iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Max Reuter @maxreuter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Our paper on detecting (or not) balancing selection is now out, in all its typeset beauty, in the October issue of @molbioevol.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

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KamilSJaron.bsky.social @kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I am so excited to see this preprint out. I started working on springtails with @laurarossevo.bsky.social in 2019, but this pinnacle of our efforts manifested only with heroric leadership of Sam Ebdon! So, what's the deal? 👇

Globular springtail Allacma fusca. Female, one of the samples in the linked preprint.

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Laura Ross @laurarossevo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My lab @ Edinburgh university is recruiting a postdoc to work on the weird and wonderful germline-specific chromosomes of flies. elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... collaboration with @germline.bsky.social and yukiko yamashita funded by @novonordisk.bsky.social please repost!

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

🐦 Why are bird genomes so difficult to assemble? Birds have dozens of tiny, gene-rich microchromosomes that are frequently fragmented, misplaced, or missing from genome assemblies despite containing important genetic information. 📖 Read the publication: lnkd.in/gar-GrKZ #BirdGenomics #Biodiversity

A promotional graphic on a black background featuring a collage of more than 30 brightly colored bird species from around the world, including birds-of-paradise, toucans, parrots, hummingbirds, flamingos, cranes, owls, kingfishers, waterfowl, raptors, and songbirds. The birds are arranged around the centered text, "MicroFinder Is Now Available," with "MicroFinder" in gold and "Is Now Available" in white. The image highlights the diversity of avian species and announces the release of the MicroFinder computational tool for improving bird genome assemblies.

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Marcela Uliano-Silva @marcelauliano.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Evolution of genomes drives me. So does social justice. Had a blast speaking on LINE1s creating novelty in sloths genomes and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Challenges to sequence all life on Earth with and for the benefit of all at #SMBE2026 Paper at: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Heng Li @lh3lh3.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Minibwa is a hybrid of bwa-mem and minimap2 and the successor of bwa-mem for short-read mapping. ~4X/2.5X as fast as bwa-mem/bwa-mem2 for WGS reads at comparable accuracy. Native support of directional bisulfite-seq. Applicable to long reads. Preprint at arxiv.org/abs/2606.15357

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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

enough real fossil people follow me to ask: what the hell did I just find on the English jurassic coast??

Photo of my hand hand holding what looks like a big chicken bone, blavk and broken on one side, seems to be a rock but is lighter

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Wellcome Sanger Institute @sangerinstitute.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Scientists have developed a new tool that makes bird genomes faster and easier to assemble — including tiny pieces of DNA that are usually missed. 🐦‍⬛ The new tool, known as MicroFinder, could help improve research into bird evolution, biodiversity and conservation. 👇 bit.ly/4wG023C

sanger.ac.uk

New tool helps accurately assemble notoriously difficult bird genomes

MicroFinder can be used to assemble bird genomes much quicker and more accurately than ever before.

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GigaScience Journal @gigascience.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

New tool alert! MicroFinder, just published in GigaScience, helps assemble notoriously tricky bird genomes—faster & more accurately than ever before. doi.org/10.1093/giga...; www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/ne...

doi.org

MicroFinder: conserved gene-set mapping and assembly ordering for manual curation of bird dot microchromosomes

AbstractBackground. Obtaining chromosomally complete genome assemblies across the tree of life is an important goal of biodiversity genomics. However, some

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KamilSJaron.bsky.social @kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

A big preprint from my group! Muller Elements are considered to be conserved in flies. We tested it by reconstructing the ancestral dipteran karyotype using 340 chromosomal genomes and suprise suprise, they're not... Led by @juliagries.bsky.social and Sam Ebdon. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵👇

Schema of three major chromosomal rearrangements leading to Muller Elements of Drosophila melanogaster since the common ancestor of Diptera.

