@ewanharney.bsky.social & @gonzalezlabbcn.bsky.social show evidence of transgenerational developmental plasticity as a result of heat shock in fruit flies, documenting gene expression and phenotype changes 3+ generations following heat shock. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag069 #evobio #molbio

Happy to see this one out! Not only for the science, but because it was the first project we led as a group. This paper helped us establish a collaborative culture and good relationships, shaping how we want to work together in the future. I feel lucky to work with this bunch! #popgen #consgen

Kuvassa mauritiuksenkyyhky, Nesoenas mayeri

@xuejingwang.bsky.social Wang et al. analyzed the genomes of three Mauritius bird species that experienced extreme population bottlenecks, showing that evolutionary context is essential for interpreting genomic risk. 📷 Gregory Guida 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag070 #evobio #molbio #congen

📢 New work with @gonzalezlabbcn.bsky.social out now in Molecular Biology and Evolution! Transgenerational effects of heat shock 🥵 on gene regulation 🧬 and fitness-related traits in natural Drosophila 🪰 populations: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Tan et al. present panCG, an integrative pipeline for family-level super-pangenome analysis across coding and noncoding sequences, enabling the reference-free construction of pangene and pan-conserved noncoding sequences. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag075 #evobio #molbio #pangenomes

First evidence of human adaptation to a toxic chemical Adaptation to tolerate the environmental stressor arsenic has likely driven an increase in the frequencies of protective variants of AS3MT in Argentinean Andes Human Adaptation to Arsenic-Rich Environments 🏺🧪 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

@suvamroy.bsky.social @elibbyscience.bsky.social & @peteralind.bsky.social modeled gene expression in P. aeruginosa efflux systems, analysing how the complex regulatory networks associated with efflux pumps might evolve under antibiotic treatments. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag065 #evobio #molbio

Mulberry, Pilarski, Dinger, and @tanjastadler.bsky.social present a phylodynamic method that generalizes the traditional birth-death approach to model cellular dynamics to an age-dependent phylodynamic model. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb... #evobio #molbio

Ketchum, Matute & Schrider investigated positive selection in Aedes aegypti populations from Africa and the Americas, revealing that soft sweeps are more common than hard sweeps, implying this species can respond quickly to environmental stressors. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag068 #evobio #molbio

Nocchi et al. compared hybridization and local adaptation within Canada spruce hybrid zones, discovering a complex pattern of introgression, with strong differences in ancestry maintained even across small spatial scales. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag074 📷️ Sam Yeaman #evobio #molbio #PlantSky

MBE is excited to launch our newest Call for Papers on the Major Transitions of Life, covering all aspects of phylogenomic research. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/pages/call-for-papers-on-the-major-transitions-of-life Guest Editors: Davide Pisani Anja Spang #evobio #molbio #phylogenetics

Great to see Gabriele's paper out in MBE. I was really interested that we found large differences in ancestry maintained across opposite sides of a single valley (presumably with high gene flow). Strong divergent natural selection on cool/wet N-facing vs. hot/dry S-facing slopes.

Happy to share this paper with @samyeaman.bsky.social, now published in Molecular Biology and Evolution! Using replicated hybrid zones, we explored patterns of local adaptation and introgression in spruce and found strong signals even at very fine geographical scales! doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Next, we have the first publication from the amazing Gilmore/Davies lab postdoc, @ben-glass.bsky.social. He wrote this lovely invited review about our favorite transcription factor NFkB! NF-κB: A Diverse and Multifunctional Transcription Factor in Holozoans: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

@ben-glass.bsky.social @daviesswphd.bsky.social et al. review recent progress in understanding NF-κB transcription factors in unicellular holozoans, Porifera, Placozoa, and Cnidaria, which are involved in multiple biological functions. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag059 #evobio #molbio

The April issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution features the work of Gu et al., who performed large-scale phylogenomic analyses of the white-bellied pangolin. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/issue/43/4 🖌️ Ting Bai #evobio #molbio

Our paper is out! We compared introgression maps, both across populations and at the individual level. Some consistencies were observed across maps: A core set of genomic regions, lower background selection in introgressed regions, and some phenotypes were enriched across multiple maps. (1/3)

Yang et al. sequenced ancient individuals from the Bronze Age to historical periods in Xinjiang, revealing divergent genetic profiles of the western and eastern Tianshan, underscoring a complex population-culture interplay. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag057 #evobio #molbio #humanevolution

Humpback whales (+ many other whales) have evolved large body sizes + long lives. Cancer should ⬆️ w/body size + age but whales do not suffer ⬆️ cancer risk. 212 genes in the humpback whale genome show evidence of positive selection, some of which may ⬇️ cancer #2026MMM doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz099

This project actually took a long time. One of the first questions we studied using this idea was this paper, which used structural modeling and ancestral sequence reconstruction to examine ligand-receptor (sex peptide, SPR) evolution. academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... @official-smbe.bsky.social

Excited to share our review on evolutionary genomics of meiotic drive! We discuss how these genetic elements “cheat” Mendelian inheritance, their underlying molecular mechanisms, and their broader impacts on genome evolution, including effects on genetic diversity, recombination, and sex chromosome.

