Dr. Arun Sethuraman
@arunsethuraman.bsky.social
Computational evolutionary biologist. Associate Professor at @sandiegostate.bsky.social, athlete, insomniac, writer, singer, polyglot, polymath, Out100 honoree. Open science advocate. He/him. 🏳️🌈🇮🇳🇺🇸🐞🌱🐢🧬🏋🏾♂️🎤✍🏾 www.sethuramanlab.com Views are mine and mine alone.
Pinned
Come celebrate International Darwin Day with us @sandiegostate.bsky.social! Deets in the flyer (designed by the awesome @doc-brock.bsky.social).
❤️
January 30, 2026 at 10:13 PM
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MSR was an icon - taught me pretty much everything that I do on the daily - probability, statistics, optimization, differential equations. His characteristic roaring voice and theatrics in his lectures were highlights of my undergrad days. RIP, Sir.
January 30, 2026 at 3:43 PM
MSR was an icon - taught me pretty much everything that I do on the daily - probability, statistics, optimization, differential equations. His characteristic roaring voice and theatrics in his lectures were highlights of my undergrad days. RIP, Sir.
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
The transposable elements syndrome of wheat domestication https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.28.702265v1
January 30, 2026 at 3:32 PM
The transposable elements syndrome of wheat domestication https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.28.702265v1
Threw my comp-genomics class into a sea of Bayesian math today to explain base-calling algorithms. I think I might have lost and drowned a few of them in the process. 😞
a man is writing on a whiteboard with the words it 's simple math written below him
ALT: a man is writing on a whiteboard with the words it 's simple math written below him
media.tenor.com
January 29, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Threw my comp-genomics class into a sea of Bayesian math today to explain base-calling algorithms. I think I might have lost and drowned a few of them in the process. 😞
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Calling all OrthoFinder users!
We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.
GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...
(1/10)
We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.
GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...
(1/10)
www.biorxiv.org
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Calling all OrthoFinder users!
We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.
GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...
(1/10)
We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.
GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...
(1/10)
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
New tool from @alexsweeten.bsky.social to find and classify all your satellites: "AniAnn's: alignment-free annotation of tandem repeat arrays using fast average nucleotide identity estimates"
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
📦 github.com/marbl/anianns
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
📦 github.com/marbl/anianns
January 29, 2026 at 1:05 PM
New tool from @alexsweeten.bsky.social to find and classify all your satellites: "AniAnn's: alignment-free annotation of tandem repeat arrays using fast average nucleotide identity estimates"
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
📦 github.com/marbl/anianns
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
📦 github.com/marbl/anianns
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Ooh, now with fancy flyer. Zoom link usc.zoom.us/j/96588553185
January 28, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Ooh, now with fancy flyer. Zoom link usc.zoom.us/j/96588553185
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
New review!
Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬
Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social
@annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬
Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social
@annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A Beginner's Guide to Structural Variants in Eco‐Evolutionary Population Genomics
Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has greatly expanded researchers' ability to study structural variants (SVs), that is, the variation in the presence, number, orientation or position of a DNA sequence. ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:05 AM
New review!
Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬
Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social
@annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬
Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social
@annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
NEW PAPER with @arvidagren.bsky.social and Manus Patten on evolutionary reversions in individuality now out (as an advance article) at @jevbio.bsky.social (see academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...). Thread below! [1/8]
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Evolutionary transitions and reversions in individuality
Abstract. Biological individuality exists in different forms—unicellular, multicellular, colonial, etc.—which have arisen through evolutionary transitions
academic.oup.com
January 28, 2026 at 5:33 PM
NEW PAPER with @arvidagren.bsky.social and Manus Patten on evolutionary reversions in individuality now out (as an advance article) at @jevbio.bsky.social (see academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...). Thread below! [1/8]
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Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Excited to announce our latest publication in reporting evidence for three (3!) new whole genome duplications (WGDs) in yeasts. Scientists have often wondered why WGD is so rare in fungi, it turns out we may just not have been looking hard enough! 🧪 🍄 🧬
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Discovery of additional ancient genome duplications in yeasts
Whole-genome duplication (WGD) has had profound macroevolutionary impacts on diverse lineages,1,2 preceding adaptive radiations in vertebrates,3,4,5 t…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 28, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Excited to announce our latest publication in reporting evidence for three (3!) new whole genome duplications (WGDs) in yeasts. Scientists have often wondered why WGD is so rare in fungi, it turns out we may just not have been looking hard enough! 🧪 🍄 🧬
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
The evolution of genetic drift over 50,000 generations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.25.701616v1
January 27, 2026 at 9:31 PM
The evolution of genetic drift over 50,000 generations https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.25.701616v1
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
A new extreme of meiotic evolution:
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion
✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility
Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴.
more about it:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion
✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility
Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴.
more about it:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 27, 2026 at 10:57 AM
A new extreme of meiotic evolution:
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion
✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility
Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴.
