Transposon silencing is essential for germline development. Sophie Liddell et al. report the results of a genetic screen aimed at identifying genes required for gurken mRNA localization in the developing #Drosophila oocyte & uncover novel phenotypes of piRNA pathway mutants. doi.org/10.1242/bio....

This story is absolutely wild. Did you know that avocados change sex over the course of a day? And that it's controlled by a single ancient balanced polymorphism? This is flat our crazy

0.00003 foot tall xmas tree from a Drosophila flight steering muscle 🎄 image by @anne-sustar.bsky.social

Our preprint "Predictive design of tissue-specific mammalian enhancers that function in vivo in the mouse embryo" is on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... . Amazing collaboration by @shenzhichen1999.bsky.social, Vincent Loubiere (@impvienna.bsky.social,@viennabiocenter.bsky.social),... (1/2)

A little Christmas gift for the molecular biology nerds! I love the simplicity of this idea: very useful (and small) plasmid selection system that alleviates the need for antibiotics in molbio and bioprocesses. Elegant work by my former PhD student, lab, and colleagues: doi.org/10.1021/acss...

Intrigued by a long-standing conundrum in small RNA biology—how nuclear Argonaute proteins silence transposons when they *need* target transcription for their own recruitment—we studied the piRNA pathway. And found a hidden RNA-decay axis from Piwi to the RNA exosome.

Happy to share two BioRxiv manuscripts from our lab. One on genetic Argonaute interaction and unexpected non-correlation between small RNAs and their targets: doi.org/10.64898/202... The second on IDR processing and IDR-mediated Argonaute loading control: doi.org/10.64898/202... Merry Xmas😊

All right it’s time for the annual “please tell us about one (or a few if you are ambitious) paper from 2025 that really impressed you and why we should all read it“! Go! If you tell us how it changed your view of the world and what makes it so powerful and consequential It would be excellent.

Very happy to share that I just published a new paper from my thesis! 🎉 We analysed 546 species of ant to understand how extreme specialisation into reproductive and non-reproductive roles evolved.  Key discoveries in thread🧵 👇 Full paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Do you want to play a key role in running a cutting-edge stem cell and embryology lab at reNEW @ucph.bsky.social ? We’re hiring a Lab Manager to support our team and help with stem cell and animal work. Apply before Feb. 1st : rb.gy/d5uf17

RNA decay via the nuclear exosome is essential for piwi-mediated transposon silencing https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694471v1

I have to say this was (once again) one of the best meetings I have very attended. The breath of topics was amazing as well as the very collaborative and supportive nature of the participants. It is very refreshing to be part of community who values curiosity driven science so much!

A few days left to apply for exciting PhD and Postdoc opportunities in wonderful Copenhagen and join our efforts in understanding Epigenetic Cell Memory.

Experimental structures provide valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace evolutionary and statistical analyses of protein sequences

I’m really concerned about early career scientists using generative AI in writing, because writing is how we think and reflect. There’s almost nothing *more* human than that, and to give that gift away to a machine is almost unconscionable to me

As 2025 comes to an end, it’s time for me to say good bye to my postdoc home during the past 6 years – the Pauli lab @pauligroup.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social

Took us a bit, but proud of this published version. We now examine the genetic interaction of phosphorylation with oligomerization and where bulk and phospho-Swi6 localize. Wonder if chromatin affinity tuning to enable Suv39 H3K9me3 spreading is a conserved mechanism ? doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Fantastic #EvoChromo25. Wonderful iteration, learned a lot - and loved the Nirenberg gold Luger nucleosome prize ! Humor sun and outstanding and thought-provoking science.

@pravrutharaman.bsky.social got super intrigued about EZHIP/CATACOMB, previously identified as a histone H3K27M mimic of PRC2. You can read about her efforts here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We hope these analyses will help spur more analyses in this very cool gene! 1/

The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge invites expressions of interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships to establish an independent research group. ➡️For further details see the link below www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/group-l...

So excited to finally be able to share my first paper and the culmination of my PhD work with @felipekteixeira.bsky.social 🪰🔬 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Super proud of this work!!!

Preprint alert! It is my great pleasure to announce the first manuscript from the lab, a story that started @gmivienna.bsky.social and was mainly accomplished by the intrepid @gesahoffmann.bsky.social at @mpi-mp-potsdam.bsky.social. A brief thread with our findings www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are thrilled to announce the first official release (v0.1.8) of #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿, the successor to one of our flagship tool, #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀! Based on ideas we conceived of long ago (!), this was achieved thanks to the dedication of Brent Pedersen. 1/n

We are looking for a Postdoc to join us at the Center for Gene Expression @cgen2025.bsky.social at the University of Copenhagen! Full advertisement here: employment.ku.dk/faculty/?sho...

