Rob Waterhouse

A phylogenetic tree of insects is shown annotating the presence or absence of a an antimicrobial peptide gene across winged insects

Various phylogenetic secondary loss events are mapped to a tree of insects to explain the parsimony calculations necessary to explain the diversity of insect Drosomycin antimicrobial peptide genes

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are key defence molecules of the innate immune system of plants and animals. Understanding the evolutionary origins of AMPs can help to explain how immune systems acquire novelty and vary in their defensive capabilities. However, AMPs evolve rapidly, and so the origins of similar AMPs across organisms is often unclear. Furthermore, false negatives due to low search sensitivity are common and can hinder confident annotations about true absences. Due to these difficulties, understanding whether similar AMP genes found in diverse organisms represent ancestral molecules or evolutionary novelties has been challenging. In this report, we present evidence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of the antifungal peptide gene Drosomycin across insects. We show that in Diptera, the presence of Drosomycin is restricted to the Melanogaster group and additionally the distant relative Drosophila busckii. We go on to recover Drosomycin genes in cockroaches (Blattodea), mantises (Mantodea), one katydid (Orthoptera), various beetles (Coleoptera), and a recently acquired pseudogenized Drosomycin locus in Liposcelis booklice (Psocodea), but no other insects. Explaining this diversity through shared ancestry requires at least 50 independent loss events, or just seven HGT events. Previous studies have suggested that similar AMPs found across divergent species reflect conservation from a common ancestor, or due to their small size, that they arose via convergent evolution resulting from pathogen-imposed selection. Our findings suggest horizontal gene transfer can be responsible for the presence of some AMP genes found scattered across the tree of life. By presenting a mechanism through which immune systems can acquire novelty, our study also suggests a possible explanation for certain lineage-specific competencies for defence against infectious disease. While loss of AMP genes is common in certain lineages, here we suggest gain of AMPs can occur just as suddenly.

Pleased to finally share this fun collab that began at #Ento23

@cedricaumont.bsky.social presented & I had seen NCBI annotated some cockroach genomes as "contaminated." Turns out NCBI & I were wrong (much more fun).

Horizontal transfer of an #AntimicrobialPeptide across insects
bit.ly/DrsHGT

1/🧵

Biodiversity Data Unlocked: Publishing in GBIF with IPT A certain number of places will be attributed in priority to CUSO members. Overview This course will introduce participants to the process of publishi

🟢 Are you a researcher in #Switzerland involved in collecting species observations #data ? 🗺️🦋🐸🦉
🟣 Then you can join us to learn about Swiss #biodiversity data mobilisation, publication, & sharing !
www.sib.swiss/training/cou...

#biodiversity #bioinformatics Summer School ... 21-26 June in Siegen, Germany co-organised by @sib.swiss & @denbi.bsky.social
www.sib.swiss/training/cou...
🟢 eDNA & ecosystems
🟣 pangenome diversity
🔵 population genetics
🟡 comparative genomics
Register to apply, selections will start from March 16th

🆕 The @biogeneurope.bsky.social project - which now gives way to BGE+ - represented a landmark in European research collaboration, bringing together the #DNAbarcoding (@iboleurope.bsky.social) and #reference #genomes (@ergabiodiv.bsky.social) communities.

🔓 Grant Proposal: doi.org/10.3897/rio.....

Vector venom: venomics of Aedes albopictus reveals a large enzyme repertoire and novel cecropins with activity against E. coli - npj Drug Discovery npj Drug Discovery - Vector venom: venomics of Aedes albopictus reveals a large enzyme repertoire and novel cecropins with activity against E. coli

It's great to see our next vemomics paper out there! This time, our PhD student Ludwig milked hundreds of mosquitoes and examined their venom (yes, he milked them!). Check out how he did it and what we found in their venom. Great work! 🦟☠️👍 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

