Nitin Ravikanthachari

Listen to our recent work, published in Heredity!

The title slide of my talk, "A new method to detect introgression in larger species trees"

The lab will be giving multiple talks and posters at #evol2025!

First up, my talk at 2:45 on Monday:

Hey #Evol2025 - My colleague @waspvenom.bsky.social and I are looking for a postdoc for our #NSF - #USDA funded grant to understand the genetic basis of gall formation! Please see that attached ad, and feel free to talk to me @evolmtg.bsky.social, or contact Dr. Ellen Martinson directly!

SSE @sse-evolution.bsky.social address Carol Boggs @carolboggs.bsky.social examines the Evolutionary Play in the Ecological Theater

Thinking anout who is welcome to see the play 🎭, what parts are worth studying🔬, what tools we use to see the play 💻, who's funding 💲 & who is watching 🧑🏼‍🤝‍🧑🏾

#Evol2025

Looking for a postdoc on bacterial-insect symbiosis, combining evolution and molecular mechanisms? I'll have one open in my lab starting Sept 2025. If interested contact me (or find me at the GRC on Animal-microbe symbiosis if you'll be there). #SymbioSky

Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna's Hummingbirds Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna's Hummingbirds (Cal...

🚨New paper alert!🚨
We show that hummingbird beaks have changed in shape & size since around WWII, driven by the rise of commercialized feeders! 🧵
📄 Paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
#ornithology #evolution #GlobalChangeBiology

Legume can form symbiotic relationship with some bacteria, while recognising others as pathogens. Work @nature identifies a plant kinase that mediates this nuanced balance of tolerance towards symbionts without compromised plant immunity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Making of the Colossal Dire Wolves - World's First De-Extinction YouTube video by Colossal Biosciences

Colossal genetically altering a grey wolf genome to make it more dire wolfish is not the same thing as de-extincting the actual dire wolf.

On the other hand, Colossal Biosciences were transparent in what their future vision is and what they are actually planning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5uC...

Substitution load revisited: a high proportion of deaths can be selective Abstract. Haldane's Dilemma refers to the concern that the need for many “selective deaths” to complete a substitution (i.e. selective sweep) creates a spe

Our latest paper revisits Haldane 1957 on speed limits to adaptation, the paper that triggered neutral theory. We clarify and then significantly extend the theory, and apply the resulting model to @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social's data doi.org/10.1093/gene... 1/14

1/ H3K27me3 mimicry has repeatedly emerged through evolution, but what's the physiological relevance?

We show that JARID2 and PALI1 mimic H3K27me3 to antagonise PRC2 in vivo and restrict the spread of Polycomb domains.
🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Inferring whole-genome histories in large population datasets - Nature Genetics A new method for inferring genealogical histories from large-scale genetic data is used to characterize population structure using data from the 1000 Genomes Project, the UK Biobank and the Simons Gen...

With gene genealogies it’s pretty ridiculous. Like you could fit every human genome on the planet on a single usb drive. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me.

Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

NIH In Your State - United For Medical Research Select a state on the map to see the impact of NIH funding across America.

This map shows how much NIH funding goes to your state. I used the info on my state when I called officials to ask them to push back against the freeze. And if I can do it when my senators are Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville...well, I mean...

www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...

Mantra's Murals Collect Enormous Butterflies in Building-Size Specimen Cases Fascination by nature and its preservation, Mantra creates monumental specimen cases on buildings around the world.

New Goal: turn my house into an insect collection www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/mant...

A nematode gene family evolved by fusing with a transposon! This is such a cool story, congratulations @migueldvalmeida.bsky.social et al! 🙌

Thank you for doing this it's going to be incredibly useful!

Molecular and genetic characterization of sex-linked orange coat color in the domestic cat The Sex-linked orange mutation in domestic cats causes variegated patches of reddish/yellow hair and is a defining signature of random X-inactivation in female tortoiseshell and calico cats. Unlike th...

Fellow Genetics professors - rejoice! This is pedagogy heaven: the paradigmatic epiallele in calico cats … is built on a cis-regulatory deletion, not a coding mutation!
We can teach it all off 1 paper!
1. Woo
2. Hoooo!!!
H/t @lianafaye.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Atlas Obscura Wild Life, Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party, Every Living Thing, Alien Earths, Becoming Earth, and Deep Water

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Frostbite, The Inner Clock, How to Kill an Asteroid, The Great River, The Last Fire Season, and Hoof Beats

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are The Serviceberry, Not the End of the World, Nature's Ghosts, Meet the Neighbors, The Light Eaters, and Our Moon

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Turning to Stone, The Weight of Nature, What If We Get It Right?, Waves in An Impossible Sea, The Tree Collectors, and Why We Remember

I was deeply disappointed by the lack of nature/science/climate/enviro on many major end-of-year book lists—so I decided to make my own!

Introducing: ✨🎁📚 The 2024 Holiday Gift Guide to Nature & Science Books ✨🎁📚

Please share: Let's make this go viral in time for Black Friday / holiday shopping!

Adult #Drosophila adipocytes by @isaiahwill.bsky.social for #FluorescenceFriday (cell membranes and nuclear lamina labeled (red) with alpha spectrin and Lamin C antibodies, respectively, from @dshb-antibodies.bsky.social; lipid droplets labeled with BODIPY (green))

omg I love science
Also, think of how much fun the authors had in the field. I mean bats are great but I'm kind of jealous of someone watching wolves lick flowers

Professors: we must start teaching creativity in science! Interested in teaching the creative scientific process at your university? Here's our materials to help:
Workshops: www.night-science.org/teaching_mat...
Editorials: www.biomedcentral.com/collections/...
Podcast: nightscience.buzzsprout.com

Apparently UMass are encouraging all international students to return to the US before 20 January.

Reminder: There is a venue for microPublications in Ecology and Evolution!

Don't bury results in a supplemental file. Publish them as a micropub!

#Evolution #PlantScience 🌍 🧪 #Conservation

Nitin Ravikanthachari Evolution | Ecology | Genomics

Hi Erik, I'm a postdoc at UMontana. Here's my website: nitinravi.com

For prospective grad students interested in bioinformatic tool development, microbial evolution, and most importantly a superb, kind, and committed mentor:

Look no further than @gmdouglas.bsky.social and his new lab launching this summer!

douglaslab.ca

Common misconceptions of speciation Abstract. Speciation is a complex process that can unfold in many different ways. Speciation researchers sometimes simplify core principles in their writin

My entire team wrote an opinion paper about Common misconceptions of speciation research. Each section is written by 1-2 team members. The bulk of the writing happened during two writing retreats. It was a lot of fun and I am very happy with the result. academic.oup.com/evolinnean/a...

The landscape of structural variation in aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.08.622672v1 Aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) are one of the 25 most critically endangered primate species

The landscape of structural variation in aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.08.622672v1

Devonian charcoal record.

"We conclude there is ample evidence of fire in the Middle Devonian... under-interpretation of available data has led to a perceived paucity of charcoal. This reconciliation indicates the Phanerozoic record of wildfire was substantially uninterrupted."
doi.org/10.1130/G526...
🧪 ⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio

Confocal image of a 10.5 day mouse embryo was taken during the MBL Embryology Course. Microscopy image with greens reds and blues.

#MicroscopyMonday 🔬 — This confocal image of a 10.5 day mouse embryo was taken during the MBL Embryology Course. Immunostained with antibodies against PECAM (endothelial factor present in the vasculature; red), beta-III-tubulin (neurons; green) and DAPI (cell nuclei; blue).