Lukas Schrader

Come find me at #SMBE2025 to chat about transposable elements in ants 🧬🐜
S15 - P8

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolution and diversification of social traits and caste differentiation in ants.

Now online! Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants

New study provides deep insights into the genomes of superorganisms Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team, including Dr. Lukas Schrader from the University ...

Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team has now uncovered the genetic basis of ant evolution. (Orig. publ. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...) #ants #phylogenomics #evolution

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolutio...

Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants 🐜🐜🐜
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids - Nature Ecology & Evolution An analysis of annelid genomes reveals massive reshuffling of chromosomes in the ancestral lineage leading to clitellates, a clade composed of non-marine annelids, with potential implications for the ...

Glad to see this paper finally out! An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids
@natecoevo.nature.com @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @csic.es @erc.europa.eu www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Over 50 researchers from over 25 countries have made this possible. Almost 10 years of work. I have 23,062 emails on this project.
It is wonderful to see this published and I hope you enjoy it.
There’s a lot on genome evolution in ants and much much more.

The Virological Society (Gesellschaft für Virologie - GfV), along with the German Society for Infectiology has issued a statement on lessons learned from the last pandemic. While it was originally issued in German, it is now also available in English. You can find it here:🧪
g-f-v.org/en/fuenf-jah...

This is also a useful complement to the "pivot" paper getting attention this week

"...science marches backward when the participants are unwilling to consider preexisting information, and a certain level of push-back is warranted when such behavior is combined with excessive self-promotion"

Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector

#TEsky Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Für viele Deutsche mit Migrationsgeschichte ist es keine Randnotiz, dass eine rechtsextreme völkische Partei in Umfragen führt. Es bedeutet existenzielle Bedrohung und verstärkte Ausgrenzung. Solche Zahlen ignorieren zu können, ist ein Privileg, das viele nicht haben.

Termites became the dominant decomposers of the tropics after two diversification pulses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.25.645184v1

New ant supergene just dropped.

Awesome work!

Drosophila follicle showing retrotransposons (pink & yellow) expressed in somatic cells infecting the oocyte

1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇

3D Epigenome Evolution Underlies Divergent Gene Regulatory Programs in Primate Neural Development The expansion of the neocortex is a hallmark of human evolution and is closely linked to neural stem cell biology. Yet, the epigenetic mechanisms driving divergent gene regulation during primate neuro...

🚨New preprint from @bonevlab.bsky.social 🚨: What are the key epigenetic mechanisms that drive species-specific gene regulation during primate neurogenesis - and how do they contribute to the evolution of the human neocortex?
Here’s what we discovered 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

DAS KANN DOCH NICHT WAHR SEIN!?!?😱🤯 Wer kneift uns bitte mal eben ganz ganz kräftig?

#FCBBOC 2:3

Polizei umstellt Adenauer

Polizei stürmt den Adenauer

BREAKING: Nachdem die Polizei den Adenauer nicht mehr beschlagnahmen kann, hat sie gerade die Scheiben eingeschlagen, ihn gestürmt, umstellt und unser gesamtes Team verhaftet! Das ist so krass - uns fehlen die Worte.
Wir sind auf der AfD-Wahlparty. Die Faschisten feiern weiter.

Es geht eine dramatische, bittere Woche zu Ende. Friedrich Merz hat sein Versprechen, nicht mit der AfD zusammenzuarbeiten, gebrochen. Er hat Erpressung als Mittel der Politik eingesetzt. Damit hat er der AfD den größten Erfolg beschert: die Spaltung der Demokraten. Wir haben alles versucht, zu einer Lösung unter den Demokratinnen und Demokraten zu kommen. Aber Merz war im Blindflug unterwegs gen Abgrund. Dank und Respekt gebührt jenen, die verhindert haben, dass erstmals im Deutschen Bundestag ein Gesetz durch eine gemeinsame Mehrheit mit der AfD zustande gekommen wäre. Sie haben sich gegen ihre Fraktionslinien gestellt, das verdient Hochachtung.

Zu heute.

Tesla Gigafactory, Berlin. – Buy a Tesla, support facism!

This queen of Cardiocondyla obscurior gently embraces a batch of eggs and small larvae. This species we know most about as it has been a lab model for nearly 20 years now, pioneered by Jürgen Heinze in Regensburg.

A worker ant of Cardiocondyla venustula taking care of a pupa.

This one is a worker of Cardiocondyla venustula tending to a pupa. We collected this colony over ten years ago in South Africa. Like many Cardiocondyla species, these ants mate in the nest and colonies continuously rejuvenate themselves this way.

Workers of Cardiocondyla nuda pinning down another worker of the same species.

Back to Cardiocondyla. Here’s a bunch of C. nuda workers harassing another C. nuda worker. This happened in the same colony, so not sure what went wrong here.
Maybe our lab colonies are just growing too big at times and the ants take matters in their own hands.

A worker of Nesomrymex wilda.

This shouldn't go in a Cardiocondyla thread, but whatever... :) This is Nesomyrmex wilda, a "close" relative of Cardiocondyla (note the similarly wide post-petiolus!). They diverged ~50 mya & few other ants (maybe none) are more closely related. The males are of the typical, unspectacular variety.

An ergatoid male of Cardiocondyla venustula.

Here’s probably the coolest thing about Cardiocondyla. An ergatoid male of C. venustula. These males fight for the reproductive monopoly and try to kill each other. We know very little about how and why this evolved. So, loads still to learn!

A worker of Cardiocondyla kagutsuchi in all its glory.

Next one: Cardiocondyla kagutsuchi. We collected this colony in Okinawa in 2022 or so and they are thriving in the lab. The species‘ workers are bigger than those of C. wroughtonii but they move a lot quicker. So: happy to get a decent picture!
#entomology #macro

A worker of Cardiocondyla wroughtonii carrying a small larva.

Ok. I am trying to find time to take pictures of the various Cardiocondyla species we have in the lab now. Starting with this tiny, really tiny!, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii worker. The larva she carries is even tinier! Hard to believe…

For just homologous-based annotations, I highly recommend GeMoMa

www.jstacs.de/index.php/Ge...

My feet and my folded Brompton

Pls add me!!

This is mind-boggling! TEs never cease to amaze.

Very exciting preprint: could stress-induced mutagenesis be adaptive (as opposed to simply a malfunction)? The presence of a mechanism to trigger mutagenesis in response to environmental alterations might indicate that it is an evolutionarily beneficial process