more about it:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 crossovers
✔️ 𝗻𝗼 gene conversion
✔️ 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 meiosis & fertility
Sex mimics clonality without becoming asexual, in the holocentric multicellular eukaryote 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘴.
more about it:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
A Comment discusses how commands, data, and metadata currently discarded by scientific instruments could be used to train AI systems to learn to conduct experiments. @henrypinkard.bsky.social @nilsnorlin.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The missing data for intelligent scientific instruments - Nature Methods
Most scientific instruments currently discard rich streams of commands, data and metadata from which AI systems could learn to conduct experiments with expert-level decision-making and troubleshooting...
www.nature.com
January 26, 2026 at 6:01 PM
A Comment discusses how commands, data, and metadata currently discarded by scientific instruments could be used to train AI systems to learn to conduct experiments. @henrypinkard.bsky.social @nilsnorlin.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
PEQG! My favorite conference ever*. Single session, fantastic talks, great discussions. Only once every 2 years. And in the best conference location too! Abstract deadline coming up Feb 5!
*Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
*Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
Homepage - 2026 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference
Visit our website to learn more.
genetics-gsa.org
January 23, 2026 at 2:37 PM
PEQG! My favorite conference ever*. Single session, fantastic talks, great discussions. Only once every 2 years. And in the best conference location too! Abstract deadline coming up Feb 5!
*Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
*Disclosure: I am required to say it's the best conference because it is and I told my mom I wouldn't lie.
Some days, you just crave dal and paneer with chapathis. Today was one such day.
January 23, 2026 at 2:13 AM
Some days, you just crave dal and paneer with chapathis. Today was one such day.
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Distribution of Gene Tree Topologies with Duplication, Loss, and Coalescence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.19.700405v1
January 22, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Distribution of Gene Tree Topologies with Duplication, Loss, and Coalescence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.19.700405v1
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Our new paper is online! We found that 1) today's shark & ray diversity was already reached ~100Ma; 2) that the K/Pg extinction was not catastrophic; 3) that the max diversity was reached ~50Ma; and 4) that today's diversity is depleted compared to the past.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Revealing the hidden patterns of shark and ray diversity over the past 145 million years
Gardiner et al. reconstruct the diversity of sharks and rays across the past 145 million
years using deep learning and an extensive dataset. Their results unveil previously
hidden patterns, including ...
www.cell.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Our new paper is online! We found that 1) today's shark & ray diversity was already reached ~100Ma; 2) that the K/Pg extinction was not catastrophic; 3) that the max diversity was reached ~50Ma; and 4) that today's diversity is depleted compared to the past.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Come celebrate International Darwin Day with us @sandiegostate.bsky.social! Deets in the flyer (designed by the awesome @doc-brock.bsky.social).
January 22, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Come celebrate International Darwin Day with us @sandiegostate.bsky.social! Deets in the flyer (designed by the awesome @doc-brock.bsky.social).
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Comparative genomics of Tandem Repeat variation in apes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700717v1
January 22, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Comparative genomics of Tandem Repeat variation in apes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700717v1
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Very interesting new preprint on detecting genome wide signatures of balancing selection (it’s hard, and we probably miss lots of them) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 17, 2026 at 7:43 AM
Very interesting new preprint on detecting genome wide signatures of balancing selection (it’s hard, and we probably miss lots of them) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
More than 400 million years ago, during the Silurian Period, an evolutionary event led to the later emergence of spiders’ spinnerets—the abdominal organs that make silk—according to new #ScienceAdvances research. https://scim.ag/4sFX3pJ
An ancient genome duplication event drives the development and evolution of spinnerets in spiders
A genome duplication event during the Silurian played a crucial role in the evolutionary emergence of spinnerets in spiders.
scim.ag
January 16, 2026 at 7:15 PM
More than 400 million years ago, during the Silurian Period, an evolutionary event led to the later emergence of spiders’ spinnerets—the abdominal organs that make silk—according to new #ScienceAdvances research. https://scim.ag/4sFX3pJ
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
Here are the Top 5 Dogs of the week!
January 16, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Here are the Top 5 Dogs of the week!
Everything is a mess around me, but I took a moment to cook up some chakkarai pongal today. Wishing everyone who celebrates a very happy Pongal/Makara Sankaranthi today.
January 15, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Everything is a mess around me, but I took a moment to cook up some chakkarai pongal today. Wishing everyone who celebrates a very happy Pongal/Makara Sankaranthi today.
Reposted by Dr. Arun Sethuraman
New preprint! and my first single-author paper, so bear with me.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1
1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1
1/n
Rare variation in malaria parasites biases population-genetic inference
Understanding how pathogens evolve is fundamental to disease control and is a basic question in evolutionary biology, yet pathogens with complex life cycles violate assumptions of classic evolutionary...
www.biorxiv.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:03 PM
New preprint! and my first single-author paper, so bear with me.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1
1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Malaria population genetic studies have found some puzzling patterns: Ne estimates spanning orders of magnitude, genome-wide negative Tajima's D, and over a quarter of genes with πN/πS >1
1/n