@yaenc.bsky.social Velazquez-Arcelay & Capra compared 14 Neanderthal introgression maps, highlighting a core set of regions predicted by nearly all methods, as well as substantial heterogeneity in commonly used introgression maps. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag064 #evobio #molbio #humanevolution

This month's article on skeleton evolution in sponges is the focus of a new Highlight by SMBE Fellow Ioanna Kotari @janekay27.bsky.social Highlight: Ancient oceans, New skeletons—innovations in silicon transport shaped sponge skeletal evolution 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag054 #evobio #molbio

Li et al. studied the genomic basis of mimicry in Epicopeiidae moths, finding that TE-driven regulatory innovation rewired developmental gene networks, facilitating the emergence of multiple mimetic forms. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag060 #evobio #molbio #mimicry

MBE Editors-in-Chief Claudia Russo and Brandon Gaut publish a new editorial on the role of society journals in protecting the scientific record. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag022 #evobio #molbio #societyjournal @claurusso.bsky.social @bsgaut.bsky.social

Shipova et al. show that the female W chromosome of the Siberian moth pest is derived from the male Z, proposing that this mechanism may be common in lepidopteran evolution to counteract non-recombining chromosome degeneration. 📷 V. V. Remorov 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag055 #evobio #molbio

Mackenzie, @waldronlab.bsky.social et al. argue that differing superoxide dismutase metal preferences observed across the tree of life evolved through tuning of their redox properties by the secondary coordination sphere. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag040 #evobio #molbio

New paper alert! Just out, the latest in our study of the evolution of a fascinating family of metalloenzymes, the iron- or manganese-dependent superoxide dismutases (SodFMs). Here, we’ve probed the evolutionary mechanism.

People in the Argentinian Andes have evolved a gene variant (AS3MT) that helps their bodies safely process high levels of arsenic in drinking water. This likely developed through natural selection after thousands of years of exposure. academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Daniel Huson introduces displacement-optimized tanglegrams (DO-tanglegrams), a new approach that applies equally to trees and rooted phylogenetic networks, performing better than cophylo on trees and then NN-tanglegram on networks. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag066 #evobio #molbio #compbio

McArthur et al. present piqtree, an easy to use, open-source Python package that provides Python script based control of IQ-TREE’s phylogenetic inference engine. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag061 #evobio #molbio #compbio

@xuhuaxia.bsky.social shows that codon usage in bacteria is more optimized in long ribosomal protein genes; results demonstrate that translation optimization reflects functional stoichiometry and protein length constraints. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag062 #evobio #molbio

🌊 🧬 A new study, published in @molbioevol.bsky.social (editorial highlight), reveals how marine sponges transformed environmental silicon into a key innovation for #evolution 👇🏾🔗

Leria and Maldonado show sponge's skeletons likely arose as an adaptive response in early askeletal sponges to the damaging, silicic acid-rich Precambrian oceans; this adaptation evolved independently four times within Porifera. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag047 #evobio #molbio #sponge

Turner et al. introduce OrthoGarden, an automated and containerized de novo assembly-based phylogenomics pipeline aimed at recovering accurate and reproducible phylogenies from any combination of short reads and assemblies. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag053 #evobio #molbio #compbio

(1/9) Our work (with @xliaoyi.bsky.social @arbelharpak.bsky.social) exploring the role of genes that escape X-chromosome inactivation in shaping the genetic architecture of sex-specific traits is now officially out in Molecular Biology and Evolution! academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

@carriezhu.bsky.social , @xliaoyi.bsky.social & @arbelharpak.bsky.social find that inactive X expression levels are a strong linear predictor of female-male expression differences. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb... #evobio #molbio

Holosteans for the win! Happy to have contributed. #EndlessFishMostBeautiful

Xu et al. introduce HaploThread, a user-friendly desktop software with a graphical user interface designed for constructing and visualizing haplotype networks. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molb... #evobio #molbio #compbio

Barker et al. investigate the evolution of PSMB8, a core component of the immunoproteasome, suggesting that the unique PSMB8 types in holosteans contribute to a molecular basis of immune surveillance that is unlike that of other vertebrates. 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... #evobio #molbio

Ward, @drokyta.bsky.social et al. investigated the genetics of venom resistance using venom of the Florida blue centipede and Drosophila melanogaster as model prey, revealing a stark contrast in the nature of venom resistance between prey sexes. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag048 #evobio #molbio

On the to read list…

Gu et al. leveraged hundreds of genomes and mitogenomes of the African white-bellied pangolin, uncovering the evolutionary history of this species and indicating the need for urgent attention and priority conservation action. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag049 #evobio #molbio

Potapenko et al. studied two species of barley, finding that TE silencing is central to genome size regulation, with selection maintaining smaller genomes among individuals with higher fitness in favorable habitats. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag051 #evobio #molbio #TEsky #PlantSky

The March cover of Molecular Biology and Evolution features the work of Leria and Maldonado, who investigated biosilicification and skeletal evolution in sponges. Follow the link for this month's articles: 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/issue/43/3 #evobio #molbio #societyjournal

very happy to have this work published in mbe @molbioevol.bsky.social can now use phyloHessian to get a (hopefully) improved div time & subs rate estimate, particularly for deep-time or fast‑evolving lineages github.com/evolbeginner... #julialang #iqtree #mcmctree #molecularclock

This is an amazing piece of scientific satire by @russcd.bsky.social. The first sentence alone is a banger: "The defining goal of the academic endeavor is to establish a single perfect value that completely summarizes entire careers’ achievements." academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Really interesting ideas here. Taking context dependence of evolution/mutation, which we all happily illustrate with our favourite example (lactase persistence and phenylketonuria are my human examples) and giving it a quantitative framework called "genomic perplexity".

I'm thankful to MBE for publishing this paper. I wan't sure anybody would. The handling editor (I now know was Jeff Townsend) was great, as were the 2 reviewers. It is not an outcome/product/discovery, it is my way of thinking about HGT & pangenomes 1/3 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...