Martik Chatterjee
@mosaiclep.bsky.social
Lepidoptera doctor 🧬 🐛 🦋 Interested in all things evolution, development, genomics and bugs 🪲 🐝 Postdoc. He/him 🌈
Pinned
Very excited to share the first chapter of my PhD thesis out in @elife.bsky.social : doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
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 Martik Chatterjee
Once again I'm begging people not to compare politicians to invertebrates. Inverts are cool and diverse and play an important ecological role. Politicians are the lower order.
November 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Once again I'm begging people not to compare politicians to invertebrates. Inverts are cool and diverse and play an important ecological role. Politicians are the lower order.
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
My first paper as a first author is officially out 🎉 @elife.bsky.social
We show that the iridescent colour of Morphos 🦋 tends to converge in sympatry while their chemical signals diverge, illustrating the constrasting effect natural and sexual selection on trait evolution.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We show that the iridescent colour of Morphos 🦋 tends to converge in sympatry while their chemical signals diverge, illustrating the constrasting effect natural and sexual selection on trait evolution.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Convergent iridescence and divergent chemical signals in sympatric sister-species of Amazonian butterflies
Ecological interactions exert contrasting evolutionary pressures on sympatric Morpho butterflies, promoting convergence in iridescence but divergence in chemical cues, illustrating how ecological inte...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
My first paper as a first author is officially out 🎉 @elife.bsky.social
We show that the iridescent colour of Morphos 🦋 tends to converge in sympatry while their chemical signals diverge, illustrating the constrasting effect natural and sexual selection on trait evolution.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We show that the iridescent colour of Morphos 🦋 tends to converge in sympatry while their chemical signals diverge, illustrating the constrasting effect natural and sexual selection on trait evolution.
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
What an amazing paper from the Bonasio lab! Domesticated retroviral proteins and RNA-modifying enzymes that regulate RNA loading into and transportation via extracellular vesicles (1/2). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Pseudouridine selects RNAs for extracellular transport
RNAs move through the extracellular space to transmit information between cells, including mammalian neurons, yet how specific RNAs are channeled into these extracellular routes is unknown. Using geno...
www.biorxiv.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:20 PM
What an amazing paper from the Bonasio lab! Domesticated retroviral proteins and RNA-modifying enzymes that regulate RNA loading into and transportation via extracellular vesicles (1/2). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
50 years ago, King & Wilson published a foundational paper that underlies the cis-regulatory paradigm (CRP) of #DevoEvo #EvoDevo, i.e., that *almost* all morphological evolution is driven by mutations in regulatory elements, rather than proteins, and it all arose from simple misunderstanding 🧪 🧵
October 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Out now on the cover of @journal-evo.bsky.social!
Led by Sarah Khalil, we took a genomic approach to investigate the hybrid zone between different-colored Red-backed Fairywren subspecies. We found some interesting candidate genes under selection. Check it out! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Led by Sarah Khalil, we took a genomic approach to investigate the hybrid zone between different-colored Red-backed Fairywren subspecies. We found some interesting candidate genes under selection. Check it out! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
October 18, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Out now on the cover of @journal-evo.bsky.social!
Led by Sarah Khalil, we took a genomic approach to investigate the hybrid zone between different-colored Red-backed Fairywren subspecies. We found some interesting candidate genes under selection. Check it out! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Led by Sarah Khalil, we took a genomic approach to investigate the hybrid zone between different-colored Red-backed Fairywren subspecies. We found some interesting candidate genes under selection. Check it out! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
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
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
So many issues with this new mandatory genetic test for women. World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 www.mcri.edu.au/news/insight...
World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 - Murdoch Children's Research Institute
MCRI's Professor Andrew Sinclair SRY gene identifier critiques World Athletics’ new gene testing rule. Read more.
www.mcri.edu.au
August 5, 2025 at 10:30 AM
So many issues with this new mandatory genetic test for women. World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 www.mcri.edu.au/news/insight...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
So excited to share this preprint from the Rosin lab in collaboration with the Hawley lab and @eelcotromer.bsky.social on moth spermatogenesis! We investigate the meiotic errors that occur during the formation of apyrene sperm (that have no DNA) in silkworms!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Programmed meiotic errors facilitate dichotomous sperm production in the silkworm, Bombyx mori
The goal of meiosis is typically to produce haploid gametes (eggs or sperm). Failure to do so is catastrophic for fertility and offspring health. However, Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies) males pr...