New preprint: 🚀🧬 Starship in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria. Discovery of giant transposons Starships challenged what we thought we knew about fungal genomes. But what about Starships in #lichen fungi? Let us present Tangerine! 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...

There are a couple of empty chairs at our table — want to sit with us? Reach out to me or any lab member www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/research... We’ll be hiring two postdocs in 2026. We’re excited about ambitious and creative ideas and are committed to supporting future group leaders 1/2

How to keep in step when your (protein) partner speeds up… Here we investigated the adaptive remodeling of a protein-protein interaction surface essential for telomere protection. Congrats to whole team! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

this is very interesting! @astridhaase.bsky.social are these pseudogenes sitting in the previously annotated major pachytene clusters? And do you see phased piRNA production from the targeted genes (like Spin1) due to slicing? lovely work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Beautiful story on the evolutionary response to fly telomeres battling the genome they protect the ends of! Also, nice to see that the dream data clarity we all imagine when starting a project can actually materialize! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @sungyalin.bsky.social @levine-lab.bsky.social

🧬🛡️How are new immune mechanisms created? We show how Lamassu antiphage system, originated from a DNA-repair complex and evolved into a compact and modular immune machine, wt Dinshaw Patel lab in @pnas.org. 👏 @matthieu-haudiquet.bsky.social, Arpita Chakravarti & all authors! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

There a is a joint call between @pasteur.fr and @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social for a mid career group leader position in AI and genomics (or molecular biology). Don't hesistate to spread the word if you know anyone relevant. research.pasteur.fr/en/call/mid-...

So excited to share this as a new junior PI: My brand-new lab website! 🎉🪰🌀 www.bischofflab.com Please pass it on to young, motivated researchers looking for PhD positions 😊 And for the #FluorescenceFriday community: don’t miss the SciArt Gallery! #CellBio #DevBio #PhDjob #PhDposition #Science

A new and fascinating story from @bencarty.bsky.social and the group, with crucial help from the teams of @naltemose.bsky.social, Simona Giunta, and @dfachinetti.bsky.social. Many thanks to all for a fantastic collaboration. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.

Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬 To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain). 🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy

open postdoc call in our friendly neighborgroup with Esben Lorentzen. Higly recommed🌟: www.au.dk/om/stillinge...

🚀New preprint from our lab! I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡 Continue reading (🧵)

Lastly, I’m excited to join @imbmainz.bsky.social in 2026 to start my own lab. We'll explore new mechanisms in eukaryotic gene expression, leveraging ‘evolutionary play’ to uncover how regulation, repurposing, and hijacking shape RNA biology. tinyurl.com/y4x29ctt Thanks for reading! 20/20

Finally out in @nature.com! We uncovered a mechanistic framework for a general and conserved mRNA nuclear export pathway. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... 1/

Very creative approach and findings about how pathogens manipulate host cells. @miketilapia.bsky.social recently presented this work here at Aarhus University => inspiration + fun discussions. Looking forward to diving into the full story!

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.

Somehow I couldn’t reach the #Dipteran #Evolution community with my question… so maybe I need something controversial 😄 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐲𝐳𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜! #Phylogeny #TreeOfLife #Drosophila #Diptera (… 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸)

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

Are you an early-stage graduate student (2nd or 3rd year) or early-stage postdoc based in the US or Canada, working primarily in Drosophila? Would you like to help improve the experience of all trainees working in Drosophila research? If so, read on. (Please repost to reach a broad audience.)

Chromatin fatigue: DNA repair alters the chromatin environment and introduces heritable variation in gene expression in a larger region around the lesion! Amazing achievement by @sbantele.bsky.social and Jiri Lukas published in @science.org 🙌 Happy we could contribute. See 👇

FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...

New paper from the lab: we’re using long-read sequencing to disentangle isoform complexity at allele-specific loci 🧬💡 Here, we combine the PacBio Iso-Seq workflow with the established WhatsHap phasing approach to assign long reads to the correct allele in polymorphic F1 mouse hybrids.

I feel like I'm going crazy. Is reviewing grants and papers time-consuming and painful, but a vitally important part of our job and the scientific enterprise? Or is it drudge work we're supposed to outsource to AI?

Delighted to share Array Assembler — a web tool for designing oligos for generating crRNA arrays for #Cas12 and #Cas13 systems. Input spacers and key plasmid details to generate an order-ready XLSX of oligos, streamlining array creation while minimising cost, time, and errors. Happy CRISPRing!