longcallR: Long-read RNA sequencing achieves accurate SNP calling, haplotype phasing and allele-specific expression analysis.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bird eggs with different sizes, colors, patterns and shapes.

Not all #eggs are the same: birds‘ eggs have an incredible range of different sizes, colors, patterns and shapes. 🪺 🤩 Happy #Easter, everyone!

NASA just dropped this image of Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch looking back at us. The first woman to ever see our planet in its entirety. I’m not crying you’re crying 🥹🔭🧪 📸: NASA

🎉 Congrats to 2026 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal recipient Judith Kimble of @uwbiochem.bsky.social! Her work has built an entire field and inspired generations of scientists through her mentorship and leadership.

🔗Read more: buff.ly/0yzHXvk

Meiosis faces a fundamental problem:

It must repair hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks while executing a transcriptional programme essential for gamete development.

But many of these breaks occur in genes.

So how are these two processes reconciled?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Want to know how histone marks regulate your favorite gene? Go single molecule with ChromSMF: integrated measure of chromatin accessibility and histone marks + DNA methylation, TF footprints and genotype for free! Very proud of @mpalamin.bsky.social ! @embl.org

Recently amplified gene arrays are a super interesting phenomenon, but many still resist our attempts to assemble them. @dantipov.bsky.social has developed a new method (Trivial Tangle Traverser) that resolves assembly graph tangles caused by such sequences (1/4) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Microscopic view of a glowing, irregularly shaped primordial germ cell with long protrusions with purple and green fluorescence against a dark blue background.

How do primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate across a developing embryo?

#LMBResearch from Katharine Goodwin and Kate McDole (@cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social) uncovers the mechanisms PGCs use in mouse embryos to navigate this long and surprisingly risky journey.

Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions
📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass...
🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk

This is kinda bonkers.

In addition, 20 amino acids were found on Ryugu, along with uracil and vitamin B3. These have been found in other instances, but since the samples from Ryugu were collected directly from the asteroid and delivered in sealed capsules, contamination on Earth could be ruled out.

Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry Highly efficient hyperthermal acidic proteases combined with hybrid-fragmentation schemes provide five times more unique peptide reads than trypsin or chymotrypsin, greatly boosting confidence in de n...

Deep coverage and extended sequence reads obtained with a single archaeal protease expedite de novo protein sequencing by mass spectrometry: Cell Systems www.cell.com/cell-systems.... How great would it be to sequence proteins without a gene-template! We might be approaching this soon.

Quick plug for our new resource, the Drosophila Species Stock Exchange. This is a database and mailing list that documents species currently in culture and the labs holding them. If you want to know more or sign up then please get in touch. See attached for more info and please share!

Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 17 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00937-3In this Review, Ji et al. overview how rapidly advancing experimental and computational methods are enabling improved and automated annotation of gene structure and function, providing researchers with genome annotation resources of unprecedented scale and resolution.

FYI: New online! Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution

Pervasive positive selection on X-linked ampliconic genes in primates www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Associate Professor of Plant Science Associate Professor of Plant Science Salary: Grade 9 (£61,759 - £73,708 p.a, depending on experience)This role will be based on the university campus, with scope for elements of the job to be undertak...

Very excited to announce that we are hiring for three faculty positions at @universityofleeds.bsky.social in @bioscienceleeds.bsky.social: A/Prof Plant Science, A/Prof Animal Biology and Lecturer in Ecology, Zoology, Biodiversity or Ecosystem Management. Please do get in touch to chat. Links below:

Keeping cells fit Fragments of aberrant cytoplasmic mRNA pair with nuclear RNAs to augment transcription

In a new Science study, researchers report on transcriptional adaptation, a dual feedback and feedforward mechanism that uses genetic redundancy to compensate for mutations in protein-coding genes.

Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/4ryeXtN

Strain variation identifies a neural substrate for behavioral evolution in Drosophila Sexual selection acts on heritable differences within species, driving the parallel diversification of signal production in one sex and behavioral res…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Considerations for the future of in vitro gametogenesis in fertility care - @hannahlandecker.bsky.social @uclacrshe.bsky.social @uclamcdb.bsky.social @uclastemcell.bsky.social go.nature.com/4l2e9en

Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased Sex biases in admixture and other demographic processes are recurrent features throughout human evolution. For admixture between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), sex bias has been p...

Many living people carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA, remnants of ancient interbreeding events, with uneven distribution across chromosomes. New work by @sarahtishkoff.bsky.social lab suggests patterns are most consistent with Neanderthal contribution to human populations being highly male biased.🧪

The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs Nature Ecology & Evolution - This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms...

Our internal organs are evolutionary marvels. New technologies are transforming our understanding of the evolution of vertebrate organs. You can find more by reading here:
rdcu.be/e5EgU
#EvoBio #EvoDevo 🐟🦎🐢🦇🐊🦜

Pangenome analysis reveals families of ubiquitin-ligase adaptors as key genomic divergence drivers that lead to hybrid incompatibility

genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...

Call Me by Your Names | Ian Tattersall The quest to fathom the riotous diversity of nature is absorbingly told in a virtual double biography of the great taxonomist Carl Linnaeus and his contemporary, the count of Buffon.

Long before Darwin, the French polymath comte de Buffon “accepted both that species could become extinct and that they could change, and he even entertained the idea that humans and apes…might have had a common ancestry.” —Ian Tattersall

Time-calibrated phylogeny of the family Drosophilidae showing major species groups, surrounded by representative adult flies that highlight the remarkable morphological diversity of this model insect group. The composite image was created using Microsoft PowerPoint. Fly photographs were taken by Darren J. Obbard and are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License with permission.

The #fly community aims to achieve a comprehensive genomic study of the Drosophilidae family. @pankajd.bsky.social @bernardkim.bsky.social @petrovadmitri.bsky.social @darrenobbard.bsky.social present a comparative gene annotation for 301 #Drosophilidae species @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4c3pyrI

This new #RSOS study examines the heritability of cognitive and behavioural traits in a pedigreed population of assistance #dogs. Read more: doi.org/10.1098/rsos... @ggnanadesikan.bsky.social @dremilybray.bsky.social @marinawatowich.bsky.social @smacklab.bsky.social

Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 17 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00937-3In this Review, Ji et al. overview how rapidly advancing experimental and computational methods are enabling improved and automated annotation of gene structure and function, providing researchers with genome annotation resources of unprecedented scale and resolution.

New online! Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution

🧵Good news out of #NIH today.
(1) NIH is extending #ESI and #K99/R00 eligibility to accommodate researchers whose eligibility would have ended during the previous shutdown. Take a look at NOT-OD-26-020. If your ESI status would have ended in 2025, you get an automatic extension through 2026/03/31.

Evolutionary causes and consequences of gene duplication Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 16 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00935-5Gene duplication is a key evolutionary mechanism, as initially redundant paralogues diverge over time. The authors review how adaptive and non-adaptive forces influence the evolutionary fates of gene duplicates, highlighting the importance of function–fitness relationships and gene expression dynamics.

New online! Evolutionary causes and consequences of gene duplication

How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬

Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)

Staff Positions

We have an opening for a Research Associate in my group. This is an excellent position for recent graduates or students with a master's seeking research experience prior to graduate/medical school. Apply via the job portal (Job ID: 14797). DM for queries. www.utsa.edu/people-excel...

De novo genes arise from previously non-coding sequences. This evolutionary path — when randomly expressed sequences become folded and active proteins — challenges our understanding of genetic innovation. New Review by @bornberglab.bsky.social and @lacholt.bsky.social out now!