Charlotte Wright
@charlottewright.bsky.social
Evolution, genomics, butterflies and moths 🦋
Postdoc in the Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute &
Research fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge
Postdoc in the Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute &
Research fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge
Pinned
Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly
The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most
butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that
this extraordinary karyotype is ...
tinyurl.com
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Join us at #SMBE2026 in Copenhagen this summer!
🔵 With @ergabiodiv.bsky.social & @official-smbe.bsky.social
🟣 Symposium 21 | From genomic graphs to evolutionary insights: standardising #pangenomes for population inference
🟢 smbe2026.org/programme/
#biodiversity #genomics
🔵 With @ergabiodiv.bsky.social & @official-smbe.bsky.social
🟣 Symposium 21 | From genomic graphs to evolutionary insights: standardising #pangenomes for population inference
🟢 smbe2026.org/programme/
#biodiversity #genomics
Programme - SMBE 2026 - Copenhagen Denmark
SMBE 2026 Programme Days Hours Minutes Seconds CONFERENCE PROGRAMME This programme overview presents the preliminary conference program, offering a general outline of the planned sessions and activiti...
smbe2026.org
December 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Join us at #SMBE2026 in Copenhagen this summer!
🔵 With @ergabiodiv.bsky.social & @official-smbe.bsky.social
🟣 Symposium 21 | From genomic graphs to evolutionary insights: standardising #pangenomes for population inference
🟢 smbe2026.org/programme/
#biodiversity #genomics
🔵 With @ergabiodiv.bsky.social & @official-smbe.bsky.social
🟣 Symposium 21 | From genomic graphs to evolutionary insights: standardising #pangenomes for population inference
🟢 smbe2026.org/programme/
#biodiversity #genomics
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Genutis et al. used data from an hybrid Drosophila cell line to show that pairing among trans homologous chromosomes was affected by the presence of nearby TEs. Mouse data show a similar pattern, suggesting a highly conserved TE-pairing association.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf222
#genome #evolution
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf222
#genome #evolution
Haplotype-Resolved Chromatin Conformation Data Reveals Relationship Between Transposable Elements and Chromosomal Pairing
Abstract. Chromosomal structural changes happen when genomic stability is compromised, such as in disease or in species hybrids. In these contexts, diminis
doi.org
December 12, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Genutis et al. used data from an hybrid Drosophila cell line to show that pairing among trans homologous chromosomes was affected by the presence of nearby TEs. Mouse data show a similar pattern, suggesting a highly conserved TE-pairing association.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf222
#genome #evolution
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf222
#genome #evolution
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
How does population size shape the dynamics of structural variants across the genome?
Check out our new paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check out our new paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 11, 2025 at 7:48 PM
How does population size shape the dynamics of structural variants across the genome?
Check out our new paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check out our new paper in @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Are you excited about pangenomics? If so, join us in Edinburgh on 8-9th June to discuss the latest methods & insights from using these approaches across biodiversity! More details here:
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Organised together with @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social!
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Organised together with @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social!
Pangenomics transforms evolutionary biology | Royal Society
This Theo Murphy meeting organised by Dr Joana Meier, Dr Henry North and Dr Charlotte Wright, will showcase cutting-edge pangenome tools, applied uses of pangenomes which are transforming health and a...
royalsociety.org
December 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Are you excited about pangenomics? If so, join us in Edinburgh on 8-9th June to discuss the latest methods & insights from using these approaches across biodiversity! More details here:
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Organised together with @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social!
royalsociety.org/science-even...
Organised together with @henrylnorth.bsky.social & @joanameier.bsky.social!
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Our paper on ancestral conditions of caddisflies (described in the quoted post) is now out!
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
December 10, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Our paper on ancestral conditions of caddisflies (described in the quoted post) is now out!
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Pre-print and weird repro thread time!
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
December 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Pre-print and weird repro thread time!
