Alexandros Bousios
@abousios.bsky.social
Plants, genome biology, TEs, epigenetics, @ University of Sussex https://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/bousioslab/
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...
November 11, 2025 at 7:20 PM
FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Wonderful (and humble) essay on mentorship by Brandon Gaut, on occasion of Brandon receiving the inaugural Mentorship Award of @genetics-gsa.bsky.social. I hope this will be widely read!
academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
August 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Wonderful (and humble) essay on mentorship by Brandon Gaut, on occasion of Brandon receiving the inaugural Mentorship Award of @genetics-gsa.bsky.social. I hope this will be widely read!
academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Happy to share our new work with exciting findings, incl. different centromere organisations and all kinds of weird polyploids giving rise to the mysterious carnivorous sundews! Great word led by my postdoc Laura in collaboration with @plantgenomes.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Contrasting centromere structures in carnivorous sundews uncover a dynamic evolutionary trajectory shaped by polyploidy and chromosomal remodeling
Sundews (Drosera) are carnivorous plants that capture prey using mucilage-producing glands with both secretory and absorptive functions. Within a remarkably diverse clade that includes the Venus flytr...
www.biorxiv.org
July 28, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Happy to share our new work with exciting findings, incl. different centromere organisations and all kinds of weird polyploids giving rise to the mysterious carnivorous sundews! Great word led by my postdoc Laura in collaboration with @plantgenomes.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our new preprint on somatic TE transposition in A. thaliana is out! It looks like TEs jump like crazy! Led by the amazing @heenaa02.bsky.social and with Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann from Exeter www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somatic mobility of transposons is explosive and shaped by distinct integration biases in Arabidopsis thaliana
Background The movement of transposable elements (TEs) in somatic cells generates genetic and phenotypic diversity across the soma of individual organisms. This process is especially important in plan...
www.biorxiv.org
July 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Our new preprint on somatic TE transposition in A. thaliana is out! It looks like TEs jump like crazy! Led by the amazing @heenaa02.bsky.social and with Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann from Exeter www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
6/ 🙏 Huge thanks to the amazing collaborators and co-authors who made this work possible!
🧑🔬 Basile Leduque, Leandro Quadrana, Keith Slotkin, Alexandros Bousios (@abousios.bsky.social) & Hans-wilhelm Nuetzmann
🧑🔬 Basile Leduque, Leandro Quadrana, Keith Slotkin, Alexandros Bousios (@abousios.bsky.social) & Hans-wilhelm Nuetzmann
July 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
6/ 🙏 Huge thanks to the amazing collaborators and co-authors who made this work possible!
🧑🔬 Basile Leduque, Leandro Quadrana, Keith Slotkin, Alexandros Bousios (@abousios.bsky.social) & Hans-wilhelm Nuetzmann
🧑🔬 Basile Leduque, Leandro Quadrana, Keith Slotkin, Alexandros Bousios (@abousios.bsky.social) & Hans-wilhelm Nuetzmann
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
5/ 💻 Surprise package! We developed a custom pipeline, deNOVOEnrich, to profile somatic TE insertions from TEd-seq short-read data.
Using split-read mapping, we pinpoint new somatic insertions at base-pair resolution 🧬🔍
Check it out: github.com/hAmbreen02/d...
Using split-read mapping, we pinpoint new somatic insertions at base-pair resolution 🧬🔍
Check it out: github.com/hAmbreen02/d...
GitHub - hAmbreen02/deNOVOEnrich: Identification of de novo transposon insertion sites from targeted sequencing data
Identification of de novo transposon insertion sites from targeted sequencing data - hAmbreen02/deNOVOEnrich
github.com
July 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
5/ 💻 Surprise package! We developed a custom pipeline, deNOVOEnrich, to profile somatic TE insertions from TEd-seq short-read data.
Using split-read mapping, we pinpoint new somatic insertions at base-pair resolution 🧬🔍
Check it out: github.com/hAmbreen02/d...
