Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below

Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics

This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...

nature.com

Very excited to see the first chapter of my PhD out on bioRxiv! It began as a rotation project and became a pivotal part of my PhD on beetles, adding a complementary macroevolutionary perspective to my second chapter on early-stage speciation in Indonesian herbivorous ladybird beetles.

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 2w ago

338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.17.739156v1

New preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...

1/ 🧬 & 🖥️ New tool: kmhelpers — a Python toolkit dedicated to kmindex, automating the building, updating & querying of large-scale k-mer genomic indexes. Turning raw sequencing samples into a fast, size-optimized search engine — without needing to be a Bloom-filter expert. 🧵

That's one way to find out Harmit Malik is not reading your preprints...

Harmit Singh Malik@harmitmalik.bsky.social · last mo.

I know it seems like a heretical idea, but one way to figure out if a preprint is really interesting (to you) is... to read the preprint. Then, in the spirit of sharing, send a note to authors: a simple kudos or a more detailed question. I do this a dozen times a year. It's awesome. Try it.

Last chance to register for a Scalable genomics course this autumn! It will be a banger. With @katiejenike.bsky.social @richard-durbin.bsky.social @npmalfoy.bsky.social and @vikramshivakumar.bsky.social! coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/event/scalab...

The word on the street is, that someone might be organising a virtual biannual Diptera Comparative Genomics symposium to facilitate knowledge exchange and foster collaborations. Let me know, if you would you be interested in joining the community and possibly contribute to papers such the one below.

KamilSJaron.bsky.social@kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 2mo ago

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... 🧵👇

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... 🧵👇

If you are interested in collecting specimens for chromosomal genomes and/or generating chromosomal reference genomes from specimens that were not cold-chain preserved, please read on and share this thread.

Very happy to announce a big new paper from the lab, led by grad students @smishra677.bsky.social and Laia Pomar-Pallarès (in collaboration with @roblanfear.bsky.social). We introduce a new way to study introgression, with accompanying software (DAFT) 1/n 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New PLOS Biology paper arising from a collaboration between us at the Sanger/U Cambridge and the U York and Sheffield, and many more collaborators across the Americas and Europe. Regulatory changes in the same genes (optix, ivory) led to the same colour patterns in mimetic butterflies and moths.

Wellcome Sanger Institute@sangerinstitute.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A study of South American butterflies and moths shows they reused the same genetic cheat sheet for 120 million years. 📝 Learn more about this collaborative work via the link below ⤵️ https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/evolution-has-reused-the-same-genes-for-120-million-years/ 📸 Arif Maulana

Happy to announce two-fold news! 1) The SCINKD paper is now published in @molbioevol.bsky.social - doi.org/10.1093/molb... 2) SCINKD [v2.2.4] release has reduced runtimes (about 2x) and the revitalized mode for genomes >5Gb is now live and tested on genomes up to 21Gb! 🐸 github.com/DrPintoThe2n...

Sex chromosome identification and genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD

Abstract. In most animal species, the sex-determining pathway is typically initiated by the presence/absence of a primary genetic cue at a critical point d

doi.org

@drpintothe2nd.bsky.social et al. present SCINKD as a framework to identify unannotated sex chromosomes and curate diploid genome assemblies from a single individual. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag067 #evobio #molbio #compbio

Sex chromosome identification and genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD

Abstract. In most animal species, the sex-determining pathway is typically initiated by the presence/absence of a primary genetic cue at a critical point d

doi.org

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...

We have a few spots left on our amazing #ScalableGenomics course. Perfect for anyone doing #genomics of many or difficult genomes, ideal for #PhD students, #postdocs or anyone else who would like to get hands-on experience. Register in the link below! tinyurl.com/scalableGeno... RT appreciated!

