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Anna Dewar

@annadewar.bsky.social

1.1K followers 540 following 49 posts

Career Development Research Fellow at St John's College, University of Oxford. Evolution, comparative genomics, cooperation, horizontal gene transfer, plasmids. https://www.anna-dewar.com/

www.anna-dewar.com

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Jan 8

Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2

We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets.

These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit.

@lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social

A phylogenetic approach to comparative genomics

Nature Reviews Genetics - Controlling for phylogeny is essential in comparative genomics studies, because species, genomes and genes are not independent data points within statistical tests. The...

rdcu.be

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · 16d

Amazing, congratulations Tabea!! 🥳

Reposted by Anna Dewar

Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 23d

Come and work with us! Three new academic posts (including Animal Behaviour) and superb facilities in the new Life & Mind Building

Oxford Biology @biology.ox.ac.uk · 23d

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Aug 22

Thanks Ashleigh! 😊

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Ashleigh Griffin @asgriffin.bsky.social · Aug 22

Evidence that lifestyle drives genome fluidity from @annadewar.bsky.social today. Keeping everyone going on last day of @eseb2025.bsky.social! Great talk Anna!

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Aug 22

Such a nice summary, thanks Jesse!! Hope we cross paths soon :)

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Jesse Shapiro @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social · Aug 21

I'm super bummed to be missing #ESEB2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social due to a cancelled flight! Here's a quick overview of my talk "Gene- and genome-focused perspectives on microbial pangenomes" slated to be part of The Evolution of Microbial Pangenomes -- which I recommend you attend tomorrow (Fri) !
1/n

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Laurie Belcher @lauriebelch.bsky.social · Jul 16

OrthoFinder just dropped a major update

It’s faster, more accurate, and ready for thousands of genomes

Let’s break it down (1/10)

github.com/OrthoFinder/...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Laurie Belcher @lauriebelch.bsky.social · Jul 16

Get OrthoFinder here github.com/OrthoFinder/...

Read the preprint here www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Millions of species here we come!

(10/10)

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Craig MacLean @craigmaclean.bsky.social · Jul 16

New paper with @rwheatley8.bsky.social and Cedric Lood

Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy.

Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes

academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids toward ecological redundancy

Abstract. Plasmids are a ubiquitous feature of bacterial genomes, but the forces driving genes and phenotypes to become associated with plasmids are poorly

academic.oup.com

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Jun 21

Haha sounds good! Thanks for your interest in our work 😊

Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Jun 21

It's just that the transfer of plasmids doesn't seem to appreciably facilitate the invasion and maintenance of cooperation in bacteria. 2/2

Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Jun 21

Antibiotic resistance mechanisms are sometimes cooperative, but often they're not. So our work only applies to those with a cooperative resistance mechanism.

Just to be clear, plasmids are important for transferring lots of useful genes, including antibiotic resistance, among bacteria. 1/2

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Jun 21

Hi! Here's a couple of additional papers we've published on this question:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
& doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Together they provide pretty good evidence, using genomic analyses and theory, that plasmid transfer doesn't really impact the evolution of cooperation in bacteria.

Plasmids do not consistently stabilize cooperation across bacteria but may promote broad pathogen host-range - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Horizontal gene transfer could stabilize cooperation in bacteria because plasmids could promote the transfer of genes encoding public goods. However, the authors use comparative analysis and theoretic...

doi.org

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

LaBella Lab @lablabella.bsky.social · Jun 21

Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social asks what types of genes get horizontally transferred in bacteria 🦠🧬➡️🧬🦠

Contrary to previous thinking, plasmids didn't carry more cooperation genes than the core genome.

#Evol2025 #Evol25

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · Jun 21

@annadewar.bsky.social now giving the fourth @asn-amnat.bsky.social Early Career Scientist Award lectures at #Evol2025 about bacterial pangenomes, cooperation, and gene transfer

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · May 19

Delighted to see this paper from danderson123.bsky.social 's PhD out. We have been building tools for AMR gene detection for over a decade now, but multicopy genes remain challenging. Dan shows that with a gene-space de Bruijn graph and long reads, you can do well
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Anne Kupczok @annecmg.bsky.social · Apr 24

Abstract deadline for @eseb2025.bsky.social extended to 5 May! Still time to submit your abstract for the evolution of microbial pangenomes ⬇️

Franz Baumdicker @fbaumdicker.bsky.social · Apr 23

If you are interested in microbial #pangenomes, join us at @eseb2025.bsky.social in Barcelona with @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social and @annadewar.bsky.social
Only two days left to submit your abstract!
eseb2025.com/call-for-abs...

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Franz Baumdicker @fbaumdicker.bsky.social · Apr 23

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Apr 10

Interested in the evolution of microbial pangenomes?

Submit your abstract for #ESEB2025 to Symposium 45! Deadline is 25th April.

Hope to see lots of you in Barcelona this summer! 🧬🦠☀️

Anne Kupczok @annecmg.bsky.social · Apr 10

Join our symposium The evolution of microbial pangenomes at @eseb2025.bsky.social with @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social and @annadewar.bsky.social (co-organized with @fbaumdicker.bsky.social and Jaime Iranzo) eseb2025.com/call-for-abs...

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Anne Kupczok @annecmg.bsky.social · Apr 10

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

St John's College, Oxford @stjohnsox.bsky.social · Apr 10

Huge congratulations to @annadewar.bsky.social on winning an Early Career Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists! @asn-amnat.bsky.social

Anna is a Career Development Research Fellow at St John's, working on bacterial genome evolution. 🦠🧬

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Reposted by Anna Dewar

Sheppard Lab @sheppardlab.bsky.social · Apr 7

TWO postdoc positions in Computational Microbiology and/or biochemistry. Join our interdisciplinary group in the new Life and Mind Building @OxfordBiology, @UniofOxford, @IneosOxford
Please apply and share this post:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMP641/p...

Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Oxford

Discover Postdoctoral Research Associate jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Apr 7

Hi just saw this!
Some of our papers on similar stuff:
doi.org/10.1093/evle... &
doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

Signatures of kin selection in a natural population of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis

Abstract. Laboratory experiments have suggested that bacteria perform a range of cooperative behaviors, which are favored because they are directed toward

doi.org

Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Apr 1

Interested in using genomics to study bacterial cooperation?

We’ve got 2 brilliant posters at #Microbio25 today: Zohar Katz (A276) and Rosie Randall (A098).

Go say hi to them! 🦠 🧬

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Anna Dewar @annadewar.bsky.social · Mar 30

Definitely check out Rosie's poster at #Microbio25!

Particularly anyone interested in using genomics to study cooperation & antibiotic resistance in bacteria 🦠🧬

Rosie Randall @rosierand.bsky.social · Mar 30

Very excited to be in Liverpool for #Microbio25 ! I'll be presenting a poster on bacterial cooperation and antibiotic resistance in Block A on Tuesday. Come and check out poster A098 to hear more! 🧬🧫🦠

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