📣 Call for Applications: The University of Vienna invites applications for more than 40 fully funded doctoral positions across a broad range of disciplines in Life Sciences and Natural Sciences. 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬 #PhDSky #PhD #univie
📅 Application period: 2 March – 27 March 2026, 12:00 CET

More information: ⤵️

EBP-affiliated projects worldwide are pushing the limits of what’s possible — driving innovation and the breakthroughs that make this moonshot real.
Global community = global progress 🌍🧬

@vertebrategenomes.bsky.social
@ergabiodiv.bsky.social
@catbiogenoma.bsky.social
@biogeneurope.bsky.social

Training Modules - Threatened Species Initiative Welcome to the Threatened Species Initiative (TSI) open online course: Conservation Genomics for Threatened Species Management. The training modules are presented by a range of Australian…

💡 #KnowledgeHighlight | Conservation #Genomics for Threatened Species Management @ausbiocommons.bsky.social 🐨 threatenedspeciesinitiative.com/training-mod...
Explore open-access training materials in the ERGA #KnowledgeHub ➡️ knowledge.erga-biodiversity.eu @bioplatformsaus.bsky.social #conservation

MBE | The role of society journals in protecting the scientific record

MBE Editors-in-Chief Claudia Russo and Brandon Gaut publish a new editorial on the role of society journals in protecting the scientific record.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag022

#evobio #molbio #societyjournal

@claurusso.bsky.social @bsgaut.bsky.social

Pangenomes, really?

Most early “pangenomes” = oligogenomes (oligo, Gr., few).

More recent “pangenomes” generally = poligenomes (polis, Gr., many).

True pangenomes (pas, Gr., every/all) would be rare indeed.

🙏🏼 @zbao.bsky.social for pointing out his review.

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

Finally published! We first uploaded this preprint in 2022 but dropped it after frustrating reviews.
It was well received and cited, motivating us to revisit it.
We added new content, including simulations and a proof-of-concept genomic green status assessment.
#consgen #popgen #PopulationGenomics

Quote by Luthando Dziba: This year’s World Wildlife Day theme, “Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods”, focuses attention on the vital contributions that plants make to human wellbeing, and the roles they play in culture as well as the global economy. But with a million species of plants and animals currently threatened by extinction, medicinal and aromatic plants — including plants which have not yet been described by science — are also in jeopardy.

On this #WorldWildlifeDay, we can recommit to action that recognizes nature’s values in all their forms — as a source of medicine and culture, pillars of healthy ecosystems, and foundations of resilient communities. 🌍

🧪 Read more from 🏡 IPBES ES, Luthando Dziba: https://www.ipbes.net/node/97615

Discover the new SIB learning paths 🧬 Structured #Bioinformatics training from beginner to advanced levels, including machine learning and omics data analysis. Plan your next learning step and share within your network

Convergent evolution of hexenal isomerases in Lepidoptera and plants - Nature Ecology & Evolution Phylogenetic and functional analyses across 34 Lepidoptera and 183 plant species show that hexenal isomerases found in Lepidoptera exhibit functional convergence with those found in plants despite hav...

Phylogenetic and functional analyses across 34 Lepidoptera and 183 plant species show that hexenal isomerases found in Lepidoptera exhibit functional convergence with those found in plants despite having evolved independently from unrelated enzyme families 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We can help protect insect biodiversity by:
🐞 Expanding research
🐜 Monitoring insects & related species across landscapes
🪰 Promoting improved pest management techniques
🦗 Protecting & restoring habitat
🐝 Facilitating collaboration between entomologists, other scientists, policymakers & citizens

The image is a collage of five insect photos (an oak treehopper, desert ironclad beetle, red-blue checkered beetle, blue morpho, and dragonfly). In the center, there is white text on a blue background that says, ““The little things that run the world.” -E.O. Wilson.” There is also the hashtag #WorldWildlifeDay and the ESA logo.

Today, March 3, is #WorldWildlifeDay! More than half of all species on Earth are insects and their relatives—or in the words of conservationist E.O. Wilson, "the little things that run the world."

