In our JC we discuss articles within the broad area of evolutionary genetics, including but not limited to population genomics. Occasionally we also have our journal club at the Gamla Orangeriet, in the Botanical Garden. Below you can find the papers we will be reading and discussing.
Slotte lab at Gamla Orangeriet in 2023
Spring 2023
Literature seminar series “Plant mating system evolution – revisiting the classics in light of genomic studies”. We also take part occasionally in the Evolution and Ecology JC run by the Zoology Department.
Fall 2022
Book club in Evolutionary Biology for PhD students in Ecology and Evolution at Stockholm University.
January 14, 2022: Functional studies of the Primula heterostyly supergene
After a hiatus due to book reading, we are now starting up our Friday JC again. First out, we will read and discuss Huu et al. 2022. Current Biology 32: 1-6 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.046) on the basis of female self-incompatibility in heterostylous Primula. Meeting over Zoom at 2 pm, email Tanja for a zoom link.
May 26th, 2021: A complex interplay between balancing selection and introgression maintains an alternative life history strategy in Colias butterflies – Evolution preprint JC with Zoology
Meeting at noon over Zoom.
March 26th, 2021: Spider supergenes!
We will discuss a preprint on a supergene underlying an exaggerated male reproductive morph in spiders! Hendrickxs et al. 2021. bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.09.430505v1
Meeting at 2 pm, over Zoom. Email Tanja for Zoom link.
March 12th, 2021: A method for genome-wide genealogy estimation for thousands of samples
We will discuss Speidel et al. 2019. A method for genome-wide genealogy estimation for thousands of samples. Nature Genetics 51: 1321-1329
See also this nice perspective piece by Kelley Harris.
Meeting at 2 pm, over Zoom. Email Tanja for Zoom link.
February 12th, 2021: Inferring the Demographic History of Inbred Species from Genome-Wide SNP Frequency Data
We will discuss Blischak et al. 2020. Inferring the Demographic History of Inbred Species from Genome-Wide SNP Frequency Data. Molecular Biology and Evolution 37: 2124–2136. We will meet at 1 pm over zoom. Please contact Tanja for a Zoom link.
Fall 2020: Book club. Meetings biweekly to discuss Nielsen and Slatkin’s book An Introduction to Population Genetics. PhD students in Ecology and Evolution are recommended to attend. Email Tanja for more information.
September 23rd: Supergene evolution in Primula
We will discuss Huu et al. 2020. Supergene evolution via stepwise duplications and neofunctionalization of a floral-organ identity gene. PNAS 117: 23148-23157.
To attend, email William for a Zoom link.
April 17th: Whole-chromosome hitchhiking driven by a male-killing endosymbiont
We will discuss a paper by Martin et al. 2020. PLoS Biology. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000610
Presenter: Juanita
This JC will take place over Zoom at the usual time (Friday 2 pm) – please contact Tanja for a link.
February 21st: Genome assembly and detection of a supergene in Atlantic herring
February 7th: Inversions
This week we will discuss a review on the evolution of chromosomal inversions:
See also this primer on inversions by Mark Kirkpatrick.
January 31st: More ant supergenes (Solenopsis this time)!
This week we will discuss a recent paper on the “social supergene” governing social organization in fire ants:
January 24th: The long and short of the Turnera S-locus
This week we will discuss a recent paper identifying the distyly S-locus in Turnera:
January 16th: Methods for studying sex chromosome evolution
This week we will discuss a recent review highlighting the strength and limitations of different genomic approaches to identify sex-linked regions, as well as covering theory on the evolutionary causes of sex-chromosome turnover.
January 10th: Ant supergene evolution
This Friday we will discuss a recent paper on the identification and evolutionary genetics of an supergene that governs social organization in Formica ants.
October 2nd: Sex chromosome differentiation and dosage compensation in guppies!
