🏃‍♀️ @bucherlab.bsky.social, @posnienlab.bsky.social and our new #GoenomiX PhD student Kevin represented our Research Training Group at the Göttinger Altstadtlauf. ☀️ Perfect weather for running 5k and fun experience to be supported by so many people in the city center.

Excited to share that our paper on Horizontal Gene Transfer is now out in its final form in @gigascience.bsky.social! 🥳 By analysing 163 high-quality ant genomes, we show that HGT from bacteria is widespread across the ants and likely has adaptive functions! doi.org/10.1093/giga... 🐜📸: Alex Wild

There is a new publication from the GEvol consortium:

Bornberglab@bornberglab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

How does parental care evolve? We searched for genomic "footprints" in weevils, comparing 13 genomes across species with different levels of care. Our findings suggest relaxed selection and changes in gene regulation both play a role. Out now in Genome Biology and Evolution! doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Today we welcomed some of our new GEvol students to Münster for a workshop on "Successful Management of Your Research Project" led by Juliane Handschuh. It’s great to meet you all.

Beetle brood care looks exhausting, too link.springer.com/article/10.1... #Nicrophorus

Preparing for parenthood: molecular reprogramming precedes parenting in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides - Frontiers in Zoology

Background Subsocial insects transition from solitary to social behavior during reproduction. They engage in cooperative and parental care activities that increase their offspring’s survival. Elucidat...

link.springer.com

Check out this new paper on horizontal gene transfer in termites, to which former group members Alina and Mark contributed. 🪳🧬 You can have a look here: doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Recurrent horizontal gene transfers across diverse termite genomes

Abstract. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the transmission of genetic material across species, is an important innovation source in prokaryotes. In contras

doi.org

Post 1/2 Our new preprint is out! 🧬 We’ve extended #Tiberius for accurate ab initio gene prediction across the eukaryotic tree, including Plants, Fungi, Insects, and Diatoms. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Study shows: Fish parasites influence the freshwater food chain. A research team from the Institute of Evolution and Biodiversity has found experimental evidence of how tapeworm infections of three-spined sticklebacks alter several levels of a food web.

Study shows: Fish parasites influence the freshwater food chain

A research team led by Dr Jaime Anaya-Rojas and Prof Joachim Kurtz from the Institute of Evolution and Biodiversity has found experimental evidence of how tapeworm infections of three-spined stickleba...

uni-muenster.de

Yesterday, some of our PhD students, who will be completing their PhDs at GEvol in the coming months, took part in a ‘career planning workshop’ led by Dr. Juliane Handschuh. It was very helpful in discovering the various options available to them. Personal coaching sessions will follow. Thank you.

BRAKER4 and GALBA2 took a walk, today. They learnt how to run RED for repeat masking and minisplice for alignment. github.com/Gaius-August... github.com/Gaius-August...

GALBA2 walks into the arena. We rewrote our protein-based genome annotation pipeline in Snakemake. Give it a genome + proteins from close relatives → get gene predictions. No RNA-Seq, no GeneMark needed. miniprot → AUGUSTUS, fully containerised, HPC-ready. github.com/Gaius-Augustus/GALBA2

You want to work on Transcriptional Regulation in Beetles 🐞? Join our GEvol Community and work with many great people ➡️ Two open PhD positions in @bfeldmeyer.bsky.social lab in Frankfurt: g-evol.uni-muenster.de/open-positio...

Congratulations to @stepbystepsolution.bsky.social to the manuscript on genome annotation of 200 insect genomes, a result his work within of @gevol.bsky.social ! doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Anlässlich des #DarwinTag am 12. Februar fordert der Evolutionsbiologe Prof. Dr. Joachim Kurtz im „Umdenken“-Podcast eine schnelle und entschlossene Antwort der Gesellschaft auf den #Klimawandel und den Verlust von #Biodiversität.

Steuern wir auf ein drastisches Aussterbe-Ereignis zu?

Anlässlich des „Darwin-Tags“ am 12. Februar fordert der Evolutionsbiologe Prof. Dr. Joachim Kurtz im „Umdenken“-Podcast eine schnelle und entschlossene Antwort der Gesellschaft auf den Klimawandel und...

uni-muenster.de

🚨 New paper in GBE! 🚨 This study analyzes two high-quality Cryptocercus genomes, the sister group to all termites, to investigate the transition to subsociality and wood-feeding (xylophagy) in Blattodea. 🪳 Check it out here: doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Cryptocercus genomes expand knowledge of adaptations to xylophagy and termite sociality

Abstract. Subsociality and wood-eating or xylophagy are understood as key drivers in the evolution of eusociality in Blattodea (cockroaches and termites),

doi.org

Check out our new review in Nature Reviews Genetics on de novo emerged genes and proteins. How they emerge, are lost and persist - and how de novo emerged proteins relate to randomized proteins! @bornberglab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Emergence and evolution of protein-coding de novo genes - Nature Reviews Genetics

