Mullin et al. use WGS from 101 museum specimens of British/Irish moss carder bumblebees from 1894-2019 to reveal a dramatic drop in genetic diversity: ∼24.6% decrease in heterozygosity and a 2.86-fold increase in ROH 🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... 📷 Gavin Broad #societyjournal #naturalhistory

Do all cells in an organism carry the same DNA? Not always. Some organisms deliberately eliminate parts of their genome or even entire chromosomes from specific cells during development. A new review explores this remarkable phenomenon across the Tree of Life. #LIBresearch

The mechanistic and evolutionary diversity of programmed DNA elimination - Nature Reviews Genetics

Programmed DNA elimination is a developmentally regulated process in which specific DNA sequences are reproducibly removed from particular cell lineages. Here, the authors review the mechanistic diver...

nature.com

Vandenabeele et al. show that the numerous phylogenetic incongruences among gene tree topologies in orchids result from pervasive ILS, over which stand out several well-supported, ancient and potentially adaptive gene flow events between lineages. 🔗 academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... #societyjournal

Phylotranscriptomics Allows Distinguishing Major Gene Flow Events from Incomplete Lineage Sorting in Rapidly Diversifying Mimetic Orchids (Genus Ophrys)

Abstract. Ophrys orchids (or bee orchids) provide an outstanding example of a plant adaptive radiation. Over the last 5 million years, this genus has diver

academic.oup.com

Relevant to our session at #ECCB2026 www.fondationbiodiversite.fr/en/breaking-... - we are getting better and better at understanding what is happening with #biodiversity and #climate, but this knowledge alone is not enough to halt or reverse the trend.

Breaking down individual stakes to enable change - Fondation pour la recherche sur la biodiversité

There is a growing body of scientific knowledge, expertise and experience. Do we have the tools we need to preserve biodiversity?   Knowing does not mean being able to act. Let me explain. At first, I...

fondationbiodiversite.fr

Rob Waterhouse@rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 2w ago

Tomorrow's focus session aims to stretch a bit beyond research, into data services for researchers and decision-makers eccb2026.org/focus-sessio... #ECCB2026 #GenevaLovesData

[🎤 Interview] We know more than ever about biodiversity and environmental change. So why is turning knowledge into action still so difficult? Claude Garcia (professor at BFH) explores this question through his research on human interests and interactions. ⬇️ bit.ly/4xZpAZD 🧪🌐

Breaking down individual stakes to enable change - Fondation pour la recherche sur la biodiversité

There is a growing body of scientific knowledge, expertise and experience. Do we have the tools we need to preserve biodiversity?   Knowing does not mean being able to act. Let me explain. At first, I...

bit.ly

Today in @ergabiodiv.bsky.social Sequencing & Assembly Committee meeting with a presentation from Dmitry Antipov! TTT www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666979X26001850 - Automatic generation of model sequences for complex regions in assembly graphs with TTT #biodiveristy #genomics

Swiss President Guy Parmelin spoke on transforming data into reliable knowledge and responsible decisions, in his opening address to ECCB @eccb-europe.bsky.social organized by SIB in Geneva last week. See his speech:👇 #ECCB2026 #LifeSciences #Bioinformatics

Digital sovereignty: the capability to develop and adapt the technology we need

Digital sovereignty is not a withdrawal, but the ability to act sovereignly in an interdependent world.

sib.swiss

ERGA's COST Action is gathering momentum ahead of the kick-off meeting in Brussels 🟣 CONSENSA: Consensus Standards for Applied Biodiversity Genomics 🔵 Read about it here: www.cost.eu/actions/CA25... 🟢 ERGA members - make sure to apply in order to be eligible for grants, awards, meetings, and more!

More details here: zenodo.org/records/1563...

ERGA Community Genome Reports Guidelines

This document lists the requirements for a Genome Report publication to be included within the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) Community Genome Reports Collection, hosted at the Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) Journal.

zenodo.org

Rob Waterhouse@rmwaterhouse.bsky.social · 11h ago

Produced a #genome of a European species? Publishing a Genome Report for the assembly? Benefitted from ERGA @ergabiodiv.bsky.social resources or networking? If so, consider listing the Genome Report in the ERGA Collecion riojournal.com/topical_coll... Learn more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6d...

Produced a #genome of a European species? Publishing a Genome Report for the assembly? Benefitted from ERGA @ergabiodiv.bsky.social resources or networking? If so, consider listing the Genome Report in the ERGA Collecion riojournal.com/topical_coll... Learn more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6d...

The European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) Community Genome Reports

The European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) is a pan-European initiative that aims to facilitate the generation of high-quality reference genomes for the continent’s biodiversity as part of the g...

riojournal.com

Chromosome-scale Daphnia magna genome assembly resolves scaffolding discrepancies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.749101v1

📢 NEW GENOME ALERT A chromosome-level genome assembly of the commercial edible mushroom 🍄  Pleurotus ostreatus cultivar will provide a crucial foundation for molecular breeding studies. Learn more in #G3journal 🔗 buff.ly/DSfo2Q2

#ERGAReads | Chromosome-level genome assembly of the common tenrec, Tenrec ecaudatus, a new model for early placental mammal evolution 🐾🧬 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #genomes #referencegenome #mammals #evolution #comparativegenomics

A chromosome-level reference genome assembly reveals extreme loss of Y-chromosomal diversity in the Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa saimensis) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750824v1

Interested in how species diversity is split between major animal groups? Here is the infographic for you! 🧪⚒️🦀🦑 #evosky

The PhD and Postdoc application links are now live! Come join me at UNIL to work on deep learning for protein structure, interactions & design. pickybinders.org#open-positions

Janani Durairaj (Jay)@ninjani.bsky.social · 3w ago

Some exciting news: I'm joining the University of Lausanne @unil.bsky.social @dbc-unil.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor next month 🎉 My group will work on context-aware deep learning for protein structure, interaction & design. Postdoc and PhD openings coming soon - keep an eye out!