This Wednesday at noon we have a joint Evolution JC with Zoology in D451. We will discuss Darolti et al. 2019. Extreme heterogeneity in sex chromosome differentiation and dosage compensation in livebearers. PNAS 116: 19031-19036 (https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19031). Presenter: Juanita Gutiérrez Valencia
May 24th: Analysis of an extensive ancient genome time series
This Friday at 1 pm in room N340 we will discuss the following paper:
Fages et al. 2019. Tracking five millennia of horse management with extensive ancient genome time series. Cell 177: 1-17.
Presenter: Ben
May 20th: Background selection in non-equilibrium populations
We will discuss a new preprint after lab meeting in room N340 (start at 10:30AM!):
Torres R, Stetter MG, Hernandez RD, Ross-Ibarra J. 2019. The temporal dynamics of background selection in non-equilibrium populations. bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/61839.
Presenter: Tanja
May 3rd: Book club
Last chapter in Matthew Hahn’s Molecular Population Genetics book. Room N340.
April 19th: Book club
We will discuss chapter 9 in Matthew Hahn’s Molecular Population Genetics book. Room N340.
February 1st: Diversification rates and dioecy
William will lead the discussion of this paper:
Sabath, N. , Goldberg, E. E., Glick, L. , Einhorn, M. , Ashman, T. , Ming, R. , Otto, S. P., Vamosi, J. C. and Mayrose, I. (2016), Dioecy does not consistently accelerate or slow lineage diversification across multiple genera of angiosperms. New Phytol, 209: 1290-1300. doi:10.1111/nph.13696
See also this related preprint by Aline Muyle and colleagues.
We meet at 1 pm in N340.
January 25th: Book club
We will discuss ch 7 in Matthew Hahn’s Molecular population genetics in room N340.
January 18th: Evolution of male gamete number in a selfer
Jörg will present a preprint by Tsuchimatsu and colleagues at 1 pm in room N340:
Tsuchimatsu T, Kakui H, Yamazaki M, Marona C, Tsutsui H, Hedhly A, et al. 2018. Adaptive Reduction of Male Gamete Number in a Selfing Species. bioRxiv. 272757.
January 11th: Book club
We will discuss ch 6 in room N340.
December 14th: Journal club – recent literature overview
At 1 pm in room N340.
December 7th: Book club
We will discuss ch 5 in room N340.
November 23rd: Book club
Chapters 3&4, Molecular Population Genetics, note, at 10.30 AM in N340 this Friday only.
June 8th: Silencing of virulence genes by plant small RNAs in extracellular vesicles
Jörg will present a new paper in Science by Cai et al, entitled “Plants send small RNAs in extracellular vesicles to fungal pathogen to silence virulence genes”. We will meet at DEEP in N340 at 14:30.
June 1st: Plant mating system variation
Ben will present a review paper on mating system variation among populations, across a broad range of plant species.
Whitehead, M. R., Lanfear, R., Mitchell, R. J., & Karron, J. D. (2018). Plant Mating Systems Often Vary Widely Among Populations. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 6, 38.
Note, at 1 pm!
May 25th: Recent literature round-up
We will meet in room N391 at DEEP – everyone brings two recent papers that would be interesting to discuss. Note, at 1 pm!
April 6th: Gene birth on the Y chromosome
Verena will present this study of the rate of gene transfer to the Drosophila Y chromosome. We meet at 14:30 in N340 at DEEP.
March 23rd: The tempo of evolutionary decline in self-compatible plant lineages
Jörg will present this bioRxiv preprint on the evolutionary decline in self-compatible plants. We meet at 14:30 in N340 at DEEP.
March 16th: Non-bifurcating history of species from the Arabidopsis genus
We will discuss this paper by Novikova and colleagues on the complex history of species from the genus Arabidopsis. Presenter: Robert. Room: TBA, but at DEEP, 14:30.
March 8th: More machine learning for population genetics
We will discuss an example of machine learning for detecting different types of sweeps.
Note! We will meet on Thursday March 8th, at 2 pm at SciLifeLab (room Becquerel, gamma 5).
