Shen Tian 田申

🦣🧬🦣🤯💥We are pleased to share our new paper about ancient RNA expression profiles from the Woolly Mammoth, now published in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

If you want to know more, read the 🧵 below:

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/...

Hi, I'm setting up a peer support platform for ECRs in ecology & evolution in China, aiming to address a huge problem --- academic burnout driven by hyper-competition and a system that often prioritizes elite background/title over actual research.

#ECR #AcademicSupport #科研互助 #ecology #evolution

a statue of a man 's head with a bunch of paper coming out of it ALT: a statue of a man 's head with a bunch of paper coming out of it

🔥🔥🔥🔥New paper out; a opinion piece in @narjournal.bsky.social with Michael Hackenberg, @panosbino.bsky.social, Kevin K Peterson and @marcfriedlander.bsky.social 🔥🔥🔥🔥

„Knowing is not enough, we must apply“

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Project overview

About the lab

Entry requirements

Funding & eligibility

PhD position for Chinese nationals! London-based, funded by China Scholarship Council & @qmul.bsky.social

"Ecology & genomics of climate adaptation: mapping functional genetic variation in wild insect populations"

shorturl.at/Vfi8W

DM for more info!
#conservation #genomics #ecology #biodiversity

Genomic architecture of egg mimicry and its consequences for speciation in parasitic cuckoos Host-parasite arms races facilitate rapid evolution and can fuel speciation. Cuculus cuckoos are deceptive egg mimics that exhibit a broad diversity of counterfeit egg phenotypes, representing host-ad...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wound-induced eyespots on butterfly wings at the intersection of immune response and pigmentation development - BMC Biology Background Butterfly eyespots are striking examples of evolutionary novelty arising through the repurposing of ancestral genetic pathways, including pathways involved in wound healing. Given the activ...

A personal favorite, long time in the making. Adelina and David (@dduneau.bsky.social) were instrumental in getting this done.

doi.org/10.1186/s129...

For those interested in GRN evolution, please join us!

Hi Aaron, sure, will pm you

NUS study: A simple DNA switch helps tropical butterflies change wing patterns with the seasons Singapore, 24 October 2025 — Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a simple DNA “switch” that helps tropical butterflies adjust the size of their wing eyespots in ...

news.nus.edu.sg/dna-switch-b...

A news article about the paper by Jennifer Brisson:

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

This study @science.org finds what appears to be the long-lost RNA subunit of C. elegans telomerase. The TERC RNA is encoded within an intron of a germline-upregulated gene, nmy-2🪱🔬🧬Nematode telomerase RNA hitchhikes on introns of germline–up-regulated genes | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is the final piece of my PhD thesis. A big thanks to Bonnie, @tirthabanerjee.bsky.social, Suriya, and @monteirolab.bsky.social for their support! 9/9

Cr. to William Piel

We found a novel promoter of a Hox gene promoting adaptive temperature sensitivities across a large clade of butterflies. This highlights the essential roles of novel cis-regulatory elements in fueling adaptations on a macroevolutionary scale. 8/9

In B. anynana, disrupting this novel promoter reduced the butterfly’s ability to adjust eyespot size with temperature, showing that this genetic element contributed to the evolution of temperature-mediated eyespot size plasticity in satyrid butterflies. 7/9

How is Antp activated in eyespots of a specific clade of butterflies? We found a genetic switch, a promoter, that evolved specifically in satyrid butterflies, and it activates Antp expression specifically in eyespot central cells. 6/9

Disrupting Antp in two satyrid butterflies reduced eyespot size, especially when the insects were raised at warmer temperatures, confirming Antp’s role in boosting the levels of eyespot size plasticity. 5/9

From the tissue-specific transcriptomic data, we pinpointed a Hox gene Antennapedia (Antp), showing higher eyespot expression levels at warmer temperatures. Notbly, among all butterflies with eyespots, Antp is only activated in the eyespots of satyrid butterflies. 4/9

How did satyrid butterflies evolve such temperature sensativities? In a model satyrid Bicyclus anynana, we profiled gene expression from both eyespot and non-eyespot developing wing tissues across two temperatures, using laser-microdissection. 3/9

Many tropical satyrid butterflies look strikingly different in different seasons. In the hot wet season, these butterflies develop large eyespots on their wings. In the cold dry season, these eyespots are small. This change enhances their survival in each season. 2/9

Cr. to Shen Tian

My main PhD work @monteirolab.bsky.social is now in @natecoevo.nature.com! We found a Hox gene promoter that helps butterflies🦋adjust their wing eyespots in response to seasonal temperatures🍃🍂, shedding light on the evolutionary origin of phenotypic plasticity. 1/9 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/3 Excited that my final PhD MS is online! Big thanks to Ullasa (PI) (vanasiri.in) & collaborators Freerk and Urszula. Turns out humidity, not just temperature, plays a major role in butterfly eyespot plasticity. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

New #miRNA paper from Lai lab!! 🧬🔥

some think this field, despite recent Nobel to Ambros and Ruvkun, doesn't have much surprises left. but, do we EVEN KNOW WHAT a miRNA precursor LOOKS LIKE? we found some conserved miRNA hairpins up to 10x longer than suspected. this is mir-12, just bonkers! 1/n

An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

De-novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than from genomic DNA Promoters are DNA sequences that help to initiate transcription. Point mutations can create de-novo promoters, which can consequently transcribe inactive genes or create novel transcripts. We know lit...

Excited / nervous to share the “magnum opus” of my postdoc in Andreas Wagner’s lab!

"De-novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than from genomic DNA"

This project is the accumulation of 4 years of work, and lays the foundation for my future group. In short, we… (1/4)

Music to my ears. This is brilliant. Either 90% of us can claim to be better musicians than Beethoven or… maybe just maybe polygenic scores aren’t perfect?

My sister department EEB is hiring an animal evo-devo assistant prof! I'm the plant evo-devo person on the SC and happy to answer any questions! (spoiler alert: This is a GREAT place to be and with fantastic colleagues & support!!!!) @socdevbio.bsky.social
illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Nanoscale cuticle mass density variations influenced by pigmentation in butterfly wing scales Nature Communications - Here, the authors investigate the interaction of pigment distribution and cuticle density within butterfly wing scales. They use ptychographic X-ray computed tomography to...

Here is a very detailed examination on how pigmentation in the cuticle of a butterfly wing scale changes the density and refractive index of chitin and, thus, also alters structural color. rdcu.be/eyUwS

A male-essential miRNA is key for avian sex chromosome dosage compensation - Nature Birds have evolved a unique sex chromosome dosage compensation mechanism involving the male-biased microRNA (miR-2954), which is essential for male survival by regulating the expression of dosage-sens...

Our study on a male-essential microRNA and the evolution of other dosage compensation mechanisms in birds is now out in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Photo of guppy males from lab population, each showing a unique combination of black and orange ornaments. Photo by Wouter van der Bijl.

🚨 Super exited to see our paper on the inheritance and genetic basis of guppy color variation come out in @natecoevo.nature.com‬ rdcu.be/eugWV

Guppy males have enormous variation in color patterns, with many combinations of ornamental spots and stripes. But where does all this variation come from?