Katarina Stuart

A Beginner's Guide to Structural Variants in Eco‐Evolutionary Population Genomics Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has greatly expanded researchers' ability to study structural variants (SVs), that is, the variation in the presence, number, orientation or position of a DNA sequence. ...

And you can check the supplementary for a huge table making a (non exhaustive) overview of SV papers in evolutionary genomics from 2020 to 2025. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We hope this little guide and review of the recent literature on SVs will be useful for the community in #ecology #evolution #genomics #PopGen.

Great lead by Kat!!

A Beginner's Guide to Structural Variants in Eco‐Evolutionary Population Genomics Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has greatly expanded researchers' ability to study structural variants (SVs), that is, the variation in the presence, number, orientation or position of a DNA sequence. ....

New review!

Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬

Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social
@annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Missing or Mis‐Telling the Story? Trade‐Offs for Restriction‐Site Associated Compared to Whole Genome Sequencing Researchers must navigate several trade-offs when deciding which population sequencing method to use. The decision between reduced representation approaches and whole genome sequencing (WGS) impacts ...

Now out in ME: dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec....
Empirical comparison of WGS and RADseq selection scans shows missed signals and false outliers in RADseq selection scans resulting from population specific allelic dropout @katarinastuart.bsky.social @lee-rollins.bsky.social @annasanture.bsky.social

Applications are now open for the Genetics Society of AustralAsia’s 2026 awards for achievements in #genetics research & teaching🧬🧑‍🏫🔬. Awards presented at our annual conference. Pls RT! genetics.org.au/awards/
#PhDchat #ECRchat #WomenInScience #STEMoriginal #LGBTSTEM

A starling with a yellow front (thanks to NZ flax pollen) made it to the blue front of Molecular Ecology journal. This beautiful shot by Dominic Scott advertises a paper, that peeped into history of invasive starlings in NZ (and, spoiler-alert, Australia too). #biologicalinvasions

And a special shout-out to @pavelpipek.bsky.social, who went deep into online historical archives to uncover some incredible insights into the minds of 19th-century acclimatisation societies! 🕰️📜

See one of my favorite articles below 👇

Huge thanks to first author Bryan Thompson, and co-authors @pavelpipek.bsky.social, @huizhentan.bsky.social, @annasanture.bsky.social, @lee-rollins.bsky.social, @williampearman.bsky.social, Kamolphat Atsawawaranunt, Melissa Nehmens, E. Owen Perkins & Annabel Whibley 👏

4️⃣Using historic archives we pinpoint which translocation events were most successful and use historical accounts to interpret the shared genetic signals seen across Australia and New Zealand.

Genomics 🧬 and history 🗞️ together reveal invasion dynamics that neither could fully explain alone.

We found:
1️⃣The native range was demographically stable before introductions.
2️⃣Starlings move and mix freely across NZ’s South Island and lower North Island.
3️⃣But Auckland birds stand out! Their unique genetics suggest a mysterious, unrecorded introduction.

We then looked at historical articles📰...

New Zealand’s invasive starlings on the cover of Molecular Ecology! 🐦🧬

This collaborative project unpacks the invasion history of starlings in Aotearoa New Zealand, combining population genomics with historical records of human-mediated translocations.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

GitHub - vibaotram/simulation Contribute to vibaotram/simulation development by creating an account on GitHub.

💡 Bonus: Open Snakemake pipelines for both simulation and imputation are provided:
- github.com/vibaotram/si...
- github.com/vibaotram/im...

Feel free to test and optimize imputation strategies for your own datasets before committing to large-scale LCS projects.

Assessing Genotype Imputation Methods for Low‐Coverage Sequencing Data in Populations With Differing Relatedness and Inbreeding Levels Low-coverage sequencing (LCS) followed by genotype imputation has become a cost-efficient approach for obtaining whole-genome SNPs. Several imputation methods for LCS data have been developed over th....

We explored that in this new study in Molecular Ecology Resources 🔎

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@vbtram.bsky.social
@huizhentan.bsky.social
@katarinastuart.bsky.social
@annasanture.bsky.social

🧬 Upcoming Asia-Pacific Genetics Seminar:
📅 30th September

Join us for the "Epigenetics in Evolution and Ecology" symposium, featuring three outstanding early career researchers who will share their latest discoveries.

👉 Register now using the poster below!

