Peter Mulhair

Heatwaves, poor diets, and parasitoids all stress insects, but not always in expected ways. New paper with
@jinlinchen.bsky.social
finds that Drosophila exposed to parasitoids survive extreme heat better than predicted. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe t...

(1/5)Thrilled to announce our paper on #ProjectPsyche is out! 🦋We describe how we’ve generated 1000+ high-quality genomes for European Lepidoptera, providing an unprecedented resource for biodiversity, conservation, and evolutionary research.
#Genomics #Biodiversity
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe t...

I'm very excited that our paper on Project Psyche is now published! 🦋🧬

Over the last two years we've built an incredible community & already made huge progress. Read about this & how @projectpsyche.bsky.social will drive exciting and collaborative science here:

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe t...

One of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved in: Project Psyche! Read all about our ambitions and aims. It's ground breaking stuff, just mind blowing and even surreal (27 years ago we did single genes for lep phylogenetics)! @projectpsyche.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?

Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.

👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1

Shades of blue and red in a slice through an immuno stained brain showing some deliciously lovely looking mushroom body lobes - ripe for investigation during a funded PhD - and the central complex. Image credit: Dr Max Farnworth

🚨RA/PhD position available in evolutionary neurobiology 🚨

Working on a deep dive into circuit changes during mushroom body expansion in Heliconius butterflies @camzoology.bsky.social

- employment benefits
- 4 years funding
- 1000% fun

Deadline: 14/1/2026

Details:
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Our website is back!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Also, if you have yet to register for this Wednesday's Joy of Discovery lecture (online at 3PM GMT+0), do so here: tinyurl.com/bdu5xans

Prof. Mike Benton, University of Bristol, will be giving a talk on the origin of feathers.

Thanks Mary :)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-025-10277-1 Conceptual overview of hierarchical orthologous groups. An example of one HOG, or gene family. A Species tree with four taxa: plant (green), fish (blue), human (orange), and mouse (yellow), each with one or more genes. B The implied gene tree, dubbed “HOG tree,” and inferred nested HOG composition. Duplication nodes (red) can be deduced based on the species tree topology and clusters of homologous genes at each level. Ancestral genes from which the HOGs descended are shown in gray. C HOGs returned at different taxonomic levels. Consider a gene family that was present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). At this level, a single HOG encompasses all genes descending from that ancestral gene. At the Vertebrata level, this gene underwent duplication, leading to two distinct copies, i.e., HOGs. At the Mammalia level, a second duplication further subdivides one of these HOGs, showing how deeper HOGs split into nested subHOGs at more recent levels. The HOG composition implies that a loss event occurred after the mammalian speciation

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-025-10272-6 Summary of the QfO8 meeting. a Hot topics and future directions in method development and applications within the QfO community, namely artificial intelligence, protein domains, protein structure, RNA and splicing isoforms. b Definition of orthology and paralogy, including various paralogous subtypes (e.g. in-paralogs and out-paralogs). c Duplications and functional divergence. d Applications of orthology

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-025-10271-7 Overview of the OrthoXML File Format (simplified). A schematic representation of an OrthoXML file, a standardized XML-based format for representing orthology data. OrthoXML follows a hierarchical structure where elements are enclosed within opening < tag > and closing </tag > tags. < orthoXML > is the root element enclosing other elements. The < species > element contains information about genes. An OrthoXML file can include a < taxonomy > element, which specifies the species tree used to generate the file. Additionally, the < groups > element encapsulates the orthology and paralogy relationships among genes

Our trilogy of orthology publications is online!
Review on Hierarchical Orthologous Groups doi.org/10.1007/s00239-025-10277-1

OrthoXML-Tools doi.org/10.1007/s00239-025-10271-7

A great community effort on Quest for Orthologs in the era of Data Deluge and AI doi.org/10.1007/s00239-025-10272-6

a life changing opportunity made possible by the Nobel Prize funds awarded to John Sulston -- the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social runs the Sanger Prize scheme, open to an undergrad from any LMIC to spend 3 months here learning all about genomics. more details here www.sanger.ac.uk/about/study/...

