Category Archives: RNAseq

You can call her queen bee: the role of epigenetics in honeybee development

Insects have social lifestyles that are often organized in castes. Within the insect community, different individuals specialize, each having a unique role. This efficient method of doling out the workload, ultimately, is believed to be why social insect lifestyles are … Continue reading

Posted in genomics, haploid-diploid, Molecular Ecology, the journal, next generation sequencing, RNAseq | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Right reads, wrong index? Concerns with data from Illumina's HiSeq 4000

Commanding around a 70% share of a 1.3 billion USD market, Illumina is the major player in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. More likely than not, if you’re a molecular ecologist working with NGS data, you’ve run your samples on a … Continue reading

Posted in genomics, next generation sequencing, RNAseq, technical, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Small Molecules, Big Differences

Mary Latimer wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a third year PhD student at UAB studying miRNAs and methionine restriction. Her hobbies include cats, netflix, … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, evolution, genomics, natural history, next generation sequencing, RNAseq | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

When the going gets hot the dinoflagellates (sometimes) get going, how viruses might affect coral symbionts

Corals represent more than meets the eye, they host intricate and interesting communities composed of dinoflagellates (also referred to as zooxanthellae), and a suite of microbes that include bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and viruses. One such dinoflagellate that often shares … Continue reading

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Still ruffling feathers after all these years: Darwin's finches and a molecular view of adaptive radiation

One of the many lovely things about molecular ecology is its ability to shine new light on old stories. The well-known case of Darwin’s finches is a classic example of adaptive radiation. These finches demonstrate a clear instance where over time, … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, evolution, genomics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, population genetics, RNAseq, selection, speciation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Gene expression shows how a plant and its mutualists are better together

No living thing is an island, and many of the encounters between living things that happen every day are not antagonistic or even indifferent, but mutually beneficial. Two such mutualisms that could be among the most important on the planet … Continue reading

Posted in microbiology, next generation sequencing, plants, RNAseq | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Respect the old but seek out the new: Direct 16S rRNA-seq from bacterial communities

I think it’s fair to say that it’s an ongoing struggle to figure out what the heck microbes are doing in their natural environments, and who those microbes are. Clearly, there is no silver bullet that gives us all the … Continue reading

Posted in community ecology, microbiology, RNAseq | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The 2016 Next-Generation Sequencing Field Guide Preview: Zombie Systems and New Hope

After a year of minimal activity, we finally have some significant changes in Next Gen Land. In the 2016 update of the NGS Field Guide, I will continue to give my overall interpretation about the various instruments, but with less … Continue reading

Posted in genomics, howto, methods, RNAseq, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Genomics of Hybridization – Part 1

In a series of articles, I will discuss recent advances in hybridization genomics – the fundamentals of adaptive introgression, “islands of speciation”, differential gene flow, and linked selection have been discussed in my previous posts (here, here, and also at … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, methods, natural history, next generation sequencing, pedigree, phylogenetics, plants, population genetics, RNAseq, software, speciation, species delimitation, STRUCTURE, theory, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Understanding amphibian disease inside out

In the spring of 2010, I was doing amphibian surveys among a few wetlands in Eastern Kentucky that were known for their excellent diversity. As I sauntered up to a familiar study site, I was greeted with an amphibian massacre. Hundreds of … Continue reading

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