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
I've posted here about scale insects a lot, but ~half of my research is on Lepidoptera. My lab is developing bagworm moths (Psychidae) as models for comparative genomics.
You probably know them like you see in the pics below: caterpillars that make cases.
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
How many types of butterfly can you recognise?
1000 species of butterfly and moth have been genetically sequenced, as part of a project to map the genome of all 11,665 species in Europe, co-led by Darwin Research Fellow Dr Charlotte Wright.
www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/sequenc...
1000 species of butterfly and moth have been genetically sequenced, as part of a project to map the genome of all 11,665 species in Europe, co-led by Darwin Research Fellow Dr Charlotte Wright.
www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/sequenc...
December 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM
How many types of butterfly can you recognise?
1000 species of butterfly and moth have been genetically sequenced, as part of a project to map the genome of all 11,665 species in Europe, co-led by Darwin Research Fellow Dr Charlotte Wright.
www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/sequenc...
1000 species of butterfly and moth have been genetically sequenced, as part of a project to map the genome of all 11,665 species in Europe, co-led by Darwin Research Fellow Dr Charlotte Wright.
www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/news/sequenc...
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
We all wish peer review to be rapid and professional: doesn’t always go like that. But I am relieved to finally see Helixer by @alisandra-denton.bsky.social and team published in Nature Method. Congratulations! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Helixer: ab initio prediction of primary eukaryotic gene models combining deep learning and a hidden Markov model - Nature Methods
By leveraging both deep learning and hidden Markov models, Helixer achieves broad taxonomic coverage for ab initio gene annotation of eukaryotic genomes from fungi, plants, vertebrates and invertebrat...
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:58 AM
We all wish peer review to be rapid and professional: doesn’t always go like that. But I am relieved to finally see Helixer by @alisandra-denton.bsky.social and team published in Nature Method. Congratulations! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I'm very excited that our paper on Project Psyche is now published! 🦋🧬
Over the last two years we've built an incredible community & already made huge progress. Read about this & how @projectpsyche.bsky.social will drive exciting and collaborative science here:
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Over the last two years we've built an incredible community & already made huge progress. Read about this & how @projectpsyche.bsky.social will drive exciting and collaborative science here:
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe
Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level
reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found
in Europe. Here, we describe t...
www.cell.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I'm very excited that our paper on Project Psyche is now published! 🦋🧬
Over the last two years we've built an incredible community & already made huge progress. Read about this & how @projectpsyche.bsky.social will drive exciting and collaborative science here:
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Over the last two years we've built an incredible community & already made huge progress. Read about this & how @projectpsyche.bsky.social will drive exciting and collaborative science here:
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
We need your help! If you have a few minutes, please fill out a very short survey about your preferences on butterflies and art - all responses are welcome! www.unveiling.eu
This is part of a project that aims to understand how the beauty of butterflies influences conservation: Unveiling (1/2)
This is part of a project that aims to understand how the beauty of butterflies influences conservation: Unveiling (1/2)
Unveiling - Home
www.unveiling.eu
November 26, 2025 at 8:59 PM
We need your help! If you have a few minutes, please fill out a very short survey about your preferences on butterflies and art - all responses are welcome! www.unveiling.eu
This is part of a project that aims to understand how the beauty of butterflies influences conservation: Unveiling (1/2)
This is part of a project that aims to understand how the beauty of butterflies influences conservation: Unveiling (1/2)
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Happy to present TOGA2, developed by Yury Malovichko @ymalovichko.bsky.social, the faster, memory-efficient & more accurate TOGA1 successor (github.com/hillerlab/TO...). And annotations, orthologs & gene loss/dup data generated with 4 references for 883 placental mammal and with 5 refs for 676 ...
November 23, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Happy to present TOGA2, developed by Yury Malovichko @ymalovichko.bsky.social, the faster, memory-efficient & more accurate TOGA1 successor (github.com/hillerlab/TO...). And annotations, orthologs & gene loss/dup data generated with 4 references for 883 placental mammal and with 5 refs for 676 ...
