Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Madlen Stange @mstange.bsky.social · 4h

Extreme female philopatry in Pachypus beetles reveals 14 cryptic species!
🧬 Our study shows ancient speciation (5.3mya) despite limited dispersal, linked to the Messinian salinity crisis. Integrative taxonomy uncovers hidden diversity. #Taxonomy #Genetics url: academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...

Cryptic species can be phylogenetically old despite strong sex-biased dispersal

Abstract. The impact of strongly differentiated populations on species delimitation due to limited or sex-biased dispersal remains challenging and under-ex

academic.oup.com

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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 2h

This is my kinda college hotel. My room has a coffee table book of all the plants on campus, organized phylogenetically! At Huazhong Agricultural University.

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Robert G. Björk @robertgbjork.bsky.social · 12d

🎉We have announced a new professorship at the University of Gothenburg 🇸🇪 to celebrate our Crown Princess’s 50th birthday!
🌿Broad focus on biodiversity — from microbes to modelling
📢A fantastic opportunity for researchers working across scales and disciplines!

🔗 web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103...

The Crown Princess Victoria Professorship in Biodiversity

Professorship in Biodiversity. The University of Gothenburg hereby announces a unique and prestigious position – the

web103.reachmee.com

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · 2h

🚀 The next edition of Bioinformatics of Transposable Elements with @valentinapeona.bsky.social & @ritarebollo.bsky.social is just around the corner!

🧬 Jump into the world of #transposons and level up your #bioinformatics skills

⏳ Seats are limited: www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · 22h

Interested in phylogenomics and genome evolution? Join us in Cesky Krumlov next January! The list of topics and faculty is simply spectacular! 🧬🪾🧬🪲🦞🦐🌿🌾🦠🧫

Workshops @evomics.bsky.social · 15d

The 2026 Workshop on Phylogenomics will take place between the 25th of January and 7th of February, in Cesky Krumlov, Czechia. 🧬🌳 Applications are now open! Deadline: 15th of November, 2025. Do not miss the chance to attend! Spread the word among colleagues! 🤗 evomics.org/apply-worksh...

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Ryo Yamaguchi @r-yamaguchi.bsky.social · 12h

New review out! With students in my lab, we explore how population size shapes speciation—from drift in small populations to selection in large ones. Do small or large populations speciate faster? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.
esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Speciation Through the Lens of Population Dynamics: A Theoretical Primer on How Small and Large Populations Diverge

Population size and dynamics fundamentally shape speciation by influencing genetic drift, founder events, and adaptive potential. Small populations may speciate rapidly due to stronger drift, whereas...

esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Journal of the Marine Biological Association @journalofthemba.bsky.social · 18d

"Why sequence the #genome of every species? A view from evolutionary biology" Did you catch this amazing new review in our journal by @peterhox.bsky.social? REad it for FREE here now: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @thembauk.bsky.social #dnasequencing #chromosome #mutation #evolution

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

David Berger @dbergerbiol.bsky.social · 15d

How do insects respond to changing climates? Our new review and analysis in @annualreviews.bsky.social suggests that phenological adaptation trumps thermal adaptation.

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Life-History Evolution of Insects in Response to Climate Variation: Seasonal Timing Versus Thermal Physiology | Annual Reviews

Climate adaptation in insects can proceed via responses in life-history traits and their thermal plasticity and through phenological shifts mediated by responses to photoperiodic cues (photoperiodism)...

www.annualreviews.org

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 5d

This:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!

Stop treating code like an afterthought: record, share and value it

Scientists, research institutions, funders, libraries and publishers must all improve software practices.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Pável Matos @pavelmatosm.bsky.social · 10d

It's been great hosting you, @marcinwiorek.bsky.social! Looking forward to more collaborations together 🦋🧬

10kLepGenomes @10klepgenomes.bsky.social · 10d

(1/2)🚀 New successful STSM of CA23122 – 10kLepGenomes!
@marcinwiorek.bsky.social (Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals Polish Academy of Sciences) joined @pavelmatosm.bsky.social for a 2-week collaboration at the Institute of Entomology - Biology Centre CAS (České Budějovice) 👇🏼

Pável Matos-Maraví (STSM supervisor) and Marcin Wiorek (STSM researcher).

Marcin Wiorek inspecting the collection of Lepidoptera at the Biology Centre CAS (České Budějovice).

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Max Fürst @maxfus.bsky.social · 10d

Un-frigging-believable. I have waited for something like this for so long!

