David Lowry

@davidlowry.bsky.social

Professor of Plant Evolutionary Genetics at Michigan State University.

Who at #botany2026 is thinking about which talks to see tomorrow? Maybe I humbly recommend our talk on Physalis phylogenomics where we ask the question, why are there so many tomatillo species 50 million years after a (famous to Solanologists) bottleneck? Tomorrow 1:30pm in San Ignacio!

S-allele phylogeny from Paape et al. 2008 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18209194/ showing the Physalis / Witheringia bottleneck

"How two hybridizing monkeyflowers resist phenotypic homogenization" I'm very happy to share this. We would really appreciate your feedback!

Slide with the title and authors list of a manuscript along with illustrations of the monkeyflowers Mimulus guttatus (left) and Mimulus glaucescens (right). In the background, a Manhattan plot with outlier loci and QTL locations.
Title: Maintenance of phenotypic divergence in two sympatric monkeyflowers with weak reproductive isolation
Authors: Henry Arenas-Castro, Cage Cochran, Quinn Evans, Hongfei Chen, Jenn M. Coughlan
Manuscript: bioRxiv, 10.64898/2026.07.28.741377
Jenn Coughlan@jenncoughlan.bsky.social · 3d ago

So proud of this manuscript- lead by the fantastic @henryarenas.bsky.social with two undergraduates (Cage Cochran and Quinn Evans) each doing a Herculean effort during their honors theses, and Hongfei Chen helping out tremendously with lab work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

Oregon State University's Department of Integrative Biology is currently hiring up to three tenure-track faculty members, with an emphasis on organismal biology. Note: Previous links are no longer active due to a change in our hiring system. oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com/OSU_Careers_...

Assistant Professor

Department: Special Instructions to Applicants: To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 10/1/26. Applications will continue to be accepted after the full consideration date, unt...

oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com

HHMI released the official 2027 Gilliam Fellowship details, and a lot changed. Deadline's earlier this cycle: Oct 27. Int'l & MD-PhD students now eligible. Stipend up to 50K. New postdoc pathway adds up to 7 yrs of support. No Journal names!!!! www.yaelcourtney.com/resources-an...

2027 HHMI Gilliam Fellowship: New Deadline, Eligibility, and Award Changes — Ya'el Courtney

HHMI's 2027 Gilliam Fellowship guide is out. What changed: an earlier October 27 deadline, expanded eligibility, a higher stipend, and a new postdoc pathway.

yaelcourtney.com