Subscribe by email
Join 889 other subscribersMeta
Category Archives: genomics
Unbalanced population sampling and STRUCTURE
The utility and intuition offered by the program STRUCTURE, and more generally, the ‘admixture’ model of Pritchard et al. (2000) are unquestioned – with tens of thousands of citations, it retains its lead among the most popular population genetics software. … Continue reading
Posted in bioinformatics, genomics, howto, methods, population genetics, software, STRUCTURE
Tagged gene flow, methods, population structure
1 Comment
Diving into chilly California waters, understanding genomic differentiation and the role of gene transfer in marine cyanophages
At this point, it’s clear: microbes are everywhere, there are a lot of them, and they are important. In fact, they are more abundant, more diverse and older than any other organism we have on this planet. In particular, cyanobacteria … Continue reading
Posted in Coevolution, evolution, genomics, horizontal gene transfer, microbiology, population genetics
Tagged cyanophage, species, virus
Leave a comment
Still ruffling feathers after all these years: Darwin's finches and a molecular view of adaptive radiation
One of the many lovely things about molecular ecology is its ability to shine new light on old stories. The well-known case of Darwin’s finches is a classic example of adaptive radiation. These finches demonstrate a clear instance where over time, … Continue reading
Conifer convergence
Convergent local adaptation is typically studied within a species or between closely related species. In these cases, it is perhaps not unexpected to observe parallel evolution due to common genetic variation, constraints, etc. Convergence between species is somewhat less studied, … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, association genetics, genomics, plants, selection, Uncategorized
Tagged adaptation, convergence, Evolution
1 Comment
The tarsier's nuclear genome comes with a bonus mitochodrial genome
This week Nature Communications published a paper presenting a new genome assembly for Tarsius syrichta, the Phillipine tarsier. Tarsiers are the subject of one of the best of Ze Frank’s “True Facts” videos, and they occupy an interesting place in … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, natural history
Tagged genomic insertion, primate, tarsier
Leave a comment
The Hidden History of Kiwi Diversification
Of the millions of Earth’s species that likely remain to be described, a majority is thought to be invertebrates, plants, fungi, or microbes. Nevertheless, the pace of species description in some vertebrate groups has not slackened over the past few … Continue reading
Divergence and Linked Background Selection
We have widely discussed the reduction in neutral diversity due to demography and linked selection effects (e.g. selective sweeps and hitchhiking, or background selection) in several previous posts (e.g see here, here, and here). However, how linked selection affects neutral divergence … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, methods, selection, speciation, theory
Tagged ecological speciation, Evolution, genomics, Homo sapiens, natural selection, population genetics
1 Comment
The almighty CRISPR-Cas9 technology: How does it work?
CRISPR-Cas9 took the whole world of biology by storm. Selected Science’s 2015 Breakthrough of the Year, the CRISPR-Cas9 technology is revolutionizing science. Within five years of the official announcement (Jinek et al. 2012), it became the genome-editing technique of choice. … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, methods, theory
Tagged CRISPR, CRISPR-Cas9, genome-editing, genome-engineering
3 Comments