Using split-read mapping, we pinpoint new somatic insertions at base-pair resolution 🧬🔍
Check it out: github.com/hAmbreen02/d...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
4/ 🔥 Somatic insertion hotspots of the EVADE transposon are enriched at environmentally responsive genes 🌄 - including Resistance gene and biosynthetic gene clusters.
Is stress guiding TE activity, or are TEs tuning stress responses?
Somatic genome plasticity 🧬
Is stress guiding TE activity, or are TEs tuning stress responses?
Somatic genome plasticity 🧬
July 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
4/ 🔥 Somatic insertion hotspots of the EVADE transposon are enriched at environmentally responsive genes 🌄 - including Resistance gene and biosynthetic gene clusters.
Is stress guiding TE activity, or are TEs tuning stress responses?
Somatic genome plasticity 🧬
Is stress guiding TE activity, or are TEs tuning stress responses?
Somatic genome plasticity 🧬
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
3/ 🧬 Our work shows somatic TE activity in Arabidopsis is non‑random and family‑specific. Different TE families prefer distinct genomic niches - is it driven by underlying epigenetic code, or are they avoiding conflict in a shared genome ecosystem? 🤔
July 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
3/ 🧬 Our work shows somatic TE activity in Arabidopsis is non‑random and family‑specific. Different TE families prefer distinct genomic niches - is it driven by underlying epigenetic code, or are they avoiding conflict in a shared genome ecosystem? 🤔
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
2/ Combining distinct experimental conditions, we traced a roadmap of expected TE movement in somatic cells 🌿, capturing ~200K new TE insertions across multiple families in the process.
July 22, 2025 at 1:19 PM
2/ Combining distinct experimental conditions, we traced a roadmap of expected TE movement in somatic cells 🌿, capturing ~200K new TE insertions across multiple families in the process.
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
1/📢News from TE diary - Somatic transposition in Arabidopsis is more explosive than we imagined!
Thrilled to share our latest findings - TEs make new somatic insertions en masse, reshaping the somatic genome🧬with surprising frequency🍃
@abousios Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thrilled to share our latest findings - TEs make new somatic insertions en masse, reshaping the somatic genome🧬with surprising frequency🍃
@abousios Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somatic mobility of transposons is explosive and shaped by distinct integration biases in Arabidopsis thaliana
Background The movement of transposable elements (TEs) in somatic cells generates genetic and phenotypic diversity across the soma of individual organisms. This process is especially important in plan...
www.biorxiv.org
July 22, 2025 at 1:18 PM
1/📢News from TE diary - Somatic transposition in Arabidopsis is more explosive than we imagined!
Thrilled to share our latest findings - TEs make new somatic insertions en masse, reshaping the somatic genome🧬with surprising frequency🍃
@abousios Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thrilled to share our latest findings - TEs make new somatic insertions en masse, reshaping the somatic genome🧬with surprising frequency🍃
@abousios Hans-Wilhelm Nuetzmann
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
1/2 Somatic TE transposition in plants is getting traction again (70 years after McClintock's discovery of "controlling elements")! A very large collection of somatic TE insertions in A. thaliana described by Ambreen et al.(www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...).
July 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
1/2 Somatic TE transposition in plants is getting traction again (70 years after McClintock's discovery of "controlling elements")! A very large collection of somatic TE insertions in A. thaliana described by Ambreen et al.(www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...).
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
2/2 See also @movillome.bsky.social's paper from my lab on using PacBio long-read sequencing to discover somatic TE insertions with high sensitivity and specificity in an unbiased manner -- an excellent complement to powerful short-read based enrichment methods (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)
July 21, 2025 at 2:23 PM
2/2 See also @movillome.bsky.social's paper from my lab on using PacBio long-read sequencing to discover somatic TE insertions with high sensitivity and specificity in an unbiased manner -- an excellent complement to powerful short-read based enrichment methods (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
1/7
I am very excited to announce our🌹NEW PAPER OUT IN 𝑁𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐸!🌹
𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
With the Ritz and Kovařík labs we show a potential role for centromeres on 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘢 bizarre reproduction!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I am very excited to announce our🌹NEW PAPER OUT IN 𝑁𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐸!🌹
𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
With the Ritz and Kovařík labs we show a potential role for centromeres on 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘢 bizarre reproduction!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis - Nature
Insights into the dogrose genome and centromeres explain their ability to achieve stable sexual reproduction.
