Exciting things from @tarnopol.bsky.social where she and collaborators at Berkeley, Stanford and the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre in Szeged, Hungary used gene editing to retrace the horizontal transfer of a bacterial gene that now encodes an anti-parasitoid toxin in Drosophila
t.co/KRKvzCIewb
Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, an invasive species of lady bug beetle, perched just above the black sole of a brown hiking boot. Characterized by large black splotches on a bright orange background. The black head shield also has a pair of showy white patches on the side. A small, colorful, overall oval-shaped beetle.
A new friend at Berkeley: an asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis). Imported to control crop pests, unfortunately it was later found to predate on local lady beetles (Coccinellidae). It's showy coloration signals to its predators that it produces a cocktail of bad tasting and toxic chemicals.
Check out @tarnopol.bsky.social and @diler.bsky.social at the #TAGC meeting tomorrow. Rebecca will be at the 9AM Comparative Genomics session speaking about her work on anti-parasitoid effectors and Diler will be presenting his poster on experimental evolution of flies at the 8PM session.