Ian Henderson

A sedge. It may look unassuming but its genome has several unusual features.

Why do the chromosomes of cyperids (sedges & rushes) split and fuse so regularly on evolutionary timescales?

Is it because they have so many centromeres?

Our new preprint, the first major paper of my PhD, addresses this question. 🧵⬇️ 1/12

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thank you to my co-authors: @marcelauliano.bsky.social, @charlottewright.bsky.social, @hendersi.bsky.social, Sam Ebdon, @kamilsjaron.bsky.social & Mark Blaxter.
Finally, this would not have been possible without the Darwin Tree of Life sequencing & assembly teams @sangerinstitute.bsky.social! 🧵12/12

Exciting News!

🚀 Registration Open! | Loke CTR Annual Meeting 2026 🎉

📅 16-17 July 2026
📍 St John’s College, Cambridge | 💻 Hybrid conference (in-person & online)

🔬 Epigenetics of embryogenesis and placentation

📌 To find out more and to register
www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/ctrconferenc...

A new study in #GENETICS from @hendersi.bsky.social’s group explores how natural variation in #Arabidopsis influences centromere-proximal crossover frequency and segregation distortion when #centromeres are heterozygous. buff.ly/Ev5Xrro

Come celebrate our Anniversary Day in Edinburgh, 25 & 26 June!

Join us for talks from our Honorary Members, Prize & Medal winners, and our Summer Students.

Programme & registration details: genetics.org.uk/events/anniv...

Lovely gift of Xiao Qing Gan tea which I shall enjoy!

Repetitive seashore?

Manchester Institute of Biotechnology is looking for a new Professor. There are a few priority areas including microbial engineering (broadly defined, from pathways to cells to microbiomes). Closing 12 Jan.
Join us in the best city in the UK 😜
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Eight Cambridge researchers awarded €17 million in ERC Consolidator Grants Funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme will support promising mid-career scientists to pursue creative research ideas across a broad range

Read more about the projects: www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...

Monday morning dot plot...

Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes - Nature Analysis of eukaryotic gene sequences using a relaxed molecular clock methodology indicate that eukaryotes emerged 3.0–2.25 billion years ago as a result of mitochondrial endosymbiosis with complex ar...

Interesting study suggesting that nucleus, cytoskeleton, and endomembranes preceded acquisition of mitochondria, during eukaryogenesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Rapid compensatory evolution within a multiprotein complex preserves telomere integrity Intragenomic conflict with selfish genetic elements spurs adaptive changes in subunits of essential multiprotein complexes. Whether and how these adaptive changes disrupt interactions within such comp...

Rapid compensatory evolution within a multiprotein complex preserves telomere integrity www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @levine-lab.bsky.social very cool work

Amazing work - congrats !!

differential contribution of H3K9 methyltransferases to boundaries at satellites

A new and fascinating story from @bencarty.bsky.social and the group, with crucial help from the teams of @naltemose.bsky.social, Simona Giunta, and @dfachinetti.bsky.social. Many thanks to all for a fantastic collaboration.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What a nice coincidence to have Kelly Dawe present his work on karyotype engineering for todays seminar @thesainsburylab.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Anniversary Day 2026 | Genetics Society We will celebrate the Genetics Society Anniversary Day in Edinburgh, June 25th-26th, 2026. The event will celebrate with talks from our Honorary Members, 2026 Prize and Medal winners, and Summer Stud...

Genetics Society Anniversary Day 25-26th June, Edinburgh genetics.org.uk/events/anniv...
Society Prize Winners: Hilary Martin, Joe Felsenstein, Richard Durbin, Zam Iqbal
Honorary Members: Brian Charlesworth, Deborah Charlesworth, Kay Davies, Paul Nurse, David Sherratt, Veronica van Heyningen

Chromosome Dynamics 2026 @ Awaji Japan www.fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp/labs/fukagaw...

CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana consists of 10 chromosomes. By inducing CRISPR-Cas–mediated breaks at subcentromeric and subtelomeric sequences, we fused entire chromosome arms, obtaining two eight...

CRISPR-Cas–mediated heritable chromosome fusions in Arabidopsis | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Very nice work from Holger Puchta & colleagues

Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo giving the Genetics Society public lecture at @crick.ac.uk. Svante is recounting how Neandertals and Denisovans live on in many of us!

Congratulations @hilarycmartin.bsky.social from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Balfour Lecture!

Congratulations to @zaminiqbal.bsky.social from @milnerevolution.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Mary Lyon Medal!

Congratulations to @vinuesalab.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk on winning the 2026 JBS Haldane Lecture. Carola will present her JBS Haldane Lecture next year at @rigb.org!

Congratulations to Joe Felsenstein on being awarded the 2026 Mendel Medal!

Congratulations to Richard Durbin on being awarded our Genetics Society Medal!

It’s a patch of centromere dna sequence compared against itself - glad you like it !

It’s a close up dot plot of a centromere , a region of the chromosome required for segregation, in this case composed of transposon nests.

FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...

A truly special meeting; the walks in the woods in the evening by moonlight were even more magical. I absorbed a tremendous amount of information; the level or openness and sharing was wonderful; thanks for organising Julius!