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
Revised evolutionary relationships within Brachycera and the early origin of bicoid in flies
Mulhair et al. uncover a functional bicoid in non-cyclorrhaphan flies, pushing the
gene's origin back by ∼20 million years. Reassessing the Diptera phylogeny using the
largest dataset to date permits ...
www.cell.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Latest work out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬
To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain).
🔗 tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
Do you use genomic data to study Lepidoptera in Europe? Do you want to visit a lab to learn a new skill or build a new collaboration? If so, you should apply for a short term scientific mission! These are small grants to fund research exchanges as part of our Lep10K COST action. All info below!
(1/4) 📣 Exciting news! 📣
The #10KLepGenomes COST Action has opened the second call for Short Term Scientific Missions #STSMs
Keep reading for all the details 👇
The #10KLepGenomes COST Action has opened the second call for Short Term Scientific Missions #STSMs
Keep reading for all the details 👇
November 17, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Do you use genomic data to study Lepidoptera in Europe? Do you want to visit a lab to learn a new skill or build a new collaboration? If so, you should apply for a short term scientific mission! These are small grants to fund research exchanges as part of our Lep10K COST action. All info below!
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
It's out, Minos transgenesis in the pantry moth by
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social
High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers
peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social
High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers
peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 2:40 PM
It's out, Minos transgenesis in the pantry moth by
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social
High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers
peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social
@lucalivraghi.bsky.social
High efficient, glowing eye and silk gland markers
peerj.com/articles/202...
@peerj.bsky.social
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
What a remarkable discovery! In SW Turkey a new species of Lycaenid was discovered, Rapala suleymani sp.n., of a genus that was only known from the eastern palearctic & indomalayan realms, it's closest relative flies 7000km away! doi.org/10.31184/M00...
Rapala suleymani sp. n., (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) a new thecline...: Ingenta Connect
doi.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
What a remarkable discovery! In SW Turkey a new species of Lycaenid was discovered, Rapala suleymani sp.n., of a genus that was only known from the eastern palearctic & indomalayan realms, it's closest relative flies 7000km away! doi.org/10.31184/M00...
A fantastic writeup by Glenn Zorpette from @spectrum.ieee.org. Glenn joined us in Italy where we collectively sampled hundreds of new species for @projectpsyche.bsky.social. Shoutout to Luigi Avantaggiato for the spectacular photos and @costprogramme.bsky.social funding for bringing groups together.
In July, our reporter traveled to the Italian Alps and to Barcelona, Spain, to observe researchers capturing moths and butterflies and then sequencing their genomes. It was all part of the most ambitious biology project ever: to sequence every species on Earth.
The Genome Revolution Takes Flight: Mapping the DNA of Europe’s Lepidoptera
An expedition in the Italian Alps unleashes advanced genome sequencing
spectrum.ieee.org
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 PM
A fantastic writeup by Glenn Zorpette from @spectrum.ieee.org. Glenn joined us in Italy where we collectively sampled hundreds of new species for @projectpsyche.bsky.social. Shoutout to Luigi Avantaggiato for the spectacular photos and @costprogramme.bsky.social funding for bringing groups together.
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
It is so nice to finally see the first paper of my PhD published! It was possible thanks to invaluable contributions of Andrea Chiocchio, @mariaheikkila.bsky.social, @jadrankarota.bsky.social, Lauri Kaila, and @lepphylo.bsky.social.
Gelechioidea, that superdiverse superfamily of Lepidoptera that has been a super mess taxonomically, finally gets some structure at the family level with phylogenomics! Read all about it in our article led by PhD student @etkayapar.bsky.social !
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Integrating Sanger and next‐generation sequencing data sheds light on phylogenetic relationships among gelechioid moths (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea)
The maximum-likelihood analysis of a phylogenomic dataset of 1767 protein-coding genes from 57 ingroup taxa yields a robust family-level topology for Gelechioidea, revealing novel among-family relat...
