I'm recruiting PhD students for the Barker Lab @uofa-eeb.bsky.social We study plant evolutionary genomics - polyploidy, hybridization & machine learning for genome evolution. Work with Selaginella, Xanthisma, Brassica & more. Funding available via CAMBIUM Fellowships. Reach out if interested! 🧬🌵🤖

Daaaaaaamn

Kansas University Student started a open letter to the Chancellor calling for a rejection of the White House compact on higher education. actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

“White House officials have invited Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Kansas and Arizona State University to a Friday meeting” along with the University of Arizona, University of Texas, Dartmouth, and Vanderbilt!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity. But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing? PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2: A free online book by @nrennie.bsky.social that guides us through the entire process of creating plots, including why certain decisions were made, using real datasets that have been part of #TidyTuesday. Very excited to get stuck into this one. #rstats

An & Nam investigated chromosome size and TE organization in ten butterfly species, showing lepidopterans have denser TEs in smaller chromosomes, with nonallelic homologous recombination as a potential driving force. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf137 #genome #evolution #TEsky

The struggle is real. The struggle is ongoing. Here's to hoping that unionizing can, hopefully someday soon, bring about some needed changes here... weeklyroseku.blogspot.com/2025/08/kuni...

1) Are you an Assistant Professor studying evolutionary biology? 2) Are you in the US? 3) Would you like to give a research seminar in Iowa? 4) Are you available to travel September 4-6? If you can answer YES x4, please DM me ASAP, or comment below.

Watch 66 Oscar-Nominated-and-Award-Winning Animated Shorts Online, Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada

Transgenic Plodia larvae expressing the very bright mBaoJin (mStayGold variant) in its silk glands. Also some gorgeous 3xP3:mCherry staining of larval ocelli and glia. (see revised preprint) by pantry moth wizards @donyaniyaz.bsky.social & @lucalivraghi.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...

**REPAT proteins as mediators of pathogen-insect-plant interactions in Spodoptera exigua** Cristina Crava, Universitat de Valencia Plants have direct and indirect defenses to insect herbivory.

**Kynurenine 3-monooxygenase disruption by CRISPR/Cas9 in Spodoptera exigua: phenotype, microbial diversity, and fitness costs** Daniel Pinos, Universitat de Valencia #lepgencrete Focus on plant-insect-pathogen interactions. Some bacteria produce important/required compounds for host.

**A climate change winner: How warmer and brighter winters trigger the expansion of the pine processionary moth** Jean-Pierre Rossi, CBGP, INRAE, Montpelier, France #lepgenecrete Pine processionary moth produces urticating hairs producing strong allergic reactions in humans and other animals.

**Evolution and diversification of mimicry and masquerade in butterflies** Wei Zhang, Peking University, China #lepgencrete Focus on mimicry, either mimicking other similar species (e.g. batesian; mullerian) or mimicry of environment for crypsis.

**Diversification in Alpine butterflies: from macroevolutionary patterns to microevolutionary processes** Kay Lucek, University of Neuchatel, @kaybiodiversity.bsky.social #lepgenecrete Context: continuum of speciation, with decreasing gene flow as divergence progresses biodiversity-genomics.ch

Looking forward to receive many applications! If there are questions contact me.

we made a fun little video abstract youtu.be/Kunvn2GDq8o?...

Egg cooling after oviposition extends the permissive period for microinjection-mediated genome modification in Bombyx mori Keiro Uchino National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan #lepgencrete Typically injection must be done <8h after oviposition for successful transgenesis.

**Evolving Patterns: An Evo-Devo Exploration of Butterfly Wing elements** Anyi Mazo-Vargas, Duke University, North Carolina, USA #lepgencrete Nymphalid "ground plan" first proposed ~100 years ago. Demonstrates some spp obviousy follow this basic plan, but others are much more divergent.

**Effects of parasitic infections in generalist and specialist moths** Astrid T. Groot , University of Amsterdam Focus on evolutionary chemical ecology of Leps.

**The genetic mechanisms of leaf masquerade mimicry in Kallima butterflies** Dequn Teng (Wei Zhang lab, Peking University, China) #lepgencrete Butterfly wing patterns are excellent model for understanding phenotypic diversification.

**Museomics insights into colour polymorphism of Apamea** Lisa Shuart, U Wageningen Museum samples present temporal axis to sampling. Can musuem samples be used to identify wing-color genes in Apamea moths, hypothesized to be a mendelian trait?

Midweek at #lepgencrete conference we take a half-day excursion. This time we went to the beach, and had dinner at a hillside taverna.

**Parallel evolution of silver iridescence dimorphisms in fritillary butterflies** Luca Livraghi, George Washington U, Washington DC @lucalivraghi.bsky.social from @evolvwing.bsky.social lab Broad motivation: connect genotype-development-phenotype. Use "micro-evo-deco" approach intraspecific vars

**Characterizing the olfactory system of Spodoptera exigua larvae** Daniel Pinos, Universitat de Valencia #lepgencrete beet armywrom is polyphagous agricultural pest, used as model for olfaction and entomopathogens, and their interactions.

**The developmental origin and regulation of a complex repeated trait: eyespots on the wings of Lepidoptera** Antónia Monteiro, National U of Singapore #lepgencrete Eyespots appear in numerous different Lep species, and on different positions: Discal vs Marginal.