A sedge. It may look unassuming but its genome has several unusual features.

Why do the chromosomes of cyperids (sedges & rushes) split and fuse so regularly on evolutionary timescales?

Is it because they have so many centromeres?

Our new preprint, the first major paper of my PhD, addresses this question. 🧵⬇️ 1/12

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

#biodiversity #bioinformatics Summer School ... 21-26 June in Siegen, Germany co-organised by @sib.swiss & @denbi.bsky.social
www.sib.swiss/training/cou...
🟢 eDNA & ecosystems
🟣 pangenome diversity
🔵 population genetics
🟡 comparative genomics
Register to apply, selections will start from March 16th

#biodiversity #bioinformatics Summer School ... 21-26 June in Siegen, Germany co-organised by @sib.swiss & @denbi.bsky.social
www.sib.swiss/training/cou...
🟢 eDNA & ecosystems
🟣 pangenome diversity
🔵 population genetics
🟡 comparative genomics
Register to apply, selections will start from March 16th

Actions and actors driving transformative change for global sustainability - Nature Sustainability A bibliometric analysis of more than four million scholarly documents highlights the need for a more inclusive approach to research on actors and actions needed for transformative change towards a jus...

Drawing on work from the @ipbes.net 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 & bibliometric analysis of >4 million scholarly documents - a more inclusive approach needed to research on actors and actions www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species are threatened with extinction.

But hope is not lost.

#GenerationRestoration is reviving habitats bringing back homes for threatened species.

This #WorldWildlifeDay, discover six species making a comeback: www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) Project – Abridged Grant Proposal The Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) Project has the overarching aim of accelerating the use of genomic science to enhance understanding of biodiversity, monitor biodiversity change, and guide inter...

The #Biodiversity #Genomics #Europe project comprised activities focused on #DNA Barcoding (Barcoding Stream) and Reference #Genome Generation (Genomes Stream) for eukaryotic species across Europe riojournal.com/article/1875...

Annotating genomes at increased scale and resolution - Nature Reviews Genetics In 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 wit...

The growing number of sequenced #genomes provides a positive feedback loop, in which database searches become more effective and shared sequence patterns emerge more clearly www.nature.com/articles/s41... #biodiversity #genomics

Be part of the global biodiversity genomics community 🌍🧬🚀

Join the conversation by referencing biodiversity genomics or 🌍🧬

Limitations of molecular dating using constant birth–death rate priors in deep time reflected in Brachiopoda evolution Molecular dating often struggles to align with fossil records when divergence times are estimated in deep evolutionary history, particularly during th…

Limitations of molecular dating using constant birth-death rate priors in deep time reflected in Brachiopoda evolution www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Huge news 🌍🧬
The Protist 10,000 Genomes Project is joining the Earth BioGenome Project.
Protists may represent the majority of eukaryotic diversity — yet only a tiny fraction have reference genomes.
Time to change that. 🚀✨
Learn more 👉 ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/p10k/
#EBP #Protists #Genomics #TreeOfLife

The biodiversity, genomics, ecology and evolution of mushroom-forming fungi - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Mushroom-forming fungi have along evolutionary history and a suite of important ecological roles. This Review highlights advances in understanding of Agaricomycetes evolution and ecology driven by gen...

Everything you always wanted to know about mushroom-forming fungi! Great collab with amazing mycologists. Thanks Laszlo Nagy for leading this effort!

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

New #OpenAccess research by M. Prous, @niinakiljunen.bsky.social et al. in #RESSystematicEnt found that multiple full-length variants of the mitochondrial COI DNA barcode region are prevalent in north European sawflies.
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70031

@gkergoat.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Butterflies and moths are key indicators of functioning and healthy ecosystems around the world. This Review describes the evolutionary history of the order Lepidoptera and tracks shifts in researcher...

Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

European red list of bees - Publications Office of the EU

European Red List of Bees
op.europa.eu/en/publicati...