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
1/7
I am very excited to announce our🌹NEW PAPER OUT IN 𝑁𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐸!🌹
𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
With the Ritz and Kovařík labs we show a potential role for centromeres on 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘢 bizarre reproduction!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I am very excited to announce our🌹NEW PAPER OUT IN 𝑁𝐴𝑇𝑈𝑅𝐸!🌹
𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
With the Ritz and Kovařík labs we show a potential role for centromeres on 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘢 bizarre reproduction!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Nature research paper: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
https://go.nature.com/407PRGm
https://go.nature.com/407PRGm
Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis - Nature
Insights into the dogrose genome and centromeres explain their ability to achieve stable sexual reproduction.
go.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Nature research paper: Bimodal centromeres in pentaploid dogroses shed light on their unique meiosis
https://go.nature.com/407PRGm
https://go.nature.com/407PRGm
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
NIH funding supporting the HMMER and Infernal software projects has been terminated. NIH states that our work, as well as all other federally funded research at Harvard, is of no benefit to the US.
May 22, 2025 at 12:42 PM
NIH funding supporting the HMMER and Infernal software projects has been terminated. NIH states that our work, as well as all other federally funded research at Harvard, is of no benefit to the US.
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out!
Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social
A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n
Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social
A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n
Gag proteins encoded by endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development | PNAS
Transposable elements (TEs) make up the bulk of eukaryotic genomes and examples abound
of TE-derived sequences repurposed for organismal function. ...
www.pnas.org
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out!
Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social
A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n
Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social
A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
📢 Excited to share our work out now in @nature.com! 📢
We present the phased pan-genome of tetraploid European potato, based on 10 historical cultivars representing 85% of European potato diversity.
Learn more below!
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/7
We present the phased pan-genome of tetraploid European potato, based on 10 historical cultivars representing 85% of European potato diversity.
Learn more below!
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/7
The phased pan-genome of tetraploid European potato - Nature
A haplotype-resolved pan-genome of autotetraploid European potato founder lines shows high nucleotide diversity at remarkably low haplotype diversity, which is probably the result of hybridization eve...
www.nature.com
April 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
📢 Excited to share our work out now in @nature.com! 📢
We present the phased pan-genome of tetraploid European potato, based on 10 historical cultivars representing 85% of European potato diversity.
Learn more below!
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/7
We present the phased pan-genome of tetraploid European potato, based on 10 historical cultivars representing 85% of European potato diversity.
Learn more below!
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/7
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Excited to share our preprint on the molecular architecture of heterochromatin in human cells 🧬🔬w/ @jpkreysing.bsky.social, @johannesbetz.bsky.social,
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social
🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social
🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv
April 11, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Excited to share our preprint on the molecular architecture of heterochromatin in human cells 🧬🔬w/ @jpkreysing.bsky.social, @johannesbetz.bsky.social,
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social
🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv
@marinalusic.bsky.social, Turoňová lab, @hummerlab.bsky.social @becklab.bsky.social @mpibp.bsky.social
🔗 Preprint here tinyurl.com/3a74uanv
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
March 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
This Editorial by Brandon S. Gaut and Claudia A. M. Russo provides some nice insight into how #SocietyJournals work, and why it pays for Scientists to publish with #SocietyOwned Journals. 👇
A Message From the Editors-in-Chief
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#PlantScience #SciencePublishing
A Message From the Editors-in-Chief
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#PlantScience #SciencePublishing
A Message From the Editors-in-Chief
We have been Co-Editor-in-Chiefs of Molecular Biology and Evolution (MBE) for 2 years now. In that time, we have learned a great deal about the science of
academic.oup.com
March 12, 2025 at 7:57 AM
This Editorial by Brandon S. Gaut and Claudia A. M. Russo provides some nice insight into how #SocietyJournals work, and why it pays for Scientists to publish with #SocietyOwned Journals. 👇
A Message From the Editors-in-Chief
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#PlantScience #SciencePublishing
A Message From the Editors-in-Chief
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
#PlantScience #SciencePublishing
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
🚨New paper published in @nature.com! Using pan-genetics across the Solanum genus🍅🥔🍆we reveal why gene duplications🧬are major contingencies in crop engineering. My postdoc work in the Lippman lab @CSHL, collab. with @katiejenike.bsky.social @mikeschatz.bsky.social chatz.bsky.social and many others!
