Gavin Douglas

What your Discussion section isn’t Today, the next instalment in a short series inspired by bad papers I’ve read (some of them, I have to admit, my own). I’ve let myself rant about what a Methods sections shouldn’t be, and what a Re…

Too many authors use a scientific paper's Discussion to thoroughly shred their own work. That, and two more common mistakes in writing Discussions:

I'm super bummed to be missing #ESEB2025 @eseb2025.bsky.social due to a cancelled flight! Here's a quick overview of my talk "Gene- and genome-focused perspectives on microbial pangenomes" slated to be part of The Evolution of Microbial Pangenomes -- which I recommend you attend tomorrow (Fri) !
1/n

On life, entropy, and the heat death of the universe a poem

In case you missed it, check out my latest #substack on life, entropy, and the arrow of time.

Trying to get a bit more poetic with this one. If this isn't your thing, stay tuned next week, for another prose post.

gibbological.substack.com/p/on-life-en...

Haha, thanks!

This could be your view!

Obligatory new job swag and selfie. Excited to start as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada!

Come work with me! douglaslab.ca

A high-quality genome assembly for carpenter bees We present a reference genome assembly from an individual male Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea, Linnaeus 1758). The assembly is 1.02 gigabases in span. 48% of the assembly is scaffolded into…

Lopezguerra & Douglas recommend the high-quality Xylocopa violacea reference genome by Nash et al., 2024, Heredity, the first annotated pseudo-chromosomal assembly for any Xylocopa bee! 🐝 A crucial step for pollinator research, conservation, and even cancer therapy studies #ERGA tinyurl.com/vwknzu2b

At PCI Genomics, we are pleased to have recommended all ERGA manuscripts and publications to date, helping to bring together this vital body of work at the heart of European biodiversity genomics.

🔗 genomics.peercommunityin.org
#ERGA #Genomics #Biodiversity #PCIGenomics #OpenScience

An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky

Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms.
web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...

Howard's: evolution of microbial genes, genomes and communities. Can be experimental or computational. If interested, contact Howard Ochman, howard.ochman@austin.utexas.edu
Homepage: web.biosci.utexas.edu/ochman/index...

We just published our first paper in the Peer Community Journal - diamond open access, no APCs!
Awesome experience, with less than a week from submission after receommendation by #pcigenomics.
Highly recommended!
#molpalmuc
@lmumuenchen.bsky.social
@peercommunityin.bsky.social

Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Microbiology & Immunology, (C2-240724) Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...

Come join us at @mcgill.ca as an assistant professor in virus-host interactions! Please share widely.

mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments! This was a collaboration with several co-authors, including @cyanophage.bsky.social, @lbobay.bsky.social, @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social, Samuel Chaffron, and others!

A global survey of prokaryotic genomes reveals the eco-evolutionary pressures driving horizontal gene transfer - Nature Ecology & Evolution The authors analyse 8,790 prokaryotic pangenomes to identify the ecological variables associated with recent versus old horizontal gene transfer events, finding that gene transfers are more common amo...

Our work complements a recent analysis focused on 16S data: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

By analyzing marine metagenome-assembled genomes, we identified widespread evidence for HGT across marine prokaryotes and found the association with co-occurrence remains robust after accounting for other factors!

Co-occurring microbes have previously been found to undergo more HGT, but other factors could explain this observation (esp. phylo distance and similar env pressures).

New preprint (and brief🧵)! “Co-occurrence drives horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among marine prokaryotes”. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments! This was a collaboration with several co-authors: @cyanophage.bsky.social, @bjesseshapiro.bsky.social, Samuel Chaffron, @lbobay.bsky.social, and others!

A global survey of prokaryotic genomes reveals the eco-evolutionary pressures driving horizontal gene transfer - Nature Ecology & Evolution The authors analyse 8,790 prokaryotic pangenomes to identify the ecological variables associated with recent versus old horizontal gene transfer events, finding that gene transfers are more common amo...

Our work complements a recent analysis focused on 16S data: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

By analyzing marine metagenome-assembled genomes, we identified widespread evidence for HGT across marine prokaryotes and found the association with co-occurrence remains robust after accounting for other factors!

Co-occurring microbes have previously been found to undergo more HGT, but other factors could explain this observation (esp. phylo distance and similar env pressures).

A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry - Nature The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemb...

I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt

Don't knock it until you've tried them!

Big news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's dedicated organization to oversee the servers] openrxiv.org 1/n

Hi there, I'm definitely open to that! Please reach out to me by email and I would be happy to discuss further.

Homologous recombination shapes the architecture and evolution of bacterial genomes Abstract. Homologous recombination is a key evolutionary force that varies considerably across bacterial species. However, how the landscape of homologous

I am a little late, but I am very happy to see this work published. Congrats to @ellistorrance.bsky.social for all the hard work on her last chapter!

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

The genomic foundations of adaptation: evaluating the mountain h... Fekete et al. (2024) generated a chromosome-level reference genome assembly for the mountain hare (Lepus timidus). This represents a significant advancement in genomic research for non-model…

📑 New PCI Genomics recommendation, by Nicolas Pollet: https://buff.ly/40lxBsq

On the work of Sallé et al. (2024) Spatio-temporal diversity and genetic architecture of pyrantel resistance in Cylicocyclus nassatus, the most abundant horse parasite https://buff.ly/4jCCiqK

Other topics include developing tools for genome-linked microbiome data analysis and characterizing strain dynamics across environments. If interested, please reach out!

I am looking for graduate students interested in investigating bacterial genome evolution, esp. pangenomes and intergenic regions, and the relative importance of genetic drift! https://buff.ly/3UPVcQ9

What are folks favourite *free* tools for finding potential reviewers for manuscripts? I have used JANE (https://buff.ly/2XdHUyw) previously, which is great, but I'm wondering if there are other open tools to try too.