In 2023 we reported Europe's first established fire ant population, in Sicily. Our new update: residents recall Solenopsis invicta since the 1990s, and it now also occurs in 3 more provinces, over 120 km away. We also list 78 ant species around the invaded areas. 🐜🔥 doi.org/10.21426/B6....

#Biodiversity #Genomics Europe plus (BGE+) - Abridged Grant Proposal published --> riojournal.com/article/2142... @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @iboleurope.bsky.social @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org @biogeneurope.bsky.social

Are you a #NewPI in Ecology & Evolution? Would you like to meet with peers to chat about work, the future and life as a new PI? 🍪☕️ Then I have the form for you! 📋 Help us gauge interest in a new network/event by filling in this short survey: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/K4wUiuLuFn Please RT! 🙏

If you did not receive this month's newsletter from the 🄴🅄🅁🄾🄿🄴🄰🄽 🅁🄴🄵🄴🅁🄴🄽🄲🄴 🄶🄴🄽🄾🄼🄴 🄰🅃🄻🄰🅂 community @ergabiodiv.bsky.social then your member registration may have lapsed, register again or reach out to the ERGA secretariat for help www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/erga-ne... #biodiversity #genomics

ERGA News #40 - August 2026

NewsEnd of Term: Thank You to Our Chair and Vice Chairs!As we approach the end of the current 3-year term, we want to thank our Chair Rob Waterhouse and Vice Chairs, Ann Mc Cartney and Olga Vinnere Pe...

erga-biodiversity.eu

🌍 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆! From the Pyrenees' milky worm 🐛 to the endangered European hamster 🐹, CNAG is helping generate genomes to support biodiversity research and conservation across Europe @ergabiodiv.bsky.social @catbiogenoma.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social #biodiversity #genome

ICYMI: New online! Species-dense genomics through natural history collections

Species-dense genomics through natural history collections

Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 02 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-01011-8Large-scale genome initiatives are transforming biodiversity genomics, but genomes remain taxonomically sparse and difficult to compare across species. Kapli and colleagues argue that natural history collections should play a central role in building species-dense genomic resources, creating the foundation needed for comparative and predictive biodiversity genomics.

dlvr.it

The ELIXIR-funded FAIRyMAGs project has released a set of 🙌 openly available workflows, training materials and example #datasets to support researchers working with metagenome-assembled genomes 👉 loom.ly/yh_aNFE @ifb-elixir-fr.bsky.social @ebi.embl.org @denbi.bsky.social @elixir-it.bsky.social

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Urban and Rural Goshawks onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Urban and Rural Goshawks

We investigated genetic diversity and population structure of Eurasian goshawks (Astur gentilis) across urban, suburban, and rural habitats in Finland using microsatellite markers. Genetic diversity ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Dimitris Koureas presents the #Biodiversity #Genomics Europe projects (BGE & BGE+) & the overarching BGE initiative to deliver what is needed to maximise the impact of DNA-based evidence for biodiversity management, protection, restoration, & sutainable use - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyTf...

Biodiversity Genomics Europe Plus – Community Meeting May/June 2026

YouTube video by iBOL Europe

youtube.com

🐝 More than 1 million insect species have been described. Millions more may still be out there. Now imagine trying to sequence them. 🧬 From tiny amounts of DNA to wildly different genomes, insects present some of biodiversity genomics’ biggest challenges. #EarthBioGenomeProject #Insects #Genomics

🌍 How does biodiversity genomics scale? Not just by sequencing more species—but by developing & sharing the methods and standards that make high-quality genomes possible. Read the latest from Tvedte et al. in Genetics: tinyurl.com/insect-genomes #EarthBioGenomeProject #BiodiversityGenomics

Nearly 200 scientists gathered at EMBL Heidelberg to celebrate 10 years of Tara Oceans research and explore the latest advances in metagenomics, ocean modelling, biodiversity, AI, and marine genomics.

The RAxML-NG v2.0 preprint is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... v2.0 features integrated model testing, fast branch support metrics, automatic parallelization, phylogenetic difficulty prediction, genotype evolution models, to name but the most important features. And it is A LOT FASTER of course

RAxML-NG 2: Automatic model selection, novel tree search heuristics, and fast branch support metrics

RAxML-NG is a widely used tool for maximum likelihood based phylogenetic inference. In the seven years since the last RAxML-NG publication, we have continuously improved and extended the code. Here, w...

biorxiv.org

I finally pulled the plug on Twitter after 17 years. What was once a genuinely useful space for scientific discourse is now a bot-infested sewer and has been for a while. The signal-to-noise ratio is effectively zero. Should have left sooner. I'll continue to post here and at blog.stephenturner.us

Paired Ends | Stephen D. Turner | Substack

A practicing data scientist's take on AI, genomics, biosecurity, and the ways AI is reshaping how science gets done. Weekly updates from the field. Occasional notes on programming. Click to read Paire...

blog.stephenturner.us