De novo gene evolution entails the birth of new genes from previously non-coding DNA. In this Review, Bornberg-Bauer and Eicholt overview how protein-coding de novo genes are identified, the mechanist...

nature.com

Bornberglab@bornberglab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New review out in Nat Rev Genet: Emergence & evolution of protein-coding de novo genes by Erich and Lars Eicholt @lacholt.bsky.social. How non-coding DNA becomes translated, persists or is lost in populations, and can yield structured/functional proteins—plus methods & open questions! rdcu.be/e09SM

Heads up: Two of the PhD positions in our Germany-wide priority program "Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovations (GEvol)" have application deadlines in a few days, see g-evol.uni-muenster.de

Gevol Job alert: 2 New PhD positions. You want to do Bioinformatics 💻, please check the job Mario Stankes lab in Greifswald, or maybe work on ant venoms 🐜, please check the job in Simon Tragust lab in Halle. These and more open jobs can be found g-evol.uni-muenster.de/open-positio...

🦋 i5k Annual Meeting: February 4th, 2026! Anyone with an interest in arthropod #genomics is encouraged to join this open meeting. More details here: i5k.github.io/2025_annual_... #i5k #arthropods #genomics #insects #biodiversity

📢🪳 New paper alert! Former group members Alina and Mark contributed to a new study just published in Nature Communications. The team generated 47 new high-quality genomes from termites and cockroaches, filling a major gap in available data. Check out the paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Unravelling the evolution of wood-feeding in termites with 47 high-resolution genome assemblies - Nature Communications

Termites, the largest lineage of non-hymenopteran social insects, are important decomposers of plant organic matter in the tropics. Here, the authors sequence the genomes of 45 termites and two cockro...

nature.com

GEvol Job Alert: PhD position in Robert Paxtons lab in Halle This research project focuses on the extent to which the origin of eusociality in the socially variable halictid bees is ascribable to changes in gene regulatory mechanisms. Find this and more open positions @ g-evol.uni-muenster.de

Postdoctoral Research Associates are sought for the GEvol project on evolutionary genomics. Candidates should have programming and data analysis skills. More info: https://g-evol.uni-muenster.de/open-positions/ #postdoc

📢 GEvol Job Alert: PhD position in Joachim Kurtzs lab in Münster in the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity. This research project focuses on the evolutionary flexibility of epigenetic regulation in insects. Find this and more open positions @ g-evol.uni-muenster.de/open-positio... 🧬

PhD position available for theoretical and statistical modeling in my joint @gevol.bsky.social project with @luisapallares.bsky.social on the evolution of transcriptional variability and its role in adaptation and evolutionary innovation. See job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...

***Super cool-project alert***⚠️ Come work with @dirkmetzler.bsky.social and me in trying to understand how transcriptional noise evolves in a phylogenetic context 🧬 Deadline 15th Dec 2025 (Project funded by @dfg.de @gevol.bsky.social)

Dirk Metzler@dirkmetzler.bsky.social · 8mo ago

PhD position available for theoretical and statistical modeling in my joint @gevol.bsky.social project with @luisapallares.bsky.social on the evolution of transcriptional variability and its role in adaptation and evolutionary innovation. See job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...

📢 Job alert: Post-Doc Position in the project "Functional annotation of genomic🧬 innovations in a densely populated clade🪰 with deep learning 💻" Join the GEvol community in a collaborative project between @bornberglab.bsky.social and @katharinahoff.bsky.social lab. 👉 bornberglab.org/post-doc-pos...

#Climate and parasite pressure jointly shape traits mediating the #coevolution between an #ant social parasite and its #host: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... Erwann et al. 2025

Climate and parasite pressure jointly shape traits mediating the coevolution between an ant social parasite and its host

Abstract. Host–parasite relationships are often shaped by coevolutionary arms races. While abiotic influences on these dynamics are well documented, a comb

doi.org

💻 The Project: We will integrate multi-omics (bulk/scRNAseq, long-reads, ATAC-seq) to explore how duplicated genes diverge in regulation and function. 🤝 You will be part of the DFG SPP 2349 @gevol.bsky.social consortium & the @imprsgs.bsky.social, with research visits to collaboration partners (👇).

🧬 PhD Position: Evolutionary & Comparative Genomics 🕷️ Join us at @uni-goettingen.de for a 3-year PhD (65% TV-L E13). We will investigate the genomic & phenotypic impact of gene duplication across 233 arthropod genomes! More infos 👇 and s.gwdg.de/eDrAAY #Evolution #Genomics #Bioinformatics

🧩 Thrilled to share our new paper in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social ! We present a comprehensive review of de novo gene emergence — providing a classification of current detection methods and a roadmap for addressing major challenges in the field of gene birth from non-genic sequences.