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
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
Fig. 1.Stages of development for a seed with a nuclear-type transient endosperm. (A) A typical Polygonum-like mature ovule contains two gametes, the central cell and egg cell (E.C.), which are accompanied by two synergids and three antipodal cells. These gametophytic cells are surrounded by two integuments, inner (i.i.) and outer (o.i.). (B) Following double fertilization, two products start developing, the embryo and the endosperm. The latter initially develops as a coenocyte, where karyokinesis is uncoupled from cytokinesis, and a large vacuole occupies the center. The seed coat develops from the integuments and protects the fertilization products. (C) Later in development, the coenocytic endosperm cellularizes, after which it starts being consumed by the embryo. (D) In species with transient endosperms, like Arabidopsis, the embryo consumes almost the whole of the endosperm, leaving a single cell layer called aleurone.
🌾🔍 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!).
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
@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 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11....
Photo of Kalyani Twyman.
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...
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
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
Talks by:
@tatianagiraud.bsky.social
Bo Xu
@vincentcastric.bsky.social
@wenjuanma84.bsky.social
Sha Sun
Pengfei Wu
Robert Baird
Jing Liu
@imprintedgene.bsky.social
Deborah Charlesworth
Abstracts for @eseb2025.bsky.social due next week! Milk, ejaculates, skin secretions, regurgitate, microbes ...our symposium will have it all, with invited speakers @berasymbionts.bsky.social and @jennyperry.bsky.social ...and you?
Organised w/ @joriskoene.bsky.social and @wolfnerlab.bsky.social
Now available for preorder!
The Paradox of the Organism:
Adaptation and Internal Conflict, edited by me and Manus Patten, will be published by @harvardpress.bsky.social this fall.
Cover coming soon.
The man who sent Japan's cherry blossoms out to the world: "If my cherries can help spread some happiness and avoid war, then it’s all worthwhile, and I can sleep soundly."
Registration is open for the Internal Conflicts STN Workshop at ESEB 2025 on August 17 in Barcelona. Free registration includes lunch. More info: https://internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/workshop-ii/ #workshop
Ever wondered why you too should publish in @jevbio.bsky.social? Wonder no more, we have the answers for you (in case you didn’t know already):
1/7 Very happy to share our latest paper on the joint evolution of separate sexes and sexual dimorphism in @jevbio.bsky.social, led by @thomaslesaffre.bsky.social and in collaboration with John Pannell at @dee-unil.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae136
Undergraduate Diversity at Evolution provides full support— registration, travel, lodging, meals— and mentoring for students to attend the Evolution 2025 meeting in Athens, Georgia this summer! Applications are due Monday, submit yours here:
New paper: "Kin competition drives the evolution of earlier metamorphosis", with @bingdongevo.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
John Werren (University of Rochester): Cooperating on Conflict: Selfish Genetic Elements, Heritable Microbes, and Genetic Conflicts. Bengt Olle Bengtsson (Lund University): Decades of conflicts: A personal history.
*Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation*
Join us on Thursday, 9am Eastern, for a history special in our STN lecture series!
Jack Werren and Bengt Olle Bengtsson will reflect on their many years of working on genetic conflicts.
Graphical abstract of the methods and main results of the publication. It includes a photograph of a group of several humpback whales competing to be closest to the female of the group.
New paper on "Patterns of paternity: insights into mating competition and gene flow in a recovering population of humpback whales." 🐋🧬
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
@emma-carroll.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social @seamammalresearch.bsky.social 1/8
