Category Archives: Uncategorized

Linking gene expression and phenotype in an emerging model organism

Last week in his post “Transcriptomics in the wild (populations),” TME contributor Noah Snyder-Mackler focused on a recent paper by Alvarez et al. that reviews the last decade of transcriptomic research including the goal of linking gene expression and phenotype. Researchers today routinely collect transcriptomic data for non-model … Continue reading

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Rejection, Academics, and Success.

With the holiday season in full swing, I thought that I share a link to a recent post on weathering the rejection storm that almost invariably accompanies grant and publication reviews. those of you getting rejections are in great company. … Continue reading

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haploidy, diploidy, polyploidy … not a problem

Investigating pairwise relatedness is fundamental to the characterization of the mating system and inferring genetic structure. If no pedigree exists, then relatedness is estimated from genetic markers (e.g., microsatellite loci) using method-of-moment or maximum-likelihood methods. However, not all individuals in … Continue reading

Posted in natural history, pedigree, population genetics, software, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sweeping for Sweeps

Reduction in genomic diversity around a site has been attributed to one of two mechanisms – (1) sites linked to positively selected mutant alleles are often `swept’ to fixation, in a process often called genetic hitchhiking, and/or (2) background selection … Continue reading

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A molecular how-to for hibernating this winter

As the academic semester ends, I see the tell-tale signs of the upcoming holiday hibernation. The weary eyes of teaching assistants peeking over piles of final exams. Students who may have mentally been on break before finals even started. A little … Continue reading

Posted in association genetics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, quantitative genetics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

This post is for the birds

Note: this post was has been corrected to reflect the fact that Flamingoes and Pigeons are not sister species, but members of sister clades. Darwin’s favorite bird, the pigeon, has a new sister (clade) that includes Flamingoes and Grebes. This … Continue reading

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LSUMNS researchers are at the top of the list for new species discoveries in 2014

2014 was an exciting year for describing new biodiversity for researchers at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science (LSUMNS). Top ten lists are ubiquitous this time of year and two such lists documenting the top new species of 2014 … Continue reading

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Totally RAD

Puritz et al. (2014) weigh the pros and cons of, the aptly titled, “RAD fad” in a comment recently published online in Molecular Ecology. They challenge: (1) the assertion that the original RAD protocol minimizes the impact of PCR artifacts … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, genomics, methods, next generation sequencing, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Identifying and correcting errors in draft genomes

Over the past decade we have seen an exponential increase in the number of sequenced, assembled, and annotated genomes. These these genomes are essential for pretty much any genomics research. If you want to sequence the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, or … Continue reading

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Exotic gene flow surveillance

Exotic forest plantations often cover large areas and, as such, may contribute female gametes, male gametes and/or zygotes to native stands. In seed plants, these three components of exotic gene flow have not been distinguished, though they will have different … Continue reading

Posted in conservation, Molecular Ecology, the journal, population genetics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment