Jeffrey Vedanayagam
@antisense.bsky.social
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/
Why is the X chromosome rich in L1 mobile elements? @science.org X-chromosome inactivation draws L1 mutagenesis to the human X chromosome | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
X-chromosome inactivation draws L1 mutagenesis to the human X chromosome
X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) enables gene dosage compensation in XX eutherians. Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons are unusually abundant on the human X chromosome and are ...
science.org
CRISPR-mediated centromere fission generates neochromosomes with distorted meiotic inheritance in Arabidopsis biorxiv.org/content/10.6... new preprint from us - includes changing the Arabidopsis karyotype from 5 -> 6 chromosomes using Cas9 & outcomes of 5/6 chromosome hybrid meiosis
How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts
In Metazoa, transposon expression is suppressed by the piRNA pathway, and disruption of this pathway leads to rampant transposon expression. However, it remains unclear whether increased transposon ex...
biorxiv.org
🎨 job alert 🐠 Come join us! We have two positions open! These are part of our @erc.europa.eu funded project on the mechanisms underpinning convergence of colour patterns in cichlid fishes! Closing date: 16th August. Postdoc: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... Technician: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell
ALT: Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell
static.klipy.com
Hey team - it’s looking very likely that I’ll be hiring not one but two four year postdocs! We’re a fun lab with tons of theoretical and applied pop gen projects - broadly in polyploid, conservation, and human evo. Competitive salary, sunny San Diego! Do share with your about to defend grads!
#SMBE2026 S24: Molecular mechanisms of selfish elements and strategies 🗓️ Mon Jun 29, 10:20am 🔗 smbe2026.org/programme Talks by: @levine-lab.bsky.social Yu Hua @cecilecourret.bsky.social @eleanoreritter.bsky.social Elli Cryan @alexand-kwak.bsky.social Steve Perlman @antisense.bsky.social
A big preprint from my group! Muller Elements are considered to be conserved in flies. We tested it by reconstructing the ancestral dipteran karyotype using 340 chromosomal genomes and suprise suprise, they're not... Led by @juliagries.bsky.social and Sam Ebdon. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵👇
Our latest preprint explores the evolution of the primate amylase locus, uncovering structural innovations, regulatory shifts and molecular convergence. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Convergent evolution through independent rearrangements in the primate amylase locus
Structurally complex regions of the genome are increasingly recognized as engines of evolutionary convergence due to their propensity to generate recurrent gene duplications that give rise to similar ...
biorxiv.org
New paper with the brilliant @ewanflintham.bsky.social How fast does recombination suppression evolve among sex chromosomes? We show that even weak sexual antagonism (so hard to detect) makes this fast, often via inversions fixing on X/Z depending on mating system: doi.org/10.1093/evle...
I am delighted to share new work with Simon Myers (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...), on how genetic variants that influence binding patterns of PRDM9 and slow down the repair of meiotic double-strand breaks impact mammalian spermatogenesis and fertility. 1/n
biorxiv.org
"The selfish ribosome" paper is now published in @plosbiology.org . Have a look! Many thanks to the editors and reviewers! doi.org/10.1371/jour...
The selfish ribosome
In this Essay, the evolution of life is construed as a ribosomal takeover, whereby the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensured the propagatio...
journals.plos.org
Mart Krupovic@mkrupovic.bsky.social · 5mo agoWith Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
longcallR: Long-read RNA sequencing achieves accurate SNP calling, haplotype phasing and allele-specific expression analysis. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SNP calling, haplotype phasing and allele-specific analysis with long RNA-seq reads - Nature Methods
In this study, long-read RNA sequencing achieves accurate single-nucleotide polymorphism calling, haplotype phasing and allele-specific expression analysis.
nature.com
NASA just dropped this image of Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch looking back at us. The first woman to ever see our planet in its entirety. I’m not crying you’re crying 🥹🔭🧪 📸: NASA
🎉 Congrats to 2026 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal recipient Judith Kimble of @uwbiochem.bsky.social! Her work has built an entire field and inspired generations of scientists through her mentorship and leadership. 🔗Read more: buff.ly/0yzHXvk
Meiosis faces a fundamental problem: It must repair hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks while executing a transcriptional programme essential for gamete development. But many of these breaks occur in genes. So how are these two processes reconciled? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Want to know how histone marks regulate your favorite gene? Go single molecule with ChromSMF: integrated measure of chromatin accessibility and histone marks + DNA methylation, TF footprints and genotype for free! Very proud of @mpalamin.bsky.social ! @embl.org
Michela Palamin@mpalamin.bsky.social · 5mo agoChromSMF preprint is out!🚀 tinyurl.com/ChromSMF We often piece together chromatin regulation layer by layer from separate assays. But this can be limiting! In @arnaudkr.bsky.social's lab, we developed a method to directly study multiple layers on the same DNA molecule! 🧬 What does this unlock? ⬇️
Recently amplified gene arrays are a super interesting phenomenon, but many still resist our attempts to assemble them. @dantipov.bsky.social has developed a new method (Trivial Tangle Traverser) that resolves assembly graph tangles caused by such sequences (1/4) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
How do primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate across a developing embryo? #LMBResearch from Katharine Goodwin and Kate McDole (@cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social) uncovers the mechanisms PGCs use in mouse embryos to navigate this long and surprisingly risky journey. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...
AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions 📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass... 🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk
This is kinda bonkers. In addition, 20 amino acids were found on Ryugu, along with uracil and vitamin B3. These have been found in other instances, but since the samples from Ryugu were collected directly from the asteroid and delivered in sealed capsules, contamination on Earth could be ruled out.
Nature Astronomy@natastron.nature.com · 5mo agoSamples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T, U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth. http://dlvr.it/TRWtVp ☄️
Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry: Cell Systems www.cell.com/cell-systems.... How great would it be to sequence proteins without a gene-template! We might be approaching this soon.
Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry
Highly efficient hyperthermal acidic proteases combined with hybrid-fragmentation schemes provide five times more unique peptide reads than trypsin or chymotrypsin, greatly boosting confidence in de n...
cell.com
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
Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution
Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 17 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00937-3In this Review, Ji et al. overview how rapidly advancing experimental and computational methods are enabling improved and automated annotation of gene structure and function, providing researchers with genome annotation resources of unprecedented scale and resolution.
dlvr.it
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:
Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Associate Professor of Plant Science
Associate Professor of Plant Science Salary: Grade 9 (£61,759 - £73,708 p.a, depending on experience)This role will be based on the university campus, with scope for elements of the job to be undertak...
jobs.leeds.ac.uk
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
Keeping cells fit
Fragments of aberrant cytoplasmic mRNA pair with nuclear RNAs to augment transcription
scim.ag
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.🧪
Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased
Sex biases in admixture and other demographic processes are recurrent features throughout human evolution. For admixture between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), sex bias has been p...
science.org