Solanum pan-genetics reveals paralogues as contingencies in crop engineering - Nature
Gene duplication and subsequent paralogue diversification are major obstacles to genotype-to-phenotype predictability.
nature.com
March 5, 2025 at 4:43 PM
🚨New paper published in @nature.com! Using pan-genetics across the Solanum genus🍅🥔🍆we reveal why gene duplications🧬are major contingencies in crop engineering. My postdoc work in the Lippman lab @CSHL, collab. with @katiejenike.bsky.social @mikeschatz.bsky.social chatz.bsky.social and many others!
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Join us for the first seminar in a new series by @IntlGeneticsFed!
"Biodiversity Genomics – African & European Perspectives"
📅 March 4, 2025 at 12:00 GMT
🔗 Register now: forms.office.com/r/e1MgVyfCvs
"Biodiversity Genomics – African & European Perspectives"
📅 March 4, 2025 at 12:00 GMT
🔗 Register now: forms.office.com/r/e1MgVyfCvs
February 28, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Join us for the first seminar in a new series by @IntlGeneticsFed!
"Biodiversity Genomics – African & European Perspectives"
📅 March 4, 2025 at 12:00 GMT
🔗 Register now: forms.office.com/r/e1MgVyfCvs
"Biodiversity Genomics – African & European Perspectives"
📅 March 4, 2025 at 12:00 GMT
🔗 Register now: forms.office.com/r/e1MgVyfCvs
Another piece to add in the emerging golden era of centromere research. Our review of centrophilic transposons in plants @annualreviews.bsky.social with @hendersi.bsky.social and Tetsuji Kakutani. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
February 18, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Another piece to add in the emerging golden era of centromere research. Our review of centrophilic transposons in plants @annualreviews.bsky.social with @hendersi.bsky.social and Tetsuji Kakutani. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
Centrophilic Retrotransposons of Plant Genomes
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
new review @annualreviews.bsky.social from @abousios.bsky.social, Tetsuji Kakutani, and myself on my favourite type of mobile genetic element
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
new review @annualreviews.bsky.social from @abousios.bsky.social, Tetsuji Kakutani, and myself on my favourite type of mobile genetic element
Centrophilic Retrotransposons of Plant Genomes | Annual Reviews
The centromeres of eukaryotic chromosomes are required to load CENH3/CENP-A variant nucleosomes and the kinetochore complex, which connects to spindle microtubules during cell division. Despite their ...
www.annualreviews.org
February 18, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Centrophilic Retrotransposons of Plant Genomes
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
new review @annualreviews.bsky.social from @abousios.bsky.social, Tetsuji Kakutani, and myself on my favourite type of mobile genetic element
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
new review @annualreviews.bsky.social from @abousios.bsky.social, Tetsuji Kakutani, and myself on my favourite type of mobile genetic element
Reposted by Alexandros Bousios
PRESS RELEASE - Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre
Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
@ukri.org
Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
@ukri.org
Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre | John Innes Centre
Following an international search, Professor Cristóbal Uauy has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre. Professor Uauy is internationally recognised for his significant…
www.jic.ac.uk
February 13, 2025 at 12:34 AM
PRESS RELEASE - Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre
Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
@ukri.org
Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
@ukri.org