Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early! We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets. 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Translesion DNA synthesis on pyrimidine dimers by Plant organellar DNA polymerases is metal-dependent https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.26.701875v1

Reminder with <2 weeks to deadline:

I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt Reposts appreciated! Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)

Excited to share this preprint! Really nice collaborative work on the fascinating Balanophoraceae

Happy to share this work with Virginia Sanchez-Puerta (not on bsky) and colleagues on how loss of photosynthesis in these (strange!) plants affects translation and tRNAs in plastids and mitochondria.... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/n

Our new preprint with H.Soufari and @giegep.bsky.social is out! It shows how mtIF3 recruits the initiator tRNA during a pre-initiation stage of translation in plant 🌿mitochondria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

My department (EEOB at Iowa State) is hiring! See isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/IowaStateJob...

The Sudmant Lab & Wilsterman Lab are hiring a postdoc! Come work on the genetics and evolution of the placenta and dissecting genetic adaptations to altitude in deer mice! Check out more details here: evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi... www.sudmantlab.org www.thewilstermanlab.com Please Share!

Pre-Thanksgiving preprint! Check out our first look at the proteomics of the wacky mitochondria of Silene conica and their translation machinery. Fun project with @jumpinggenomes.bsky.social, Amanda Broz, and Ryan Stikeleather! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

Oh, your favorite genetic locus only encodes one gene? That's boring. Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are looking for a new colleague and department head for #Horticulture and Landscape #Architecture at #Colorado State #University! #highered #academicsky #agsky #Agriculture. Apply by December 31! jobs.colostate.edu/postings/169...

I am looking to hire a postdoc interested in combining genetics and evolution to understand why telomeres vary so much in plants. My group has been developing Mimulus a genetic model for studying plant telomeres and we have really cool research brewing. Please check ad for detail. Deadline is 12/31.

“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

We are looking for a PhD student to work on an exciting plastid endosymbiosis in microbial eukaryotes. This position involves sampling, exciting microscopy such as CARDFISH, ExM and FIBSEM, single-cell transcriptomics and more. #protistsonsky 1/2

Explore the origins, patterns and consequences of mutations across biological systems! #MITS26 🗓️ Conference dates: 13-15 April 2026 Participate in expert-led knowledge exchange on how genome evolution shapes human health and ageing 🧬 Check out our exciting speakers ➡️ bit.ly/4hmbnyr#MITS26#Genomics

I am looking for a PhD student to start in my lab at UCSB in Fall 2026, studying evolutionary biology. See attached flyer for more information. Please also share with potentially interested students. Thanks!

"...the higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana" 🤔 @natplants.nature.com you may want to edit the title! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Does anyone have examples of F32 supporting documents in the new format (starting August of this year) they'd be willing to share? We're specifically looking for goals, preparedness, training activities and timeline for an F32 resubmission for the December deadline. Any help very much appreciated! 🙏

🧬🧪Research Technician Position Open🧬🧪 HHMI, UT Austin. Biochemistry/Biophysics- Assist recombinant protein expression, purification and structural analysis (protein NMR and CryoEM) to uncover the mechanisms of cell fate specification in plants. hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

I'm really excited to help organize this workshop on #phylogenomics and #genome #evolution in the Czech Republic! The instructors are world-class! Register to be part of the #phylogenomics and #genome #evolution workshop in Czechia! Registration closes November 15! evomics.org/apply-worksh...

Some slick mito gear hand made by one of our lab alums!