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Edward T Eng @edwardteng.bsky.social · 10d

Muyuan Chen has turned structural biology into an immersive experience with his new video game Meowtabolism, now available on Steam.
Try the demo here: store.steampowered.com/app/4045010/...
Give Muyuan feedback: steamcommunity.com/app/4045010
#ScienceGaming #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #STEMOutreach

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 26d

@nicolasdussex.bsky.social et al. investigate the genomic basis of adaptation in the Svalbard reindeer, an endemic subspecies that colonized the High Arctic ~7,000 years ago, adapting to extreme cold, day length changes, and resource scarcity.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf160

#genome #evolution

GBE | The Genomic Basis of the Svalbard Reindeer's Adaptation to an Extreme Arctic Environment

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · Jul 1

Early bird applications are now open! Go go go genomics!

Workshops @evomics.bsky.social · Jul 1

Applications are now open for the Workshop on Genomics 2026 (11-24 Jan) in Cesky Krumlov, Czechia. For the first time, we are offering Early Bird Registration discounts! 🐣 Do not miss the chance! 🤩 Help us spread the word among friends and colleagues! 🙆🏽‍♀️ #evomics2026
evomics.org/apply-worksh...

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Riccardo Pianezza @rpianezza.bsky.social · 11d

We discovered an endogenous retrovirus that's still spreading in natural D. melanogaster populations! It was horizontally transferred from D. erecta in Central Africa, so we named it "Kuruka", which means "jump" in Swahili. Read its cool story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 10d

Happy Anatomically Incorrect Invertebrate season to all who celebrate

A fake snail with a skull for a shell and bony body

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Christopher Wheat @chriswheat.bsky.social · 10d

I see you fellow fan!!! From today:

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 11d

Rapid, accurate long- and short-read mapping to large pangenome graphs with vg Giraffe www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧬🖥️🧪 github.com/vgteam/long-...

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Ana Ignatieva @anaignatieva.bsky.social · 12d

Delighted that our paper about the distribution of genomic spans of clades/edges in genealogies (ARGs), and using this for detecting inversions and other SVs (and other phenomena that cause local disruption of recombination) is out in MBE academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... (1/n)

The Length of Haplotype Blocks and Signals of Structural Variation in Reconstructed Genealogies

Abstract. Recent breakthroughs have enabled the accurate inference of large-scale genealogies. Through modelling the impact of recombination on the correla

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 13d

Schall & @jeffreymkidd.bsky.social characterized structural variation in dogs using a combination of long- and short-read data and genome assemblies. Several SVs have frequency profiles across breeds consistent with selection.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf173

#genome #evolution #TEsky

Structural variation makes an important contribution to genetic diversity. An integrated analysis of long-read and short-read sequencing data created an expanded database of structural variation in canines. Several structural variants, including multiple mobile element insertions, have frequency profiles across major clades of modern dog breeds consistent with selection.

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Physalia-courses@Online @physaliacourses.bsky.social · Apr 23

Interested in the analysis on Transposable elements? 🧬
Have a look at our course with @valentinapeona.bsky.social & @ritarebollo.bsky.social

We'll cover everything from TE biology to de novo library construction, quantification, & transcriptomic analysis.

www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Ewan Birney @ewanbirney.bsky.social · 13d

Great stuff from Leland also involving my research group - there is a whole new previously hard to access layer of molecular control via RNA modifications on mRNA

Oxford Nanopore @nanoporetech.com · 13d

Methylation goes beyond just 5mC, but legacy sequencing methods do not.

Join our CoLab at #ASHG to learn how Dr Leyland Taylor is unravelling the dynamic regulatory role of multiple RNA mods in type 2 diabetes using Oxford Nanopore sequencing. nanoporetech.com/about/events...

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10kLepGenomes @10klepgenomes.bsky.social · 13d

Congratulations to our webpage manager @marcinwiorek.bsky.social !

Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals PAS @iseapas.bsky.social · 13d

Our 🦋 lepidopterist, Dr Marcin Wiorek, has been elected a co-Editor-in-Chef of Nota Lepidopterologica @notalepido.bsky.social! ⬇️

Nota Lepidopterologica @notalepido.bsky.social · 15d

Eight years after joining Nota Lepidopterologica's editorial team, David Lees @microlepidoptera.bsky.social is stepping down from his role as our co-Editor-in-Chief. Taking his place is Marcin Wiorek @marcinwiorek.bsky.social , whom we warmly welcome!

blog.pensoft.net/2025/09/30/n...

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Emily Josephs @emjo.bsky.social · 18d

Another year using @kitchensjn.bsky.social + @gcbias.bsky.social's intuitive circle plots to discuss human genetic variation in my undergrad genetics class james-kitchens.com/blog/visuali...

Visualizing Human Genetic Diversity

A key insight from human genetics is that, as a species, we are all very genetically similar to one another and share much of our genetic variation. Our genome can be depicted as a string of letters (...

james-kitchens.com

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Reposted by Christopher Wheat

Joachim Mergeay @jmergeay.bsky.social · 19d

Viktoria köppä presenting genetic EBVs in Sweden’s genetic monitoring 🧪🧬
for the #GenMonFin project

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