iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

My current opinion of journal publishers offering an AI chatbot about papers... side-eye'ing Wiley journals.

image of me asking an AI chatbot how to turn it off, and it not being able to answer.

John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Interested in gene family evolution, mutualism, & gene expression ? Check out this talk by post-doc @damianmicroeco.bsky.social with @meafkhami.bsky.social Connections between gene family expansion and context-dependent expression in mutualism! Wed, 6/24, 4:15-4:30, Room 25B. #Evol2026.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The amazing Amanda Peake is presenting this work at #Evol2026. Go check it out, where she boils down several years of work into 15 minutes! Ecological Genetics II, 4:30 - 4:45, Room 24, Monday 6/22/2026.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Why so rare, especially compared to flower color polymorphisms in the closely related Ipomoea purpurea? (I think @gbaucom.bsky.social sent me these images from her field work). First, purpurea is mixed mating, and white flowered alleles getting a transmission advantage from selfing.

Top image of collage: white and purple flowers of Ipomoea purpurea.

Bottom image of collage: Pink and purple flowers of Ipomoea purpurea.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

How do you turn a purple flower white? Another from lab, led by @damianmicroeco.bsky.social and Emily Glasgow, with big contributions from Martin Henry, Margaret Li, and Amanda Peake. Mendelian Polymorphisms for the Win! #evolbio #plantscience

White-flowered Ipomoea hederacea, lacking anthocyanins in the flowers and throughout the plant

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Why are leaves the shape that they are? What controls intraspecific, genetic variation in leaf shape? New from my lab, in collaboration with many others, led by PhD student Amanda Peake: mapping the leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea.

Homozygous recessive entire leaf of Ivyleaf morning glory

Homozygous dominant, lobed leaf of Ivyleaf morning glory

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Current, former, and future Stinchcombe lab members who were in attendance @csee-sceemtgs.bsky.social tgs.bsky.social ... Fun to see the interaction b/w my very first UofT undergraduate research student from Fall 2005 and an entering PhD student for Fall 2026... Super fun meeting! #CSEE

Group of evolutionary biologists eating dumplings in Toronto

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

A stunning day to be in the field in Southern Ontario today, at the Koffler Scientific Reserve, @ksrjokershill.bsky.social

The Raymond Moriyama pavilion at the Koffler Scientific Reserve, with goldenrods in the foreground, a pond, and willows fringing the pond.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Congrats to Dr. Meng Yuan, who defended her PhD on the genome-wide potential for ploidy & sexual conflict in plants! Many thanks to @judithmank.bsky.social for serving as her external examiner. A fun collaboration w/ @stepheniwright.bsky.social and also @stuartmcdaniel.bsky.social for a paper!

Photo of Dr. Meng Yuan (center), and Aneil Agrawal, Megan Bontrager, John Stinchcombe, Judith Mank, Stephen Wright, and Asher Cutter.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

What we all wish we could say to reviewer 2, or overly aggressive conference questions.

Screenshot of Jordon Hudson cutting off questioning of UNC football coach Bill Belichick.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

I don't know..... I look at Figure 2 in the paper-- not the news and views summary-- and I see a lot more Mendelian variation than quantitative genetic variation. This snap shot of Figure 2 looks like the old-fashioned Punnett square still works.....

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

She then used Principal Component regression to estimate selection accounting for the correlated expression of other genes. We found appreciable selection, centered around zero. Perhaps not surprisingly, selection on the expression of individual genes is much weaker than on macro phenotypes.

Screenshot of distribution of selection gradients.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

To measure selection on expression, for each gene she estimated selection differentials. Mean expression of those that reproduced minus mean expression of the entire population. At manageable sample sizes, she detected phenotypic expression to increase & decrease gene expression.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

She grew ~ 100 individuals of Ipomoea hederacea at our field station, the Koffler Scientific Reserve. At the midpoint of their life cycle, she gathered leaf tissue for RNAseq. At the end of the season, she scored fitness components: those that reproduced successfully, & seed set, given reproduction.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Interested in gene expression, machine learning, natural selection, and evolution? My former student, Georgia Henry just published a paper that may interest you. Her goal: understand how natural selection acts on the transcriptome, within a single generation experiment, *in the field*.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 31/10/2024

I am interested in recruiting PhD students in the area of plant ecological genetics! Potential topics include ecological genomics in Arabidopsis, morning glory, or ragweed; plant-microbe interactions; or new topics at the intersection of quant gen and pop gen. Application portal opens Nov 1.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 26/07/2024

While I'm sad to miss #Evol2024, two grad students from my lab will be there to present their PhD work: Amanda Peake (@GWAS_Peake on the other place) and Meng Yuan (@imengyuan on the bird site) who I coadvise with @stepheniwright.bsky.social ! Please say hello and check out their work!

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 04/10/2023

Hi! I'm John Stinchcombe (EEB, UToronto). I'm looking to recruit PhD students to work on plant ecological genetics. We blend field work, greenhouse experiments, & genetics. (Like @flybehaviour.bsky.social I’m in Canada, which has nationalized healthcare, bodily autonomy for women, & gun control).

Images of plants, greenhouse, and field work.

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 11/09/2023

1 week in the books @SCAS_Uppsala! Still settling in, and trying to enjoy the tail end of summer.

Inside University Main Building, Uppsala University

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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 22/08/2023

This stuff is remarkably good. Surprisingly, because it came from a foil pouch like a Capri Sun.

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