Bumping this up one last time. I'm looking to hire graduate student(s) to work on an NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts among dragonflies here in Colorado. @cudenverclas.bsky.social 🧪🌍🐙 Applications will be considered until Nov 1. See post below for more details

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

Heads up: ignore samtools dot org, similarly minimap2 dot com and likely others. It's owned by a known phishing site and while the binaries they offer look valid currently (but note they may be serving us different binaries to others), that could change. Ie: it's not us (Samtools team)! Be warned

📢 The Call for Symposia for SMBE2026 is now open. We warmly invite you to submit a symposium proposal and help shape the scientific content of our annual meeting. 🗓️ Key dates Call for symposia: Sep. 1 - Oct. 15 Announcement of accepted symposia: Nov. 3 More information: smbe2026.org/symposia

I’ll be advertising a post-doc position (up to 3 year) soon. It will be for somebody that is a good programmer, interested in evolution & is keen to learn new machine learning & AI approaches. I don’t have a link to a job advertisement yet. The post will be hybrid working and based at U of Liverpool

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October) www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

❤️❤️❤️ CSU. Fort Collins is a lovely place to live, and students / faculty are awesome. I should know, I taught there for 15 years! Apply!

New preprint on the role of MutS2 genes in rescuing stalled/collided ribosomes in chloroplasts, led by Amanda Broz and many other contributors from the lab. Never expected to go down this road when we started working on plant MutS2 years ago. Feedback appreciated! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Department of Biology at Colorado State University is hiring an Assistant Professor in the area of plant-microbe interactions! Please spread the word! jobs.colostate.edu/postings/165...

New paper led by @yadirapga.bsky.social! Opossums have babies at 6-months of age, but are still highly male-biased in their mutations academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

In these dark times, it comes as a rare pleasure to highlight @natanaels.bsky.social ‬ & @marcdemanuel.bsky.social's work on germline and somatic mutations in humans. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

There'll be 2 PhD positions (math / microscopy) on MitoPhyto. But the Norwegian research council is also offering opportunities for non-European postdocs to come to Norway for 3 years associated with FRIPRO projects. Please DM me if interested! www.forskningsradet.no/en/call-for-...

My pick for In Other Journals this week: MSH1 suppresses organelle mutation - an investigation of how many plants maintain very low mitochondrial mutation rates My summary here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Paper here: doi.org/10.1371/jour... @sloanevolab.bsky.social #PlantScience

Big news! We are recruiting a postdoc to work on tomatillo evolution: jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta.... The clade containing tomatillos and its allies (ca 300 spp) has evolved lantern fruits at least 25 times - we want to know why! Join us @rociodeanna.bsky.social & @caschenck-bio.bsky.social

Pls RT: We are recruiting a postdoc (and potentially an RA or staff scientist) to work on the evolution of stage-structured immune systems! Experimental evolution, natural variation in immunity, and/or evo genomics in flour beetles (Tribolium). See ad here: my.vanderbilt.edu/tatelab/join...

The Sudmant lab at UC Berkeley is seeking a postdoc to work on a fully funded NIH project to understand differences in DNA repair and somatic mutation across the primate tree of life. Please spread widely to those who may be interested aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05052

Our review on the last decade+ of hybrid incompatibility research is now out! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Original thread here: bsky.app/profile/moll...

I'm excited to announce our new biorxiv preprint, wherein we investigate the evolution of the weirdest genetic locus I've ever seen! Behold the tgr genes of the social amoeba, which mediate self/non-self discrimination during facultative multicellularity 🐅 🧵 1/ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If I could change one thing about #ScientificPublishing I'd ask funding bodies to stipulate all work they fund be published in non-profit journals. The knock-on effects would alleviate most of the strain on #AcademicSky. This isn't hard. It's big, but actually, it's pretty easy. 1/n

Looking forward to the plant mitochondrial meetings next year in Kagoshima, Japan! icpmb2026.jp

I submitted the following comment: One element that does not appear to be considered amongst the current options is variation among journals/publishers with respect to their operational model and for-profit status. 1/n

NIH wants to hear from you. No really. Request for Information on Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Speaking for myself as an editor, I would MUCH rather an author email me for clarification on review requests, than worry about bugging me, make assumptions, and I have to send it back again and/or take longer to review.

Letter to Representative Lofgren - Appeal to Defend Civil Service Protections and the Mission of the NSF

“More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation have signed a letter denouncing what they described as efforts to undermine one of the country’s main science funding agencies. … Out of fear of retaliation, all but one of the employees’ signatures are redacted.”