High Imputation Accuracy Can Be Achieved Using a Small Reference Panel in a Natural Population With Low Genetic Diversity Genotype imputation, the inference of missing genotypes using a reference set of population haplotypes, is a cost-effective tool for improving the quality and quantity of genetic datasets. Imputation...

Genomic imputation can boost dataset quality and benefit research on wild populations. In hihi, we found high #imputation accuracies despite a small reference panel of high-fecundity individuals. Imputation improves downstream #ConservationGenomics analyses. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excellent keynotes this morning from Professor Alexei Drummond and Professor Cris Print on the power of genomics and computational biology in precision medicine and health research.

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Day three of #GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025 kicking off with a great plenary session: diving into the world of plants and regulatory genetics with excellent talks by Miloš Tanurdžić and Erika Varkonyi-Gasic.

A bit of MAGIC spotted in Kathleen's talk at
#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Amazing talks in the Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics, and the Human Genetics concurrent sessions today.

Emma Carroll, Isabelly de Lima, Graham McCulloh, Amara Shaukat, Kathleen McLay, & some excellent lightning talks!

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Megan Leask closing off the Indigenous Early Career Leaders session with her work designing precision medicine for Māori, by Māori.

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Catherine Collins walking with us through the tāhuhu kōrero in DNA.

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Amazing start to #GSA2025! Amanda Black and Dawn Lewis opened with beautiful, thought-provoking science.

Indigenous Early Career Leaders Alana Alexander, Jordon Lima, and Conor Watene O'Sullivan shared wonderful projects and reflections on community and communication.

More to come!

A Beginner’s Guide to Structural Variants in Eco-Evolutionary Population Genomics: Everything You Wanted to Know 1. IntroductionCharacterizing genomic variation is fundamental to address many ecological and evolutionary questions. The ‘evolution’ of DNA sequencing methods over time has enabled the identification...

New preprint out:
"A Beginner’s Guide to Structural Variants in Eco-Evolutionary Population Genomics: Everything You Wanted to Know"

A primer for anyone curious about digging into structural variants within their study system. Huge thank you to my brilliant co-authors!

doi.org/10.22541/au....

Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 The Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland 7-10 July 2025. The GSA 2025 Local Organising Committee is excited to welcome you. For general enquiries ...

Reminder: early bird registration for 🧬GSA 2025🧬 closes on the 11th of May!

www.gsa-2025.com

Excited to share a short blog post I wrote with Greening Australia about the project I’m working on at Applied Biosciences, Macquarie University! 🌱🪴🌿

🧬How plant DNA can shape the future of native seed production:
www.greeningaustralia.org.au/how-plant-dn...

Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 The Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland 7-10 July 2025. The GSA 2025 Local Organising Committee is excited to welcome you. For general enquiries ...

Only one week left to get your abstracts in for GSA 2025!

🐑🍃🐀🦎🌼🐟🥝🦟🦕🌳💻🦉

No matter your flavour of genetics, you'll find it in Waipapa Taumata Rau (The University of Auckland), Aotearoa (New Zealand) on the 7th - 10th of July!

Hope to see you all there!

www.gsa-2025.com

📣GSA 2025 Award winners announced! 📣

All winners will be presenting at 🧬GSA 2025🧬 in Waipapa Taumata Rau (The University of Auckland) in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

🚩Reminder to submit your abstracts by April 7th and register to hear these amazing researchers present their work!

Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 The Genetics Society of AustralAsia Conference 2025 will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland 7-10 July 2025. The GSA 2025 Local Organising Committee is excited to welcome you. For general enquiries ...

🚨REMINDER

Make sure to register for🧬GSA’s 2025 conference🧬!

The conference will be held at Waipapa Taumata Rau - The University of Auckland in Aotearoa - New Zealand 🥝 from 7-10 July 2025.

🚩Abstracts are due in three weeks (7th April)
Early bird registration ends 11th May

www.gsa-2025.com

Program | Genetic Conference 2

Keynote speakers include Prof Amanda Black 🦠, Prof Alexei Drummond 🌳, Prof Matt Littlejohn 🐄, Prof Cris Print 🩺 and more!

The conference will also include an Indigenous Early Career Leaders Session and a Precision Medicine Session.

More info here▶️

www.gsa-2025.com/program

Lungfish xkcd.com/3064