Arlin Stoltzfus
evolarlin.bsky.social
Arlin Stoltzfus
@evolarlin.bsky.social
Mutation samples from the possible, selection from the actual

#evobio #popgen #mutation

book: http://bit.ly/3QNudjQ
blog: http://molevol.org
youtube: http://bit.ly/3aytCms
Pinned
I’m starting a special interest group with monthly seminars + discussion focused on the role of mutation in evolution covering #evobio #popgen #histsci #philsci

Upcoming speakers: @PeterALind, @DeepaAgashe, Grey Monroe, Rose Novick, Alex Klug

To join, email @umd.edu

Please repost
our next evol-mut-circle seminar (21 Oct, 15:00 UTC) features Timothy Fuqua on

"De novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than genomic DNA"

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

DM me to join the email list. Full schedule:

www.molevol.org/evol-mut-cir...

#popgen, #mutation, #evobio
De-novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than from genomic DNA
Promoters are DNA sequences that help to initiate transcription. Point mutations can create de-novo promoters, which can consequently transcribe inactive genes or create novel transcripts. We know lit...
www.biorxiv.org
October 14, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Next Tuesday (20 May), evol-mut-circle hosts a discussion on hypotheses to account for targeted hypomutation

We'll have a panel of experts to help with the discussion, including some with key roles in this issue

Message me to join the email list

www.molevol.org/distinguishi...
Distinguishing hypotheses for the appearance of targeted hypomutation | Stoltzfus Research Group at IBBR
March 18, 2025 / Arlin Stoltzfus / 0 Comments
www.molevol.org
May 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
The CDC has literally been gutted today.

There’s no need for “April Fools” when reality is a nightmare for every human on this planet.

Thousand of scientists fired.
Entire departments erased.

1/
April 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Monroe, et al 2022 argued that mutation in Arabidopsis evolved adaptively to be lower in genes than non-genes

That stimulated a lot of debate over whether the pattern is real

What about the evo model?

A model of gene-targeted hyper-repair (to avoid damage)...

www.molevol.org/distinguishi...
Distinguishing hypotheses for the appearance of targeted hypomutation | Stoltzfus Research Group at IBBR
www.molevol.org
April 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
It's 5 yrs today since lockdown started in England, but "We must never have lockdown again" is the wrong lesson.

Lockdowns are terrible but so are deadly pandemics.

Our choices 5 years ago were limited - we can & must do better in the future.

Do read my post.

open.substack.com/pub/christin...
We are learning the wrong lessons from lockdown
And unless we learn the right ones, we risk making the same mistakes in a new pandemic
open.substack.com
March 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Great opportunity in a beautiful city
🚨If you fancy evolutionary genomics, theory, my lab now offers *two* fully-funded #PhD #genomics #popgen #evolution
ℹ️One on sex-asex transitions with Christoph Haag bit.ly/4hp1q1A
ℹ️One on allele-specific expression with Sylvain Glémin bit.ly/4iuKLuQ

Part of #ERC RegEvol
In #CEFE lab, Montpellier
March 14, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Coming up next Tuesday

@kelleyharris.bsky.social

"What causes mutation rates to vary among populations, species, and cell lineages?"

DM to join the email list
I’m starting a special interest group with monthly seminars + discussion focused on the role of mutation in evolution covering #evobio #popgen #histsci #philsci

Upcoming speakers: @PeterALind, @DeepaAgashe, Grey Monroe, Rose Novick, Alex Klug

To join, email @umd.edu

Please repost
March 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
Today is the 100th bday of Margaret Dayhoff! She is the mother of bioinformatics. In her honor, some are celebrating it as Bioinformatics Day or Bioinformaticians' Day.
H/T to Farzana!
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Happy bioinformatics day to all!
Celebrating a pioneer in bioinformatics - Nature Computational Science
In honor of the 100th birthday of Margaret Dayhoff, we spotlight her footprint in the field of bioinformatics.
www.nature.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
New, from me: you were told that the threats to free speech came from wokeness. Some compared it to Maoist China.

Now we are witnessing government power being used to silence dissent and censor ideas. Now we know what real society-wide chilling effects look like. 🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
Real chilling effects
A extraordinary pattern of government censorship and threats to speech
open.substack.com
March 9, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
Really wish people would stop talking about the problem with Science under Trump as “budget cuts”.

No. Budgets are set deliberatively by elected members of congress. Budgets haven’t been cut.

