Gavin Woodruff
@weirdworms.bsky.social
Development, evolution, worms, gene name etymology. I log interesting papers, questions, and ideas.
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
Revised evolutionary relationships within Brachycera and the early origin of bicoid in flies
Mulhair et al. uncover a functional bicoid in non-cyclorrhaphan flies, pushing the
gene's origin back by ∼20 million years. Reassessing the Diptera phylogeny using the
largest dataset to date permits ...
www.cell.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
MLT-11 is necessary for C. elegans embryogenesis and conserved sequences play distinct roles in cuticle structure
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
MLT-11 is necessary for C. elegans embryogenesis and conserved sequences play distinct roles in cuticle structure
Apical extracellular matrices (aECMs) are associated with many epithelia and many form a protective layer against biotic and abiotic threats in the environment. Despite their importance, we lack a dee...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
MLT-11 is necessary for C. elegans embryogenesis and conserved sequences play distinct roles in cuticle structure
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis - Nature Ecology & Evolution
In Caenorhabditis tropicalis, three toxin–antidote elements arose via gene duplication from the essential tRNA-synthetase subunit FARS-3. The ancestral antidote probably acquired affinity for FARS-3, ...
www.nature.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
We are hiring! The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma is seeking an Assistant Professor studying the Neurobiology of Pain. Applications are due Nov. 21. Please share with colleagues!
apply.interfolio.com/175314
apply.interfolio.com/175314
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
We are hiring! The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma is seeking an Assistant Professor studying the Neurobiology of Pain. Applications are due Nov. 21. Please share with colleagues!
apply.interfolio.com/175314
apply.interfolio.com/175314
Apply!! Applications are due tomorrow!!!
We are hiring! The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma is seeking an Assistant Professor studying the Neurobiology of Pain. Applications are due Nov. 21. Please share with colleagues!
apply.interfolio.com/175314
apply.interfolio.com/175314
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Apply!! Applications are due tomorrow!!!
Re-posting this! Applications are due Friday!
We are hiring! The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma is seeking an Assistant Professor studying the Neurobiology of Pain. Applications are due Nov. 21. Please share with colleagues!
apply.interfolio.com/175314
apply.interfolio.com/175314
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Re-posting this! Applications are due Friday!
Divergent organelle allocation in the evolution of sperm gigantism revealed from subcellular quantification of nematode sperm with electron microscopy
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Divergent organelle allocation in the evolution of sperm gigantism revealed from subcellular quantification of nematode sperm with electron microscopy
Abstract. Sperm gigantism has evolved multiple times independently, raising the question of whether intracellular allocation strategies evolved in concert
academic.oup.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Divergent organelle allocation in the evolution of sperm gigantism revealed from subcellular quantification of nematode sperm with electron microscopy
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
TE dynamics across high-quality #genome assemblies of 75 bee species to quantify their diversity in an evolutionary context link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A comparative analysis of transposable element diversity and evolution across 75 bee genomes - BMC Genomics
Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive DNA sequences that can alter their position and abundance within genomes. While TEs are known to have various impacts on genome structure and function, our u...
link.springer.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
TE dynamics across high-quality #genome assemblies of 75 bee species to quantify their diversity in an evolutionary context link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish
For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable wi...
shorturl.at
November 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I am so excited to share new work on a TE insertion that regulates iridescence in swordtails, led by fantastic grad student @nadiahaghani.bsky.social and with help from many coauthors! In a time that has been so difficult to navigate, this & other projects have kept my spirits up: shorturl.at/NE65A
Diplolaimelloides woaabi sp. n. (Nematoda: Monhysteridae): A Novel Species of Free-Living Nematode from the Great Salt Lake, Utah
reference-global.com/article/10.2...
reference-global.com/article/10.2...
Diplolaimelloides woaabi sp. n. (Nematoda: Monhysteridae):...
A new species of free-living nematode inhabiting microbialites in Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA is described both molecularly by 18S-sequencing and...
reference-global.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Diplolaimelloides woaabi sp. n. (Nematoda: Monhysteridae): A Novel Species of Free-Living Nematode from the Great Salt Lake, Utah
reference-global.com/article/10.2...
reference-global.com/article/10.2...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
I wrote this insight for eLife. A friend said, "Why would you want to step on that rake?". Well, I guess that's just who I am. Enjoy. elifesciences.org/articles/109...
Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: Twists and turns in the story of learned avoidance
Evidence that learned avoidance of a pathogenic bacterium can be transmitted to future generations in C. elegans is growing.
elifesciences.org
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I wrote this insight for eLife. A friend said, "Why would you want to step on that rake?". Well, I guess that's just who I am. Enjoy. elifesciences.org/articles/109...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
this looks very interesting with numerous implications for nuclear biology and gene expression.
Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions
Li et al. apply base-pair resolution Micro Capture-C ultra to map chromatin contacts
between individual motifs within cis-regulatory elements and reveal a unified model
of biophysically mediated enhan...
www.cell.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
this looks very interesting with numerous implications for nuclear biology and gene expression.
Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Transposon Regulation in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline and Soma
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Transposon Regulation in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline and Soma
Transposons are parasitic nucleic acids present in most genomes. The ability of transposons to mobilize makes them a source of genetic diversity and a threat to genome integrity. Interestingly, mutati...
www.biorxiv.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Transposon Regulation in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline and Soma
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Meiotic double strand DNA breaks and spontaneous mutation in Drosophila melanogaster
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Meiotic double strand DNA breaks and spontaneous mutation in Drosophila melanogaster
The exchange of genetic material during meiosis requires the formation and repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which may not be repaired with perfect fidelity. If meiotic exchange is mutagenic,...
www.biorxiv.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Meiotic double strand DNA breaks and spontaneous mutation in Drosophila melanogaster
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
1/12 Excited to share our new paper. Many essential functions, like DNA packaging and chromosome integrity, are encoded in highly repetitive, "recalcitrant" parts of the genome. But these regions have been incredibly hard to study. Until now. genome.cshlp.org/content/35/9...
Genetic variation in recalcitrant repetitive regions of the Drosophila melanogaster genome
An international, peer-reviewed genome sciences journal featuring outstanding original research that offers novel insights into the biology of all organisms
genome.cshlp.org
October 31, 2025 at 9:37 PM
1/12 Excited to share our new paper. Many essential functions, like DNA packaging and chromosome integrity, are encoded in highly repetitive, "recalcitrant" parts of the genome. But these regions have been incredibly hard to study. Until now. genome.cshlp.org/content/35/9...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
see also questlove weighing in today see also the thing i wrote a couple weeks ago www.vulture.com/article/dang...
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
The Burial of Black Genius (a.k.a. D'Angelo Lives!)
Questlove honors his friend and collaborator D'Angelo: "He was one of the last pure artists in Black music.”
www.rollingstone.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM
see also questlove weighing in today see also the thing i wrote a couple weeks ago www.vulture.com/article/dang...
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
50 years ago, King & Wilson published a foundational paper that underlies the cis-regulatory paradigm (CRP) of #DevoEvo #EvoDevo, i.e., that *almost* all morphological evolution is driven by mutations in regulatory elements, rather than proteins, and it all arose from simple misunderstanding 🧪 🧵
October 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 28, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Programmed DNA elimination was present in the last common ancestor of Caenorhabditis nematodes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Programmed DNA elimination was present in the last common ancestor of Caenorhabditis nematodes
In most organisms, all cells inherit the same genome, and many mechanisms exist to preserve genome integrity across cell divisions. However, some species undergo programmed DNA elimination (PDE), wher...
www.biorxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Programmed DNA elimination was present in the last common ancestor of Caenorhabditis nematodes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Parallel evolution of X chromosome-specific SMC complexes in two nematode lineages
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Parallel evolution of X chromosome-specific SMC complexes in two nematode lineages
Abstract. Mechanisms of X chromosome dosage compensation have been studied in model organisms with distinct sex chromosome ancestry. However, the diversity
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Parallel evolution of X chromosome-specific SMC complexes in two nematode lineages
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...
Reposted by Gavin Woodruff
First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins and their changing roles in different organisms across evolution
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Recent studies have shed further light on the evolutionary origins of chemical synapses, In this Review, Colgren and Burkhardt explore how ancient proteins were...
rdcu.be
October 27, 2025 at 6:48 PM
First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com
Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E
@jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
Niche-associated Type IV collagen promotes GLP-1/Notch receptor activation in the C. elegans germline
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Niche-associated Type IV collagen promotes GLP-1/Notch receptor activation in the C. elegans germline - Nature Communications
In the C. elegans germline, distal niche cells provide a Notch signal to promote stem cell proliferation. Martel et al. show here that distal basement membrane type IV collagen contents positively inf...
www.nature.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Niche-associated Type IV collagen promotes GLP-1/Notch receptor activation in the C. elegans germline
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...