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
It is so nice to finally see the first paper of my PhD published! It was possible thanks to invaluable contributions of Andrea Chiocchio, @mariaheikkila.bsky.social, @jadrankarota.bsky.social, Lauri Kaila, and @lepphylo.bsky.social.
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Claire Merot opens the afternoon session at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about the structural genetic diversity across the tree of life. Structural variants (SVs) are in order de magnitude higher than SNPs. TEs accounts for many SVs. SVs are different across different lineages.
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Claire Merot opens the afternoon session at the #biodiversity25 with a presentation about the structural genetic diversity across the tree of life. Structural variants (SVs) are in order de magnitude higher than SNPs. TEs accounts for many SVs. SVs are different across different lineages.
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
New preprint! We unexpectedly discovered that some Caenorhabditis species delete parts of their somatic genome early in development, which fragments their chromosomes and eliminates key germline genes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest this bizarre process was present in the ancestors of C. elegans
October 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
New preprint! We unexpectedly discovered that some Caenorhabditis species delete parts of their somatic genome early in development, which fragments their chromosomes and eliminates key germline genes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest this bizarre process was present in the ancestors of C. elegans
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Programmed DNA elimination was present in the last common ancestor of Caenorhabditis nematodes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.23.681605v1
October 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Programmed DNA elimination was present in the last common ancestor of Caenorhabditis nematodes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.23.681605v1
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
Really nice paper from @tiff-ki.bsky.social & co. shows no overall decline in butterfly species richness in Sulawesi over 166 yrs, but changing communities with endemics & forest specialists declining. Short-term trends unreliable measures of long term. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 🌏
October 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Really nice paper from @tiff-ki.bsky.social & co. shows no overall decline in butterfly species richness in Sulawesi over 166 yrs, but changing communities with endemics & forest specialists declining. Short-term trends unreliable measures of long term. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... 🌏
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...
October 11, 2025 at 9:17 AM
The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...
Reposted by Charlotte Wright
🚀 Second STSM of 10kLepGenomes!
Jakub Tetla (Jagiellonian Univ., Poland) visited @jadrankarota.bsky.social (Lund, Sweden) from 24–26 Sept 2025.
The goal was to integrate museum collections with phylogenomics to study West Palearctic tiger moths.
#10kLepGenomes #Lepidoptera #Museomics
Jakub Tetla (Jagiellonian Univ., Poland) visited @jadrankarota.bsky.social (Lund, Sweden) from 24–26 Sept 2025.
The goal was to integrate museum collections with phylogenomics to study West Palearctic tiger moths.
#10kLepGenomes #Lepidoptera #Museomics
October 15, 2025 at 4:34 PM
🚀 Second STSM of 10kLepGenomes!
Jakub Tetla (Jagiellonian Univ., Poland) visited @jadrankarota.bsky.social (Lund, Sweden) from 24–26 Sept 2025.
The goal was to integrate museum collections with phylogenomics to study West Palearctic tiger moths.
#10kLepGenomes #Lepidoptera #Museomics
Jakub Tetla (Jagiellonian Univ., Poland) visited @jadrankarota.bsky.social (Lund, Sweden) from 24–26 Sept 2025.
The goal was to integrate museum collections with phylogenomics to study West Palearctic tiger moths.
#10kLepGenomes #Lepidoptera #Museomics
This week we celebrated reaching 1000 lepidopteran genomes in the Tree of Life (ToL) programme @ the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social with butterfly crafts and cake! Many of these genomes were sequenced by the wonderful ToL teams as part of @projectpsyche.bsky.social & the Darwin Tree of Life project 🦋🧬
October 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM
This week we celebrated reaching 1000 lepidopteran genomes in the Tree of Life (ToL) programme @ the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social with butterfly crafts and cake! Many of these genomes were sequenced by the wonderful ToL teams as part of @projectpsyche.bsky.social & the Darwin Tree of Life project 🦋🧬