What’s happening are *purges* and *censorship*.
March 8, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
Exploring New Niches - Superorganism | a guide to nature jobs in the private sector for anyone who recently lost a government science or nature job
Exploring New Niches
With US federal layoffs, we share a Cliffs Notes for some private sector opportunities. And Superorganism is hiring!
buff.ly
March 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
These are some resources I found useful to understand the administrative coup taking place here. The 2-part series by Robert Evans (with guest Ed Helms) is a bit repetitive but worth 2 hrs IMHO

www.thenerdreich.com/reboot-elon-...

medium.com/@alysion42/d...

www.podchaser.com/podcasts/beh...
'Reboot' Revealed: Elon Musk's CEO-Dictator Playbook
In 2022, one of Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO”
www.thenerdreich.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:18 PM
In the most recent evol-mut-circle seminar, @bryangitschlag.bsky.social (of
@davidmccandlish.bsky.social lab) presented his latest work: Graduated effects of mutation bias in adaptation

The recorded talk plus Q-and-A is free here for 6 months:

umd.zoom.us/rec/share/b-...

Passcode: g3PH=?9v
February 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
This new book is going on my reading list. I'm particularly interested in how the development of evolutionary thinking was shaped by highly engaged non-scientist intellectuals who wrote about evolution early in the 20th century

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
The Arrival of the Fittest
In the early twentieth century, varied audiences took biology out of the hands of specialists and transformed it into mass culture, transforming our understanding of heredity in the process.   In the ...
press.uchicago.edu
February 7, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Also, late last year I gave evol-mut-circle an overview of how the mutation spectrum can shape evo, in 3 modes (each with its own theory and empirical results)

* deleterious mut pressure
* ultimate source of raw materials
* introduction of novelty

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Tb...
January 28, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Latest video in the series: James Horton @jameshearsawho shares ongoing work combining genetic dissection of a GGGGT hotspot in P. fluorescens with an analysis of Salmonella genomes, exploring the basis of a 1000X enhancement of T-to-G mutation rate

umd.zoom.us/rec/share/-G...

Passcode: ?3H+M@Ph
January 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Thanks for the synopsis! With regard to your final comment about specialized mutation systems, I also find these systems fascinating. Some day, one hopes, their existence will be integrated into mainstream evolutionary thinking, along with the importance of arrival bias
Just finished @evolarlin.bsky.social's Mutation, Randomness, and Evolution. He argues that mutation isn’t “random” in any meaningful sense, but systematically biased, and that “the course of adaptation may reflect modest quantitative biases in ordinary mutations”.
January 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Arlin Stoltzfus
cis folks: one thing to know is that while there are orgs helping trans folks, the needs rn HUGELY exceed the funding they have available.

want to help trans people? a real material thing you can do is donate to these orgs, especially the smaller orgs
A new report details both an epidemic of fatal violence and discriminatory legislation against trans Americans. While many fear a Trump administration will only further threaten trans lives, these orgs are fighting back. ⤵️
Amid An Violence Epidemic Against Trans Americans, These Groups Are Fighting Back
A new report details both an epidemic of fatal violence and discriminatory legislation against trans Americans. While many fear a Trump administration will only further threaten trans lives, these org...
www.teenvogue.com
November 20, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Potential post-docs: are you interested the role of mutation in evolution? Please consider applying for a competitive NRC post-doc fellowship (2 yrs, generous salary and benefits, open to US citizens)

Contact me if you are interested
www.nist.gov/iaao/academi...
Postdoctoral Students (NRC Postdocs)
www.nist.gov
November 22, 2024 at 4:32 PM
The next evol-mut-circle seminar is Nov 19 (15:00 UTC) by Nora Martin, "Non-Poissonian Bursts in the Arrival of Phenotypic Variation and their Effect on Adaptation"(reading: doi.org/10.1093/molb...)

DM me to join. Schedule and info here:

www.molevol.org/evol-mut-cir...
doi.org
November 5, 2024 at 4:40 PM
Another excellent evol-mut-circle seminar today by Rose Novick with her insightful and broad account of structuralism and functionalism in evo bio

Zoom recording is linked below (Passcode: W0u!^sig)

DM me with your email to join the email list for regular seminars

umd.zoom.us/rec/share/iQ...
Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...
umd.zoom.us
September 17, 2024 at 9:30 PM
The recording of the latest evol-mut-circle talk from
@peteralind.bsky.social
(role of mut bias in experimental adaptation) is now available online. See the full list of upcoming and past talks, with recordings, here:

molevol.org/evol-mut-cir...
molevol.org
August 21, 2024 at 8:16 PM
The evol-mut-circle talk by @DeepaAgashe is available (pw = #?HS2x&$)

Planned talks: Alex Klug (role of rare muts in adaptation), Peter Lind (experimental evo under mut bias) and Rose Novick (structuralism and functionalism)

DM me to join

#popgen #evolution #mutation

umd.zoom.us/rec/share/_n...
Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...
umd.zoom.us
June 20, 2024 at 2:20 PM