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Carmen Denman Hume @carmcdhume.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

It's been really fascinating learning all about the quirks of micro- and dot-chromosomes from experts like Dr @tom-mathers.bsky.social here at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social! The beautiful bird photo features a black-headed gull, captured by one of our staff members/birders in procurement! 📸

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Saskia Hogenhout @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

New preprint on pop #genomics of #spittlebug—the main insect vector of Xylella, the bacterium that has ravaged olive groves in southern Italy 🇮🇹 🫒 Take-home: problematic insect vector may be less widespread than initially thought—important implications for disease control 💥 👇

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bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Whole-Genome Population Genomics Reveals Lineage Structure and Adaptive Potential of Philaenus spumarius, the Principal Vector of Xylella fastidiosa in Europe www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

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Roberto Biello @rsbiello.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

We have a new preprint! In this study, we use #genomic data to uncover population structure and adaptive potential in the meadow #spittlebug, the main European #vector of #Xylella fastidiosa.

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KamilSJaron.bsky.social @kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Does anyone have a photo of Charles W. Metz by any chance? He originally isolated the Holo2 line of Bradysia coprophila we still use after more than 100 years after their original capture.

Photo of Bradysia coprophila by Sam Ebdon

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Alison Wright @alielw.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬 We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies. Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!

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Marcela Uliano-Silva @marcelauliano.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Preprint Alert! 🦥 We produced complete genomes for 2 Xenarthra and placed them in a mammalian comparative framework. We found that Xenarthra harbour the largest number of retrocopies in mammals! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Retrocopy formation and domestication shape genome evolution in sloths and other xenarthrans

Xenarthrans, comprising sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, represent one of the most morphologically and physiologically specialised mammalian clades, yet the genomic basis of their adaptations remain...

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Second cut of the year for the rosemary hedge. The most fragrant job in the garden!

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Marcela Uliano-Silva @marcelauliano.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Now out! Paper led by @philmor1964.bsky.social and the The Cetacean Genomes Project. An effort by many, we present 13 new, high-quality reference genomes for cetaceans 🐬🐋 following @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social and @ebpgenome.bsky.social standards for a group that is very hard to sample from.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

😱 Simultaneously curating all 8 haplotypes of octaploid Carpinus betulus (European hornbeam). One set of chromosomes down, many more to go... @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Darwin Tree of Life.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Great to see this out. Hopefully very useful assemblies for the community. These were very challenging to assemble due to high heterozygosity and lots of recent repeat activity. Tom Heaven put in a huge effort with manual #HiC #curation to get them in good shape.

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Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Heaven @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social et al. generated chromosome-level genomes for three psyllid species that are plant disease vectors, revealing detoxification gene expansions and genetic substructure across Europe. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf116 #genome #entomology

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Helenium Moerheim Beauty doing well in the dry conditions.

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Joana Meier @joanameier.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Join us on the Wellcome Genome Campus of the Sanger Institute and EBI for a symposium on biodiversity genomics from 27th-29th October! Abstract deadline on 14 July. There is also an option to join via Zoom, but in-person is much nicer if you can make it.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

First group three clematis flowers. Early this year due to the hot spring.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Shropshire lad, grown from a cutting.

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Mark McMullan @mcmullan0.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Thanks for posting @reviewcommons.org If you're interested you can also find the reviewed version here: doi.org/10.7554/eLif... Really keen to get people's perspectives on the population genetics of reservoirs, and what they tell us about variation associated with emergent crop pathogens.

doi.org

Developing a crop- wild-reservoir pathogen system to understand pathogen evolution and emergence

Evidence for those pathogen genes selected specifically for success on crops.