February 23rd: Machine learning for population genetics
Ben will present a recent review in Trends in Genetics on supervised machine learning for population genetics by Schrider and Kern. We meet at 14:30 in room N340, at DEEP.
February 9th: Loss of self-incompatibility in A. thaliana
Tanja will present a nice example of a study demonstrating the genetic basis of loss of SI in A. thaliana: Tsuchimatsu 2010. Evolution of self-compatibility in Arabidopsis by a mutation in the male specificity gene. Nature 464: 1342-1346. We meet at 14:30 in room N491, at DEEP.
February 2nd: Range expansion and adaptive evolution
Marco will present a paper by González-Martinez et al. 2017 on the impact of selection in different parts of the range of an outcrossing plant. Also see this related paper (with some familiar co-authors!). We meet at 3:00 pm, DEEP room N340.
January 26th: A soft sweep in Africanized honeybees
Xuyue will present a recent paper by Avalos et al. (2017) in Nature Communications on a soft selective sweep during rapid evolution of gentle behaviour in an Africanized honeybee. We meet at 2:30 pm, DEEP room N340.
January 19th: Open JC
Everyone brings 2-3 papers that they think would be interesting to discuss – please be prepared to tell the others why you think the papers you chose are interesting. We will meet at 2.30 pm, DEEP room N340. There may be cake…
December 8th: Evolution of flower colour pattern in snapdragons
Robert will present this paper by Bradley et al. (2017) on the role of regulatory small RNAs for flower colour pattern in a snapdragon hybrid zone.
November 24th: Origin and evolution of a young Y chromosome in Asparagus
Tanja will present this paper by Harkess et al. (2017) on the origin and evolution of a young Y chromosome in Asparagus officinalis.
November 17th: The unusual S-locus of Leavenworthia
Ben will present this paper on the unusually structured S-locus of Leavenworthia:
Chantha, S. C., Herman, A. C., Castric, V., Vekemans, X., Marande, W., & Schoen, D. J. (2017). The unusual S locus of Leavenworthia is composed of two sets of paralogous loci. New Phytologist 216: 1247-1255. At DEEP, N340, 14.00.
November 8th: Genetic variation for pseudo-self-compatibility in Leavenworthia
Marco will present a paper by Baldwin and Schoen on genetic variation for pseudo-self-compatibility in Leavenworthia alabamica. Note on Wednesday at DEEP, N340, 14.00.
October 26th: Selection in asexual mites
Jörg will present a recent paper by Brandt et al. 2017. Effective purifying selection in ancient oribatid mites. Nature Communications 8:873. Note on Thursday at DEEP, N340, 13.00.
October 20th: Gene expression drives the evolution of dominance
This Friday we will discuss a preprint by Huber et al. where the authors utilize mating system differences between Arabidopsis species to estimate dominance effects of new amino acid changing mutations from genomic data. Presenter: Tanja, Location: DEEP, N340.
October 13th: Recent literature round-up JC
Everyone picks 2 recent papers of interest and prepares to tell the others why they chose them/what they found interesting. We meet at DEEP (room N340) at 1 pm. Cake at Gamla Orangeriet afterwards!
September 14th: Early history and transition to selfing in Arabidopsis thaliana
Jörg will lead the discussion of this recent paper by Durvasula and colleagues: Durvasula et al. 2017. African genomes illuminate the early history and transition to selfing in Arabidopsis thaliana. PNAS 114: 5214-5218
April 28th: Supergene evolution
We will discuss a recent paper on the genetic architecture of the Primula S-locus supergene: Li et al. 2016. Nature Plants.
Location: N340, DEEP N340, Stockholm University
Presenter: Jörg
April 7th: Selection on reproductive genes in plants
We will discuss an MBE paper from 2013 by Arunkumar et al. on the impact of selection on genes expressed in pollen in Capsella grandiflora.
Location: N491, DEEP, Stockholm University
Presenter: Juanita
March 10th: Serial founder events and mutational load
We will discuss a recent paper in PNAS by Henn et al. on the impact of serial bottlenecks on genetic load in human populations.
