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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 26d

Zhao, Quinteros & Machado describe unusually large and continuous pericentromeric transposable element-rich regions in all chromosomes of the genome of a Neotropical fig wasp,

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf158

#genome #evolution #TEsky

Evolutionary Consequences of Unusually Large Pericentric TE-rich Regions in the Genome of a Neotropical Fig Wasp

Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs), despite generally being considered deleterious, represent a substantial portion of most eukaryotic genomes. Specific

doi.org

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Jonathan Romiguier @selfishmeme.bsky.social · Sep 4

You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

www.nature.com

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Aug 22

And while I am at it, here's a queen of Nesomyrmex wilda.

Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Aug 22

This is a worker of Cardiocondyla thoracica, next to a Drosophila.

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Esther van den Bos @esthervandenbos.bsky.social · Jul 22

Come find me at #SMBE2025 to chat about transposable elements in ants 🧬🐜
S15 - P8

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Cell - a Cell Press journal @cp-cell.bsky.social · Jun 16

Now online! Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolution and diversification of social traits and caste differentiation in ants.

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Universität Münster @uni-muenster.de · Jun 24

Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team has now uncovered the genetic basis of ant evolution. (Orig. publ. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...) #ants #phylogenomics #evolution

New study provides deep insights into the genomes of superorganisms

Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team, including Dr. Lukas Schrader from the University ...

www.uni-muenster.de

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Geoffroy Mallaret @gmallaret.bsky.social · Jun 17

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants 🐜🐜🐜
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolutio...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · Jun 18

Glad to see this paper finally out! An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids
@natecoevo.nature.com @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @csic.es @erc.europa.eu www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids - Nature Ecology & Evolution

An analysis of annelid genomes reveals massive reshuffling of chromosomes in the ancestral lineage leading to clitellates, a clade composed of non-marine annelids, with potential implications for the ...

www.nature.com

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Jun 16

Over 50 researchers from over 25 countries have made this possible. Almost 10 years of work. I have 23,062 emails on this project.
It is wonderful to see this published and I hope you enjoy it.
There’s a lot on genome evolution in ants and much much more.

Cell - a Cell Press journal @cp-cell.bsky.social · Jun 16

Now online! Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolution and diversification of social traits and caste differentiation in ants.

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

CicinSainLab @cicin-sainlab.bsky.social · Jun 3

The Virological Society (Gesellschaft für Virologie - GfV), along with the German Society for Infectiology has issued a statement on lessons learned from the last pandemic. While it was originally issued in German, it is now also available in English. You can find it here:🧪
g-f-v.org/en/fuenf-jah...

Five years of COVID-19: Comments from the Society of Virology on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany | Society of Virology

g-f-v.org

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · May 31

This is also a useful complement to the "pivot" paper getting attention this week

"...science marches backward when the participants are unwilling to consider preexisting information, and a certain level of push-back is warranted when such behavior is combined with excessive self-promotion"

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · May 30

Here Mike Lynch mounts a fierce challenge to two recent attempts to understand the evolution of complexity in biology and beyond. I wouldn't like to place bets on the winner in this bout, but it does seem Lynch presents some tough questions.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS

Recent papers by physicists, chemists, and geologists lay claim to the discovery of new principles of evolution that have somehow eluded over a cen...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Dr. Tyler A. Elliott @transposableman.bsky.social · Apr 26

#TEsky Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector

doi.org

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Cihan Çelik @cihancelik.bsky.social · Apr 23

Für viele Deutsche mit Migrationsgeschichte ist es keine Randnotiz, dass eine rechtsextreme völkische Partei in Umfragen führt. Es bedeutet existenzielle Bedrohung und verstärkte Ausgrenzung. Solche Zahlen ignorieren zu können, ist ein Privileg, das viele nicht haben.

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · Mar 28

Termites became the dominant decomposers of the tropics after two diversification pulses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.25.645184v1

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Mar 26

New ant supergene just dropped.

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · Mar 26

A novel supergene controls queen size and colony social organization in the ant Myrmica ruginodis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.24.644106v1

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Mar 17

Awesome work!

Maya Voichek @mayavoichek.bsky.social · Mar 17

1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇

Drosophila follicle showing retrotransposons (pink & yellow) expressed in somatic cells infecting the oocyte

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Maya Voichek @mayavoichek.bsky.social · Mar 17

1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

Boyan Bonev @boyanbonev.bsky.social · Mar 13

🚨New preprint from @bonevlab.bsky.social 🚨: What are the key epigenetic mechanisms that drive species-specific gene regulation during primate neurogenesis - and how do they contribute to the evolution of the human neocortex?
Here’s what we discovered 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

3D Epigenome Evolution Underlies Divergent Gene Regulatory Programs in Primate Neural Development

The expansion of the neocortex is a hallmark of human evolution and is closely linked to neural stem cell biology. Yet, the epigenetic mechanisms driving divergent gene regulation during primate neuro...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Lukas Schrader

VfL Bochum 1848 @vfl-bochum.de · Mar 8

DAS KANN DOCH NICHT WAHR SEIN!?!?😱🤯 Wer kneift uns bitte mal eben ganz ganz kräftig?

#FCBBOC 2:3

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Zentrum für Politische Schönheit @politicalbeauty.bsky.social · Feb 23

BREAKING: Nachdem die Polizei den Adenauer nicht mehr beschlagnahmen kann, hat sie gerade die Scheiben eingeschlagen, ihn gestürmt, umstellt und unser gesamtes Team verhaftet! Das ist so krass - uns fehlen die Worte.
Wir sind auf der AfD-Wahlparty. Die Faschisten feiern weiter.

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Robert Habeck @robert-habeck.de · Jan 31

Zu heute.

Es geht eine dramatische, bittere Woche zu Ende. Friedrich Merz hat sein Versprechen, nicht mit der AfD zusammenzuarbeiten, gebrochen. Er hat Erpressung als Mittel der Politik eingesetzt. Damit hat er der AfD den größten Erfolg beschert: die Spaltung der Demokraten. Wir haben alles versucht, zu einer Lösung unter den Demokratinnen und Demokraten zu kommen. Aber Merz war im Blindflug unterwegs gen Abgrund. Dank und Respekt gebührt jenen, die verhindert haben, dass erstmals im Deutschen Bundestag ein Gesetz durch eine gemeinsame Mehrheit mit der AfD zustande gekommen wäre. Sie haben sich gegen ihre Fraktionslinien gestellt, das verdient Hochachtung.

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Zentrum für Politische Schönheit @politicalbeauty.bsky.social · Jan 23

Tesla Gigafactory, Berlin. – Buy a Tesla, support facism!

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Dec 23

This queen of Cardiocondyla obscurior gently embraces a batch of eggs and small larvae. This species we know most about as it has been a lab model for nearly 20 years now, pioneered by Jürgen Heinze in Regensburg.

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Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Dec 17

This one is a worker of Cardiocondyla venustula tending to a pupa. We collected this colony over ten years ago in South Africa. Like many Cardiocondyla species, these ants mate in the nest and colonies continuously rejuvenate themselves this way.

A worker ant of Cardiocondyla venustula taking care of a pupa.

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