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

Whither maladaptation? @imprintedgene.bsky.social reviews Philip Madgwick's 'Maladaptation: Natural Selection in the Wrong Direction?' for BioScience. academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Adaptation: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Organisms appear remarkably well designed to live their lives. A seal, which seems all waddle and blubber on land, is transformed when it enters the water.

academic.oup.com

If you think sex chromosomes in mammalian placentas are interesting you’ll want to know about seahorses academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Independent Evolution of Sex Chromosomes and Male Pregnancy–Related Genes in Two Seahorse Species

Abstract. Unlike birds and mammals, many teleosts have homomorphic sex chromosomes, and changes in the chromosome carrying the sex-determining locus, terme

academic.oup.com

.The very talented and fun Jonathan Henshaw has two positions to offer! If you like theoretical eco-evo questions, don't hesitate. Also, Freiburg is a very pretty place PhD: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb... Postdoc: uni-freiburg.de/stellenangeb...

The full Mongue lab will be at #evol2026! Say hi or come see our work. All three of us have talks (pic related). Check this thread for some more specifics and we hope to see you there! 1/5

This is so cool. This atlas has Lexis plots on how various things have changed over time in different age groups – mortality rates, fertility rates, number of parents and siblings. And you can reach out to Jonas to add your own plots too. I'd like to see Lexis plots for absolutely everything.

Jonas Schöley@jschoeley.com · 3mo ago

demoscapes.org is a visual atlas of demographic surfaces hosted at @mpidr.bsky.social. It is also my passion project growing out of my 2016 human mortality database explorer. Did you publish something containing Lexis surfaces? Consider reaching out and having your work featured on the site.

Botanical parasitism of an insect by a parasitic plant: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Botanical parasitism of an insect by a parasitic plant

Egan et al. report the discovery of a new trophic interaction in nature whereby a parasitic plant attacks multiple species of insects that manipulate plant tissue when the two co-occur on a shared pri...

cell.com

👋 Transposon lovers: registration is now open for the CSHL TE meeting! We have a 🔥 lineup of invited speakers and many slots for short talks selected upon abstract across all areas of TE biology. 🧬➰🧬 #TEsky Abstract deadline: July 10 meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Did you know that many organisms delete parts of their genome during development? To know more please join us at the Roscoff meeting on "Mechanistic and Evolutionary Basis of Programmed DNA Elimination" Sep21- 25, 2026. Please share!
cjm.sb-roscoff.fr/en/conferenc...

Still time to apply for this. Submit by Thursday!

Arvid Ågren@arvidagren.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Are you an early career researcher who want to visit another lab to collaborate on a project on internal conflicts? Apply for our ECR Research Visit Grant! Deadline is April 30.

Grant writing tips from a grumpy reviewer ploughing through grants. 1. Often your reviewers are going to come from a broad range disciplines adjacent but *not actually in* in your field. Help us get orientated in the summary with an analogy/sketch and go back to analogy / sketch throughout.

Are you an early career researcher who want to visit another lab to collaborate on a project on internal conflicts? Apply for our ECR Research Visit Grant! Deadline is April 30.

Applications now open for the UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evolutionary Biology (31 Aug–5 Sep 2026, Lausanne)! For PhD & postdocs interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology (incl. social evo, life-history, species interactions). Scholarships available, Pls RP! shorturl.at/fo1GA

Thrilled to present our comparative study on the evolution of zygotic genome activation (ZGA)!! 🥚🧬 Amazing PhD work of @campobes.bsky.social together with @fedemantica.bsky.social and many collaborators! @melisupf.bsky.social @crg.eu. Thread below 1/15 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join our online seminar on April 15, 2026, at 10:00 UTC, featuring talks on genome defense and intragenomic conflict. Details: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/97210197821?jst=2. More info: https://internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/ #conference

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

georgetown.zoom.us

An insect that produces a nasty secretion to defend the local group against predators. Our commentary on some brilliant fieldwork by @caritalindstedt.bsky.social & Raphael www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @asgriffin.bsky.social

An insect that cooperates like bacteria | PNAS

An insect that cooperates like bacteria

pnas.org

🌾🔍 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🔍🌾 Understanding the interactions between embryo, endosperm, and seed coat is essential for both advancing our fundamental understanding of seed development and improving agronomic seed traits - Figueiredo & Sharma 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

Explore the implications of within-organism conflicts for organismal biology at our upcoming workshop, ‘Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations!’ Travel applications are due Wednesday, April 15th www.nitmb.org/internal-con...

Final version just published of our review on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of cooperation www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social @asn-amnat.bsky.social

Join us at the NITMB in Chicago next June to talk about internal conflicts! The workshop will feature tutorials, talks, and discussions. Funding is available to provide travel and lodging for some attendees (apply!).

NSF-Simons NITMB@nitmb.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Applications are open for our upcoming workshop, ‘Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation: Mathematical Foundations!’ Learn more and apply at www.nitmb.org/internal-con...

A centromere but not just a centromere: structure and evolution of a selfish chromosomal supergene in monkeyflowers www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join our online series on atypical reproductive modes and non-Mendelian inheritance, Tuesdays at 3 p.m. CET. More info & sign-up: https://tinyurl.com/EvoRepro Best, Schwander Group, University of Lausanne. #conference

Evolution and mechanisms of atypical reproductive modes

Evolution and mechanisms of atypical reproductive modes Monthly meetings to bring together researchers focusing on atypical reproduction and other non-mendelian transmission systems. The objective is to promote the exchange of ideas and feedback on conceptually similar questions approached with d...

tinyurl.com

@kztwyman.bsky.social & @andygardner.bsky.social mathematically connect the dynamics of natural selection to optimisation to provide formal justification for viewing obligately eusocial colonies as adaptive individuals in their own right—that is, superorganism: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

Parent-offspring conflict over sex determination in non-Mendelian systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690632v1

Two other members of the research group have successfully made it to @eseb2025.bsky.social ahead of me. Look out for @kztwyman.bsky.social, whose poster "A formal theory of group-level adaptation for obligate eusociality" (P01.068) is in this evening's session.

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

Mrnjavac et al. reevaluate arguments against Muller's hypothesis, and find that they do not conclusively exclude a role for sheltering in sex chromosome evolution. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf177 #evobio #molbio

An Extension of Muller's Sheltering Hypothesis for the Evolution of Sex Chromosome Gene Content

Abstract. The first influential hypothesis for sex chromosome evolution was proposed in 1914 by H. J. Muller, who argued that once recombination was suppre

doi.org

Happy to share our latest article, led by Tee Muirhead, now out in PNAS! We report the evolutionary genomics of the newly discovered neo-sex chromosomes in Myzomela — involving translocation, inversions & degeneration on the neo-W. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Outreach volunteers sought! @imprintedgene.bsky.social and I will host “Breaking Bread: Exploring the Evolution of Amylase in humans” at Festa Major de Gràcia, Barcelona (16 Aug, 19:00). We need 1-2 volunteers (ES/EN) for visitor guidance and on-site translation. Please DM or email me if interested.

New paper: "Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination" (Open Access) w/ Robert Baird, @imprintedgene.bsky.social‬, Jan Ševčík, Katy Monteith, @laurarossevo.bsky.social‬ & @ajmongue.bsky.social‬ www.nature.com/articles/s41... ‪@natcomms.nature.com‬

Faster adaptation but slower divergence of X chromosomes under paternal genome elimination - Nature Communications

X chromosomes evolve faster than autosomes, but confounding factors make this a difficult phenomenon to study. Utilising the unusual sex determination system of Sciaridae flies, this study finds a slo...

nature.com