Poster with details about the Joy of Discovery event. Including title and abstract for Mike Benton's talk.

The online Joy of Discovery event is back! 🎉

This year the event is going to be a smidge different, with a single speaker. But what a speaker!

Prof. Mike Benton, University of Bristol, will be giving us a talk on the origin of feathers.

Join us NOV 26 AT 3PM GMT+0

REGISTER: tinyurl.com/bdu5xans

MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Liverpool on Fin... PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Li...

🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟‍♂️

Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

On the cover: A phoronid (Phoronis australis) extending its crown-like feeding organ, the lophophore, from its tube on the seabed. These sedentary marine invertebrates belong to the spiralian branch of bilaterian animals. For over a century, their closest relatives have been debated, with competing hypotheses linking them to either brachiopods or bryozoans. In this issue, Lewin et al. present a chromosome-level genome of P. australis and reveal that it shares seven derived chromosome fusions with bryozoans. This provides rare, sequence-independent evidence supporting bryozoans as the closest relatives of phoronids and offers new insights into the evolution of genome structure and animal body plans. Photograph © Fred Bavendam; used with permission.

Lophophorates get way too little publicity...

Latest issue is out!
www.cell.com/issue/S0960-...

Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.

Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9

If you work on genomics of Lepidoptera in Europe and would like to do a short-term research exchange, you can apply for a short term scientific mission through our COST Action. See details below.

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

(1/4) 📣 Exciting news! 📣
The #10KLepGenomes COST Action has opened the second call for Short Term Scientific Missions #STSMs
Keep reading for all the details 👇

Join us! 🧬🪰🎉🔬

We are currently advertising two #PhD projects to study the #evolution, #development and #genomics of sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies.

Deadline for applying is Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Get in touch for more info!

Logo of the 27th Young Systematists Forum, with black text and a rainbow coloured phylogenetic tree in the background. Text reads "27th Young Systematists Forum, Friday 14th November 2025"

Another year of the @systassn.bsky.social's YSF conference complete.
Another year of catching up with the talented early career systematists/taxonomists from across the globe, presenting thoughtful and exciting research on such a broad range of topics.

Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Woooo!!! Exciting times ahead

Absolutely delighted to have been awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship! I will be moving to the University of Manchester @mermanchester.bsky.social to research early endosymbiont evolution
#microsky #symbiosky

Happy to share Jialin's first publication. She did a great job exploring the transition to land in animals. Co-supervised by the great Jordi Paps and me and in collaboration with Davide Pisani and @phil-donoghue.bsky.social

A truly refreshing perspective on an age old debate. Big implications for animal evolution but also useful techniques to address many other remaining phylogenetic questions.
Congrats to you both on a wonderful piece of work!

NEW pub in @science.org 🥳

Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?

For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.

We provide new evidence suggesting that...

🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Just gonna put this here for now
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
bsky.app/profile/jlst...

We are experiencing some issues with our website. We will let you know as soon as it is back in working order.

🌟 I’ve recently moved to The University of Manchester!
I'm advertising several PhD projects on plant–microbe interactions 🌱🦠🪲

🧪🖥️ Projects span experimental to computational. Diverse supervisory teams, collaborating across the UK Plant Microbiome community.

Details: www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...

Hey Lep researchers!

"Given the risks of transgene remobilization and instability associated with piggyBac transposases of lepidopteran origin,
we urge researchers interested in developing transgenesis in moths or butterflies to consider using Minos-based tools."

YSF2025 Registration Form Welcome to the YSF2025 Registration and Abstract Submission form. This year the conference will be held online on Friday, November 14th 2025. We look forward to seeing old and new faces from across t...

Reminder, registration for this year's Young Systematists' Forum (Friday, Nov 14th), closes tomorrow at 13:00 GMT+0.

Register: tinyurl.com/5n8mu5z9

PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social