@antisense
Assistant Professor at University of Texas at San Antonio. Study evolution/regulation of selfish genes. Manage two labs. Research lab🔬🧪🧬🖥️ with some ease but the other lab 🐶🐾 is un-manageable! https://www.anti-sense.org/
Quick plug for our new resource, the Drosophila Species Stock Exchange. This is a database and mailing list that documents species currently in culture and the labs holding them. If you want to know more or sign up then please get in touch. See attached for more info and please share!
FYI: New online! Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution
Pervasive positive selection on X-linked ampliconic genes in primates https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.710536v1
Very excited to announce that we are hiring for three faculty positions at @universityofleeds.bsky.social in @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social: A/Prof Plant Science, A/Prof Animal Biology and Lecturer in Ecology, Zoology, Biodiversity or Ecosystem Management. Please do get in touch to chat. Links below:
In a new Science study, researchers report on transcriptional adaptation, a dual feedback and feedforward mechanism that uses genetic redundancy to compensate for mutations in protein-coding genes.
Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/4ryeXtN
Considerations for the future of in vitro gametogenesis in fertility care - @hannahlandecker.bsky.social @uclacrshe.bsky.social @uclamcdb.bsky.social @uclastemcell.bsky.social go.nature.com/4l2e9en
Many living people carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA, remnants of ancient interbreeding events, with uneven distribution across chromosomes. New work by @sarahtishkoff.bsky.social lab suggests patterns are most consistent with Neanderthal contribution to human populations being highly male biased.🧪
Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here:
rdcu.be/e5EgU
#EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜
Pangenome analysis reveals families of ubiquitin-ligase adaptors as key genomic divergence drivers that lead to hybrid incompatibility
genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
Long before Darwin, the French polymath comte de Buffon “accepted both that species could become extinct and that they could change, and he even entertained the idea that humans and apes…might have had a common ancestry.” —Ian Tattersall
Time-calibrated phylogeny of the family Drosophilidae showing major species groups, surrounded by representative adult flies that highlight the remarkable morphological diversity of this model insect group. The composite image was created using Microsoft PowerPoint. Fly photographs were taken by Darren J. Obbard and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License with permission.
The #fly community aims to achieve a comprehensive genomic study of the Drosophilidae family. @pankajd.bsky.social @bernardkim.bsky.social @petrovadmitri.bsky.social @darrenobbard.bsky.social present a comparative gene annotation for 301 #Drosophilidae species @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4c3pyrI
This new #RSOS study examines the heritability of cognitive and behavioural traits in a pedigreed population of assistance #dogs. Read more: doi.org/10.1098/rsos... @ggnanadesikan.bsky.social @dremilybray.bsky.social @marinawatowich.bsky.social @smacklab.bsky.social
🧵Good news out of #NIH today.
(1) NIH is extending #ESI and #K99/R00 eligibility to accommodate researchers whose eligibility would have ended during the previous shutdown. Take a look at NOT-OD-26-020. If your ESI status would have ended in 2025, you get an automatic extension through 2026/03/31.
New online! Evolutionary causes and consequences of gene duplication
How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
We have an opening for a Research Associate in my group. This is an excellent position for recent graduates or students with a master's seeking research experience prior to graduate/medical school. Apply via the job portal (Job ID: 14797). DM for queries. www.utsa.edu/people-excel...
De novo genes arise from previously non-coding sequences. This evolutionary path — when randomly expressed sequences become folded and active proteins — challenges our understanding of genetic innovation. New Review by @bornberglab.bsky.social and @lacholt.bsky.social out now!
Header image with the paper title: "Improved in vivo gene knockout with high specificity using multiplexed Cas12a sgRNAs"
Make your gene knockouts more efficient with multiplexed Cas12a sgRNAs. Our new paper is out now, with tools available from @addgene.bsky.social , www.plasmids.eu and @vdrc-flies.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#CRISPR #geneediting #Drosophila 🧪🧬✂️🔬🪰
Summary 🧵 below.
New online! Long non-coding RNAs as orchestrators of dosage compensation
Summary of germ cell development in various model organisms
Germ cell development across model organisms
From our #Review: How germ granules promote germ cell fate
by Melissa C. Pamula & Ruth Lehmann @remlehmann.bsky.social @whiteheadinstitute.bsky.social
Free to read here: rdcu.be/e05TK
This is an important paper, hopefully it will set the tone for similar efforts for rigor and reproducibility in other systems/fields.
In @eLife.bsky.social: Reproducibility of Scientific Claims in Drosophila Immunity: A Retrospective Analysis of 400 Publications doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Restorative epistasis can occur between 2 complementary loss-of-function mutations (in yeast) if they happen to cooccur in just the right way (2 wrongs making a right).
"Predicting epistasis across proteins by structural logic"
by Tang et al. (2026, PNAS)
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Review: DNA methylation in mammalian development and disease www.nature.com/articles/s41... (free: rdcu.be/dUbb8)
Check out our new paper in early access at Nature Communications!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Need a bit of escapism? Not exactly Lord of the Rings, but in similar vein:
doi.org/10.1038/s443...
Sensitive and unbiased genome-wide profiling of base-editor-induced off-target activity using CHANGE-seq-BE - @stjuderesearch.bsky.social go.nature.com/4qB6qp8
The genetics, evolution, and maintenance of a biological rock-paper-scissors game | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
I'm really excited to break up the holiday relaxation time with a new preprint that benchmarks AlphaFold3 (AF3)/“co-folding” methods with 2 new stringent performance tests.
Thread below - but first some links:
A longer take:
fraserlab.com/2025/12/29/k...
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