Can you believe that until now there were more genomes sequenced for the woolly mammoth than for living African elephants? Today, we bring you the first genomic, continent-scale analyses of 232 high-quality genomes of both species, the savanna and forest elephant. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sequencing all complex life in the UK & Ireland could add up to £3bn to the economy over 30 years, a new report finds. Explore the impact of the Darwin Tree of Life Project ⤵️ https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/unlocking-the-value-of-biodiversity-in-the-uk-and-ireland/

Unlocking the value of biodiversity in the UK and Ireland

A new economic report analysing the financial impact of sequencing all complex life in the UK and Ireland has shown a huge return on investment and expected growth in scientific research.

sanger.ac.uk

Excited to share our latest work in Nature. Applying single-molecule and single-cell DNA sequencing methods, we uncover an extraordinary landscape of somatic mutations in immune checkpoint genes in autoimmune B cells, suggesting that somatic mutations may be key to autoimmunity [1/n] rdcu.be/fdqbr

1/ BRAKER4 hatched! The Earth BioGenome Project is on track to sequence ~1.5M eukaryotic species. Every one needs a structural annotation. No Perl monolith was going to survive that. So we rewrote BRAKER from the ground up. github.com/Gaius-August...

Subscription based academic publishing is a terrible model that has done a lot of harm. I do find the decision by Cancer Research UK understandable, but I like Wellcome's decision not to pay for OA in hybrid journals better.

Alejandro Montenegro@aemonten.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Gold OA is a terrible model that has done a lot of harm. news.cancerresearchuk.org/2026/04/01/w...

Is there anyone around Newcastle owning a patch of green where we could collect springtails this Tuesday by any chance? More about the project in @jamesimcc.bsky.social's blog post: sangerinstitute.blog/2026/03/26/s...

Studying soil’s unsung heroes - Wellcome Sanger Institute Blog

In this blog, we hear from Wellcome Sanger Institute PhD student James McCulloch about his favourite invertebrates, the springtails, and their extraordinary cryptic diversity.

sangerinstitute.blog

Ok, another from my series of weird questions… does anyone know how testes of Psychoda sigma (owl midge) looks like?

Do you plan to analyse lots of genomes? Or few that are large? One or multiple species? Join us for the course on analysing data at scale! (and yes, it will involve a lot of k-mers!). With @katiejenike.bsky.social and others... @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @connectingscience.bsky.social

Does anyone know where will be the next PopGroup? #PGG

I get so frustrated with access to papers. We are slowly getting back to the point when it's easier to physically go to the library and see what they got there...

And this is my favourite figure, nicely illustrating diversity and turnover of oligocentromeric satelites. Look at Carol and Sandra - one invaded the other at least 2x, which I find particularly amusing.

James McCulloch@jamesimcc.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We identified where the oligocentromeres were in each genome using CAP. There's a lot of turnover - across 35 species, we could classify candidate centromere-related satellite DNA into no fewer than 25 families (named after Superstore characters). 🧵4/12

Very proud of @jamesimcc.bsky.social to submit his first PhD paper about evolution of genomes and centromeres in taxa with oligocentromeric organisation. Lots of interesting discoveries including possibly the first reported re-evolution of monocentricity.

James McCulloch@jamesimcc.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Why do the chromosomes of cyperids (sedges & rushes) split and fuse so regularly on evolutionary timescales? Is it because they have so many centromeres? Our new preprint, the first major paper of my PhD, addresses this question. 🧵⬇️ 1/12 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🔬 Recruiting a Postdoc!!!! I’m looking for a motivated postdoc to join my lab and work on characterizing the role of a heterochromatin protein involved in a sex-ratio meiotic drive system in Drosophila. If you know someone who might be interested, please share widely!

Excited for this. Teaching popgen is one of my favourite parts of my job and I've wondered about doing an online version of the class for sometime. Teaming up with @jrossibarra.bsky.social to do this is wonderful.

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra@jrossibarra.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!

Last two weeks to apply for a senior faculty position at the Tree of Life. Great environment, amazing colleagues and the world's biggest genome engine... Come to join us at the Tree of Life @sangerinstitute.bsky.social sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...