Location: N491, DEEP, Stockholm University.
Presenter: Ben
February 24th: The effect of an extreme and prolonged bottleneck on patterns of deleterious variation
We will discuss a recent paper in Genetics where Pedersen et al. combine analyses of population genomic data with simulations, to characterise the effects of a long and severe bottleneck on deleterious variation and evaluate different measures of genetic load. Location: N491, DEEP, Stockholm University.
Presenter: Tanja
February 9th: Transposable elements and gene regulation
We will discuss a recent paper in eLife entitled “Population scale mapping of transposable element diversity reveals links to gene regulation and epigenomic variation” by Stuart et all, on Friday at 2.30 pm at Gamla orangeriet.
Presenter: Robert
January 25th: Origin of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica
We will discuss a recent paper in MBE entitled “Genome sequencing reveals the origin of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica” by Novikova et al., on Thursday at 1 pm at SciLifeLab (Hertz, Gamma 6).
Presenter: Andy
August 19th: Recent literature JC
Everyone picks 2-3 recent papers of interest and summarizes them. This time we will meet at 1 pm at Gamla Orangeriet.
Here is the list of papers we discussed.
June 10th: Ancient DNA from sediments
Engy will present this review paper on ancient DNA from sediments and their impact on reconstruction of past biodiversity.
Birks et al. 2016. How have studies of ancient DNA from sediments contributed to the reconstruction of Quaternary floras? New Phytologist 209: 499-506
June 2nd: Regions of open chromatin are enriched for variants with effects on gene expression and phenotypic trait variation in maize
Rodgers-Melnick E, Vera DL, Bass HW and Buckler ES 2016. Open chromatin reveals the functional maize genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:201525244
Presenter: Robert. Note: On Thursday, at SU.
May 27th: Detecting balancing selection
Jörg will present this review paper on the limits and prospects for detecting balancing selection in genomes. Note that we will start at 3 pm!
Fijarczyk and Babik. 2015. Detecting balancing selection in genomes: limits and prospects. Molecular Ecology 24: 3529-45.
May 20th: Recent selection for self-compatibility in Leavenworthia
This week we will read a recent paper on population genetic patterns surrounding the S-locus in a self-compabtible population of Leavenworthia alabamica:
Herman AC and Schoen DJ. Recent selection for self-compatibility in a population of Leavenworthia alabamica. Evolution Advance Access doi: 10.1111/evo.12937
Presenter: Andy
May 13th: Genomic distribution of conserved noncoding elements and association with gene expression in mammals
Babarinde & Saitou 2016 MBE Genomic locations of conserved noncoding sequences and their proximal protein-coding genes in mammalian expression dynamics
Presenter: Kim
April 29th: Linked selection and demographic inference
Schrider D, Shanku AG, Kern AD. 2016. Effects of linked selective sweeps on demographic inference and model selection. bioRxiv Presenter: Tanja
Cornille A, Salcedo A, Kryvokhyzha D, Glémin S, Holm K, Wright S, Lascoux M. 2016. Genomic signature of successful colonization of Eurasia by the allopolyploid shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa‐pastoris). Molecular Ecology 25:616-629. Presenter: Ben
Note: We will meet at the Gamla Orangeriet this week.
April 8th: First recent literature JC
Everyone picks 3-5 recent papers of interest and summarizes them. Here is the list of papers and links that we discussed.
Note: We will meet at the Gamla Orangeriet this week.
April 1st: Linked selection and Lewontin’s paradox
Ben will present this commentary: Coop G. 2016. Does linked selection explain the narrow range of genetic diversity across species? BioRxiv doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/042598
March 18th: Sex speeds adaptation by altering the dynamics of molecular evolution
McDonald MJ, Rice PJ, Desai MM. 2016. Sex speeds adaptation by altering the dynamics of molecular evolution. Nature doi:10.1038/nature17143
Presenter: Jörg
March 11th: Evolution of DNA methylation
Ben and Kim will present this short review paper on DNA methylation: Zhong. 2016. Comparative epigenomics: a powerful tool to understand the evolution of DNA methylation. New Phytologist 210:76-80
February 17th: The complications of inferring relaxed purifying selection in non equilibrium situations. NB change of time: Friday at 10.30 am!
