What happens if the germline goes on without (most of the) piRNAs for 45 generations?

Come find out at my talk at the evolution session on Saturday at #dros26 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social

🪰🔬🔎⁉️🤔

MBE | The evolutionary genomics of meiotic drive Meiotic drivers gain transmission advantages by distorting equal, Mendelian segregation. This review discusses the evolutionary genomics of meiotic drive. The figure highlights the interactions of meiotic drive elements with other classes of selfish genetic elements including: direct interactions between drivers and transposable elements (TEs) (A) or satellites (C) that can facilitate the spread of drivers; other drive systems that cause the mutual destruction of all gametes (B; e.g. the presence of multiple toxin-antidote systems); indirect interactions where the host machinery responsible for silencing TEs are recruited to silence drivers (D); dosage-sensitive interactions involving sex-linked drivers that result in gene amplifications (E); and tradeoffs between suppressing drive and TEs (F).

For a new MBE Review, Presgraves et al. argue that many features of genome evolution, content, and organization seemingly inexplicable by adaptation or nearly neutral processes are instead best accounted for by meiotic drive.

🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

#evobio #molbio

Sperm attraction by female reproductive fluid in a fish with an unconventional fertilisation strategy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

Overall, we identify the neuro transcriptomic basis of H.m.malleti aversive mate preference learning, and compare it to a subspecies that does not (H.m.rosina). This gives a platform to understand the evolution of such preference learning behavior across other Heliconius species and subspecies!

We hypothesize that such genes that are within these important loci that are under constant sexual and natural selection (wing colors and patterns are shaped by mimicry to avoid predation), get hitchhiked in. Or in some cases, preference/trait genes themselves may have pleiotropic functions!

A whole bunch of differentially expressed genes were on pleiotropic loci, that control the development of wing colors and patterns, pheromones, and wing beats (sexual traits), and their visual preferences in some cases. Most of these genes also had some neural/learning/memory functions!

While H.m.malleti and H.m.rosina have inherent (without a female exposure) transcriptomic differences in the neural and sensory tissues, the greatest difference when they were exposed to a female was observed in the brain, compared to the eyes and the antennae.

Backstory: H.m.malleti males reduce courting females, when they were unable to mate with similar looking females two days ago! But for some reason, H.m.rosina males do not do that. We explored what was happening in the brain, and sensory tissues in these two males when they were with a female.

Excited to share some new results on the transcriptomic causes of variation in male mate preference learning, using these beautiful Heliconius butterflies!
doi.org/10.64898/202...

Evolution of Reproductive Plasticity in a Seasonal Tropical Environment www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

Day 6 of #Behaviour2025 @behaviour2025.bsky.social and I am finally presenting, on my last PhD chapter, and my current postdoctoral work at 11:45 AM in Hall 2. If anyone is interested in butterflies, flies, ejaculate, brain, and behaviour, do come to my talk 😁🦋🪰🧠
@asab.org
@wolfnerlab.bsky.social

Kanika Rawat talks about whether stress experienced in one stage is carried over to the next stage in metamorphosis using mosquito larvae! A case for cellular epigenetic inheritance as defined by Eva Jablonka?
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

@josharbon.bsky.social spoke on intergroup interactions in African mongooses
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Gokul Valiya Parambil gave an amazing talk on weapons use and aggression behaviours in Rock Agamas!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Gokul Bhaskaran gave a brilliant talk on the similarities and differences in predatory aggression and conspecific aggression (both intermale and maternal aggression) in bank voles
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Dinesh Rao spoke about how insects avoid their "not so" conspicuous (conspicuous to us) predators (obviously by considering their umwelt)
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Dheeraj C. L tells us how sexual signalling is affected by predation risk in Agamas, by using incredibly funny cartoons 😂
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Anoushka Datta spoke about the correlative effects of predation (active vs ambush predators) and competition in anti-predatory behaviours of mosquito larvae
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Andrew Spires talks about kinship and aggression in fruitflies
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org g

Lizards as pest control, Jugaad (and extortion) in Macaques, seed dispersing tortoises on the hunt for mango jelly, aggressive potential queens, and the power of press releases. A great selection of talks in the Animal Congition and its implications symposium at #Behaviour2025

@harishprakashhp.bsky.social talks about movement of mesocarnivores in a mosiac and human shaped landscapes! And students, go check out his new lab at GITAM in Vizag!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Shruti Unnikrishnan spoke about contrasting dominance structures in two primitively eusocial paper wasp species.
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

@coldbloodedcog.bsky.social talks about cognition in Red-footed tortoise in the context of seed dispersal. And these tortoise love mango jelly!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Anindya "Rana" Sinha gave an excellent historical account and used vernacular ethology in his talk on Macaques in India!

Moths with an eye for symmetry? 🌸
Join me this Saturday, the 30th, at #Behaviour2025 @behaviour2025.bsky.social to hear all about it

Day 5 of #Behaviour2025 kicks off with a plenary by @samellisq.bsky.social on a question that I have thought about many times. Why does menopause evolve in some species but not in others? And how do social structures and conflict contribute to their evolution?
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Balamurali GS talks about stressors' effects on cognitive biases in Bumblebees, and the transmission of such a stress to other bees!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

@ba-whittaker.bsky.social gave an incredible talk on information bias in neat-building related cognition in zebra finches
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

Jennifer Colbourne presented on tool use emergence and selection acting on such emerged behaviour for it to become inherited and specialized!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org

@augustpaula.bsky.social showed how ants make spatiotemporal decisions using ants tethered to a virtual reality rig! That is freaking awesome!!
#Behaviour2025
@behaviour2025.bsky.social
@asab.org