A view of ongoing sessions at #lepgencrete conference. Comfy chairs and spaces for lap tops for note taking.

**Dispersal ability shapes genomic response to habitat fragmentation in widespread “non-threatened” butterflies** Nathalie P. E. A. Ibsen, Aarhus University #lepgenecrete Seeking to investigate impacts of population fragmentation on popgen.

**Inter-continental introgression in the winter pine processionary moth species complex: phylogenetic and genomic perspectives** Carole Kerdelhué, CBGP, INRAE, Montpelier, France Winter pine processionary moth (wppm), genus Thaumetopoea, 15-20 spp. 3 monophyletic clades.

**Introgression Detection and Adaptive Impacts: Insights from Heliconius** Yubo Zhang (Wei Zhang lab, Peking University, China) #lepgenecrete Asks: how does gene flow effect speciation and adaptation? Examine repeated patterns in Heliconius.

The invasion process of the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda Karine Durand, DGIMI, Univ Montpellier, France Invasion process: introduction, establishment, spread, lag phase (small poplxn), expansion. Lag phase can be good time to target for control.

**The Most Genetically Diverse Butterfly in the New World Junonia: Unveiling the Haplotype Complexity of Junonia vestina** Nataliia Kopchak, U of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada #lepgencrete Junonia butterflies share 3 common mito haplotypes across N & S America

**Drivers of rapid diversification in ithomiini butterflies** Joana Meier, Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK #lepgenecrete Seeking to understand why certain lineages diversify, or not, through genomic investigations.

View from the conference center and lodging at #lepgencrete conference. A post-lunch swim is often enjoyed before afternoon sessions! The building faces the sea, and is <100 meters from a small gravel beach. Excellent food at every meal, too! It is a remarkable conference venue…

A molecular toolkit to study host immune response in the in vivo infection model Galleria mellonella James C. Pearce, U of Exeter, UK #lepgencrete G. mellonella is a "wax moth", parasites in honey bee hives, but model for mammal infections.

Unraveling the complexity of silk glands using Hybridization Chain Reaction and RNAseq Jasmine D. Alqassar, George Washington U, Washington DC, from @evolvwing.bsky.social lab #lepgenecrete Introduces morphology of silkglands with cool 3d CT-scan rendering. Cells are highly polyploid.

**Strain-specific responses in silk-related gene expression influenced by dietary differences in Bombyx mori** Tsuneyuki Tatsuke, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan #lepgenecrete

**Advancing Genetic Tools for Butterfly Research: Overcoming Challenges in Transgenesis and Fluorescent Tracking** Donya N. Shodja, George Washington U, Washington DC, from @evolvwing.bsky.social lab. #lepgencrete Motivation: Want to understand rapid evolution of phenotype (e.g. male genitalia).

**Genomic analysis of silkworm w1 pnd strain for the development of novel transgenic and genome editing tools** Takuya Tsubota, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan #lepgenecrete Working with w1 pnd strain (white-eye, white-egg, non-diapause) Silkworm.

**Molecular breeding of silkworm strains for better silk and resistant to NPV virus** Yongping Huang, Shanghai Institute of Plant Phys and Ecology & Shanghai Jiao Tong University #lepgencrete Silk production major industry in China; produces 600,000 tons of cocoons per year, worth $50billion.

**W sex chromosome: the last frontier in lepidopteran genomics** Author: Petr Nguyen, Czech academy of science Reviews that basal Leps and trichops are ZO, so where does W come from? Presence of W traditionally inferred by microscopy, presence of "sex chromatin".

Z chromosomal involvement in delayed exit from diapause of Cydia pomonella using linkage analysis Christian Oehlmann, presented by David Heckel Diapause emergence in C. pomonella ranges overy 3 months. Why so variable?

**Non-allelic homologous recombination drives sequence loss between transposable elements in smaller lepidopteran chromosomes.** #cretelepgen Hyerin An, DGIMI – INRAE, Montpellier, France Cites negative correlation between recombination rate and TE density in various Eukaryotic species.

**Evolution of segregation and genome organization** Ines Drinnenberg, Institut Curie, Paris #lepgencrete Focus on holocentromeres, found in leps, with centromeres form along length of entire chromosomes. Have evolved repeatedly in diverse in plants & animals.

**Intersexes caused by deviations in the Z:A ratio in the eri silk-moth, Samia cynthia ricini** Atsuo Yoshido #lepgencrete Samia cyntia ricini females areZ0; no W chromosome. Induced polyploidy used to manipulate Z:A ratios.

The origin of zygosity-based sex determination Arjen Van’t Hof #lepgencrete Bicyclus anynana has ZW and ZO females. Unlike in silkworm (with fem piRNA), W is not needed for sex determination. sex determination depends on heterozygosity of Masc gene in males. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

**Genome Structure Evolution in Ithomiini Butterflies** Karin Näsvall, Wellcome Sanger Institute #lepgencrete Ithomiini "glasswing" butterflies: 45 genera, >400 species. Variable speciation rates across phylogeny, Chromosome numbers 5-120, mode ~14.

**Sex chrom evolution in the Heliconius sapho clade** Nicol Rueda, Wellcome Sanger Institute #lepgencrete Heliconius butterflies typically have 21 chroms. In H. sapho clade, 3 species w/ 33-60 chromosomes. This includes several sequential & independent W-autosome fusions. doi.org/10.1371/jour...