Tanja will present this short review paper: Brandvain and Wright. 2016. The limits of natural selection in a nonequilibrium world. Trends in Genetics, in press.
February 12th: Cis-regulatory evolution
Kim will present this paper on cis-regulatory evolution: Fyon et al. 2015. Enhancer runaway and the evolution of diploid gene expression. PLoS Genetics 11(11): e1005665
November 20th: Evolution and silencing of repeats in Arabidopsis and relatives
We will read and discuss this paper on the age distribution and silencing of repeats in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome: Maumus F, Quesneville H. 2014. Ancestral repeats have shaped epigenome and genome composition for millions of years in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nat Commun 5:4104.
Presenter: Tanja
This paper is also relevant for those going to Brandon Gaut’s seminar at EBC in Uppsala on Tuesday November 17th at 14.00 (Lindahlsalen).
November 12th (NOTE, Thursday, at SciLifeLab!): Organizing computational biology projects
We will read and discuss organization of genomics projects, based on this paper in PLoS Computational Biology: Stafford Noble 2009. A quick guide to organising computational biology projects. PLoS Computational Biology 5(7): e1000424.
November 6th: Evolution of dominance at the Brassicaceae self-incompatibility locus
Durand et al. 2014. Dominance hierarchy arising from the evolution of a complex small RNA regulatory network. Science 346:1200–1205.
October 30th: Dissecting the genetic basis of a complex cis-regulatory adaptation
October 23rd: Widespread genomic signatures of natural selection in hominid evolution
McVicker et al. 2009. PLoS Genetics 5: e1000471 Presenter: Ben
October 8th: Detecting recent selective sweeps in the presence of background selection and varying mutation rate
NOTE! On THURSDAY, at SciLifeLab, gamma 6, before lunch.
Huber CD, DeGiorgio M, Hellman I, Nielsen R. Molecular Ecology. 2015. doi: 10.111/mec. 13351 Presenter: Ben
September 26th: Interaction between gene expression and purifying selection in maize
Dilip Pophaly S, Tellier A. 2015. Population level purifying selection and gene expression shape sub genome evolution in maize. Molecular Biology and Evolution, in press. Presenter: Kim
September 17th: Frequent adaptation and the McDonald-Kreitman test
NB! On THURSDAY, at SciLifeLab, gamma 6.
We will discuss this paper on the impact of linked selection on analyses based on extensions of the classic McDonald-Kreitman test.
Messer PW, Petrov DA. 2013. Frequent adaptation and the McDonald-Kreitman test. PNAS 110:8615-8620 Presenter: Tanja
September 11th: Allopolyploidy and gene expression evolution
We will discuss this paper which deals with genetic and epigenetic mechanisms for gene expression changes in polyploids:
Shi et al. 2015. Genome-Wide Dosage-Dependent and -Independent Regulation Contributes to Gene Expression and Evolutionary Novelty in Plant Polyploids. Molecular Biology and Evolution 32: 2351-2366. Presenter: Kim
September 4th: Mating systems and molecular evolution
For this session, we will discuss a recent paper on patterns of molecular evolution and efficacy of natural selection in outcrossing and selfing snails: Burgarella et al. 2015. Molecular Evolution of Freshwater Snails with Contrasting Mating Systems. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 32:2403–2416 Presenter: Ben
August 28th, 2015: Heterozygosity and mutation rates – a feed-forward loop?
We will discuss Yang et al. 2015. Parent-progeny sequencing indicates higher mutation rates in heterozygotes. Nature 523: 463-467. Presenter: Tanja
For background reading, see Tian et al. 2008. Nature 455: 105-108, and this nice perspective piece written by Michael Lynch.
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