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Rowena Hill @rowenahill.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Our recent paper is out where we propose kmer-based phylogenetics for fungal Starship TEs (which are unalignable as highly variable). We think it could help with spotting bonafide HGT events (and suggest direction of transfer?) doi.org/10.1093/g3jo... @mcmullan0.bsky.social @norwichmicro.bsky.social

academic.oup.com

Starship giant transposable elements cluster by host taxonomy using k-mer-based phylogenetics

Abstract. Starships are a recently established superfamily of giant cargo-mobilizing transposable elements in the fungal subphylum Pezizomyotina (phylum As

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Rowena Hill @rowenahill.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Our paper on phylogenetics of fungal Starship TEs is now on the cover of the June issue of Genetics @genetics-gsa.bsky.social 🙂 academic.oup.com/genetics/iss... @mcmullan0.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

Cover for the June issue of the journal Genetics, with an abstract illustration in the background showing starships flying through space trailing DNA sequences that meet in the bottom right corner to form a circular phylogenetic tree

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Kevin Kocot @kmkocot.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

New pub on genome sample collection and processing: "Best-practice guidance for Earth BioGenome Project sample collection and processing: progress and challenges in biodiverse reference genome creation" academic.oup.com/gigascience/...

academic.oup.com

Best-practice guidance for Earth BioGenome Project sample collection and processing: progress and challenges in biodiverse reference genome creation

Abstract. The Earth BioGenome Project has the extremely ambitious goal of generating, at scale, high-quality reference genomes across the entire Tree of Li

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Javier Santoyo @jsantoyo.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Starship giant transposable elements cluster by host taxonomy using k-mer-based phylogenetics. #TransposableElements #TEs #Kmer #Phylogenetics #Genomics #Bioinformatics #G3 🧬 🖥️ academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

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Nancy Moran @nancy-moran.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms. web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...

web.biosci.utexas.edu

Nancy Moran Contact

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Dongwook Kim @dongwookkim.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Unicore is now published on GBE 🚀 Unicore rapidly identifies structural single-copy core genes from input species proteomes for phylogenetic analysis. Powered by Foldseek and ProstT5, Unicore enables linear-scale structure-based phylogeny of any given set of taxa. 🧵1/n 📃 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf109

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Niklas Wahlberg @lepphylo.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Oh wow, a new lepidopteran fossil dated to 236 My! Along with a reanalysis of molecular data using the new calibration. Are Lepidoptera really older than 300 My? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Back to the poop: the oldest hexapod scales discovered within a Triassic coprolite from Argentina

Life on Earth nearly came to an end during the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME; c. 252 Ma). In its aftermath, the Triassic witnessed the adaptation …

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mara lawniczak @marakat.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

if you have an interest in improving the genomic resources available for mosquitoes, please fill in our google form at tinyurl.com/MosquitoReferenceGenomes. please share this with colleagues who might be interested. thank you! [3/3]

tinyurl.com

We are seeking mosquito biologists around the world who would be interested in collecting and contributing specimens of any vector species that currently lacks a reference genome. Aim: We are aiming ...

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Rosa Charles de Mills with Geum Totally Tangerine.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Thanks! The gene set in the current version is tailored for birds but no reason why this approach couldn’t help with other species using a custom gene set. We started with birds as there had been a long-standing problem finding all the micros.

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KamilSJaron.bsky.social @kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Interested to read a perspective by >160 reproductive biologists? The new Tree of Sex white paper is out! Led by @danjeffries.bsky.social 👏

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Bearded iris are enjoying the very dry spring. This one is Action Front.

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Tom Mathers @tom-mathers.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Thanks! It is a fairly simple idea but we have found it useful for birds coming through the Darwin Tree of Life project.

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Amjad Khalaf 🇵🇸 @amjadkhalaf.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

New preprint! We generate 40 new high-quality microsporidian genomes from infected arthropod hosts that were sequenced to create reference genomes by the Darwin Tree of Life project. 8 of our genomes are chromosome-level, and we’re able to generate Hi-C data for 7! 🧬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Forty New Genomes Shed Light on Sexual Reproduction and the Origin of Tetraploidy in Microsporidia

Microsporidia are single-celled, obligately intracellular parasites with growing public health, agricultural, and economic importance. Despite this, Microsporidia remain relatively enigmatic, with man...

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