scientists active in this area of research I'll post more details as the date gets closer
molevol.org
Distinguishing hypotheses for the appearance of targeted hypomutation | Stoltzfus Research Group at IBBR
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Monroe, et al 2022 argued that mutation in Arabidopsis evolved adaptively to be lower in genes than non-genes That stimulated a lot of debate over whether the pattern is real What about the evo model? A model of gene-targeted hyper-repair (to avoid damage)... www.molevol.org/distinguishi...
molevol.org
Distinguishing hypotheses for the appearance of targeted hypomutation | Stoltzfus Research Group at IBBR
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Sorry, I try not to be a jerk but that was rude.
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
That would have been amazing but it is extremely difficult to get decision-makers to spend large amounts of money or do extremely unpopular things without a guarantee of results. And scientists in early 2020 could not guarantee that air filtration would be a game-changer
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
It's 5 yrs today since lockdown started in England, but "We must never have lockdown again" is the wrong lesson. Lockdowns are terrible but so are deadly pandemics. Our choices 5 years ago were limited - we can & must do better in the future. Do read my post. open.substack.com/pub/christin...
open.substack.com
We are learning the wrong lessons from lockdown
And unless we learn the right ones, we risk making the same mistakes in a new pandemic
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
dude lost his temper and used force exactly 1 time in his entire recorded life, and this was the context
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Great opportunity in a beautiful city
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Coming up next Tuesday @kelleyharris.bsky.social "What causes mutation rates to vary among populations, species, and cell lineages?" DM to join the email list
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The technofascist coup plan a la Yarvin says the regime must be able to control every institution it does not dismantle. IMHO they picked Columbia bc the admins are so willing to sell out. If they capitulate like NIH, Columbia will voluntarily purge its own people and programs to comply with MAGA
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Ragothaman Yennamalli @structbioinfo.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Today is the 100th bday of Margaret Dayhoff! She is the mother of bioinformatics. In her honor, some are celebrating it as Bioinformatics Day or Bioinformaticians' Day. H/T to Farzana! www.nature.com/articles/s43... Happy bioinformatics day to all!
nature.com
Celebrating a pioneer in bioinformatics - Nature Computational Science
In honor of the 100th birthday of Margaret Dayhoff, we spotlight her footprint in the field of bioinformatics.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
New, from me: you were told that the threats to free speech came from wokeness. Some compared it to Maoist China. Now we are witnessing government power being used to silence dissent and censor ideas. Now we know what real society-wide chilling effects look like. 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
open.substack.com
Real chilling effects
A extraordinary pattern of government censorship and threats to speech
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Really wish people would stop talking about the problem with Science under Trump as “budget cuts”. No. Budgets are set deliberatively by elected members of congress. Budgets haven’t been cut. What’s happening are *purges* and *censorship*.
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Right, it's important to keep stating loudly that this is an illegal seizure of power, an administrative coup. It's a bit like when a cop with no right to search your car or house acts like he has that right. If you let him in, you are the sucker We all need to be that guy who just keeps arguing
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Exploring New Niches - Superorganism | a guide to nature jobs in the private sector for anyone who recently lost a government science or nature job
buff.ly
Exploring New Niches
With US federal layoffs, we share a Cliffs Notes for some private sector opportunities. And Superorganism is hiring!
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
These are some resources I found useful to understand the administrative coup taking place here. The 2-part series by Robert Evans (with guest Ed Helms) is a bit repetitive but worth 2 hrs IMHO www.thenerdreich.com/reboot-elon-... medium.com/@alysion42/d... www.podchaser.com/podcasts/beh...
thenerdreich.com
'Reboot' Revealed: Elon Musk's CEO-Dictator Playbook
In 2022, one of Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO”
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
In the most recent evol-mut-circle seminar, @bryangitschlag.bsky.social (of @davidmccandlish.bsky.social lab) presented his latest work: Graduated effects of mutation bias in adaptation The recorded talk plus Q-and-A is free here for 6 months: umd.zoom.us/rec/share/b-... Passcode: g3PH=?9v
umd.zoom.us
Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Same here. Many agencies are doing long-term work for strategic gain. If everyone doing research (into fish, weather, security, COVID, etc) goes on strike— and gets fired— there is no immediate downside. It just makes us stupider, less competitive, and more vulnerable 5 years into the future.
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
OK, thanks. I don't work on speciation. I have done a lot of reading about "evo theory" writ large, and in that genre, he is a reactionary who can be counted on to bring the same hostile and dismissive tone to intra-scientific disputes as he does to extra-scientific ones
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
What do you mean by "firings"? By "targeted agencies" do you mean the ones whose employees got the deferred resignation (fork) offer? I am not aware of actual firings at NIST (ideology = 0.01, workforce = 3400)
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Which legacy? Gatekeeping and the reactionary mindset are mutually reinforcing.
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
The fitness advantage of phenotypic switching accrues to the lineage over time as it samples diverse environments. Is that a different "level"? I'm not sure the "levels" concept is apt here.
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
This new book is going on my reading list. I'm particularly interested in how the development of evolutionary thinking was shaped by highly engaged non-scientist intellectuals who wrote about evolution early in the 20th century press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
press.uchicago.edu
The Arrival of the Fittest
In the early twentieth century, varied audiences took biology out of the hands of specialists and transformed it into mass culture, transforming our understanding of heredity in the process.   In the ...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Most people will benefit from the intro video that explains some basic concepts, including mutation spectrum and generative bias (a bias in the process of generating variation) www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xR8...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Also, late last year I gave evol-mut-circle an overview of how the mutation spectrum can shape evo, in 3 modes (each with its own theory and empirical results) * deleterious mut pressure * ultimate source of raw materials * introduction of novelty www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Tb...
youtube.com
The role of the mutation spectrum in evolution (theory)
YouTube video by Mutation, Randomness and Evolution
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Latest video in the series: James Horton @jameshearsawho shares ongoing work combining genetic dissection of a GGGGT hotspot in P. fluorescens with an analysis of Salmonella genomes, exploring the basis of a 1000X enhancement of T-to-G mutation rate umd.zoom.us/rec/share/-G... Passcode: ?3H+M@Ph
umd.zoom.us
Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...
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Arlin Stoltzfus @evolarlin.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Thanks for the synopsis! With regard to your final comment about specialized mutation systems, I also find these systems fascinating. Some day, one hopes, their existence will be integrated into mainstream evolutionary thinking, along with the importance of arrival bias
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