www.biorxiv.org
August 4, 2025 at 10:38 AM
So excited to share this preprint from the Rosin lab in collaboration with the Hawley lab and @eelcotromer.bsky.social on moth spermatogenesis! We investigate the meiotic errors that occur during the formation of apyrene sperm (that have no DNA) in silkworms!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
My prediction is that in that scenario, he blames the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which puts out employment data. Calls them corrupt, run by Democrats, out to get him. Fires people there, insists their numbers cannot be trusted, White House puts out its own fictitious data to make Trump look good
April 17, 2025 at 11:54 AM
My prediction is that in that scenario, he blames the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which puts out employment data. Calls them corrupt, run by Democrats, out to get him. Fires people there, insists their numbers cannot be trusted, White House puts out its own fictitious data to make Trump look good
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Our false head work is out! By analysing ~1000 #butterflies, we found many traits at posterior end of hindwings evolved correlatedly, likely forming a trait complex w/adaptive function to dupe predators into thinking these traits together are actual head!!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
July 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Our false head work is out! By analysing ~1000 #butterflies, we found many traits at posterior end of hindwings evolved correlatedly, likely forming a trait complex w/adaptive function to dupe predators into thinking these traits together are actual head!!
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Very excited to share the first chapter of my PhD thesis out in @elife.bsky.social : doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
July 7, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Very excited to share the first chapter of my PhD thesis out in @elife.bsky.social : doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
We discovered how the gene "mirror" is necessary for specifying the “vannus”, a unique domain in the posterior part of butterfly wings. 🦋🦋 (1/6)
#CRISPR #butterfly #genomics
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
The life of each of us began when a sperm and an egg came together. But what happens at a molecular level?
Our latest work in Cell led by @vdeneke.bsky.social & Andreas Blaha reveals a conserved fertilization complex that bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates! (1/11)
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Our latest work in Cell led by @vdeneke.bsky.social & Andreas Blaha reveals a conserved fertilization complex that bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates! (1/11)
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
December 13, 2024 at 7:43 PM
The life of each of us began when a sperm and an egg came together. But what happens at a molecular level?
Our latest work in Cell led by @vdeneke.bsky.social & Andreas Blaha reveals a conserved fertilization complex that bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates! (1/11)
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Our latest work in Cell led by @vdeneke.bsky.social & Andreas Blaha reveals a conserved fertilization complex that bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates! (1/11)
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
While helping out on a cool genomics project recently, I came to realise I’d been taught a pretty big inaccuracy about the events that occur at fertilization. I suspect that almost everyone reading this has the same misapprehension, so let’s do some learning together: 1/
May 30, 2025 at 6:51 PM
While helping out on a cool genomics project recently, I came to realise I’d been taught a pretty big inaccuracy about the events that occur at fertilization. I suspect that almost everyone reading this has the same misapprehension, so let’s do some learning together: 1/
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
June 22, 2025 at 6:20 PM
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
MassLive.com recently interviewed several Harvard FlyBase people and wrote this news article about the importance of FlyBase: tinyurl.com/4chpts9f
Why a database of bug genes could be one of Trump’s most devastating cuts at Harvard
FlyBase, the world's only fruit fly database, is in the crosshairs of Trump's attack on Harvard. Here's why it could matter for your health.
tinyurl.com
June 25, 2025 at 8:31 PM
MassLive.com recently interviewed several Harvard FlyBase people and wrote this news article about the importance of FlyBase: tinyurl.com/4chpts9f
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Check out our deep dive into the molecular genetics of male-specific cell type : the gorgeous UV-iridescent scales of Sulphur Butterflies
by lab wizards 🦋🔬 🖥️ 🧬
Ling Sheng Loh
@hanliconius.bsky.social
and a big team
1/n
by lab wizards 🦋🔬 🖥️ 🧬
Ling Sheng Loh
@hanliconius.bsky.social
and a big team
1/n
Wiring the sexes: @evolvwing.bsky.social &co use CRISPR knockouts & single-nucleus transcriptomics to decipher the regulatory logic of #SexualDimorphism in sulphur #butterflies, where males display bright UV colors thanks to specialized iridescent scales @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/445Iz7d
June 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Check out our deep dive into the molecular genetics of male-specific cell type : the gorgeous UV-iridescent scales of Sulphur Butterflies
by lab wizards 🦋🔬 🖥️ 🧬
Ling Sheng Loh
@hanliconius.bsky.social
and a big team
1/n
by lab wizards 🦋🔬 🖥️ 🧬
Ling Sheng Loh
@hanliconius.bsky.social
and a big team
1/n
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
My latest for American Scientist Magazine helps give scientists the tools to fight back against politicized charges that our research is silly or pointless- tools that will work whether you’re asked “why are we funding this” from your asshole uncle at Thanksgiving or an asshole US Senator.
🧪🌎
🧪🌎
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
June 17, 2025 at 9:47 PM
My latest for American Scientist Magazine helps give scientists the tools to fight back against politicized charges that our research is silly or pointless- tools that will work whether you’re asked “why are we funding this” from your asshole uncle at Thanksgiving or an asshole US Senator.
🧪🌎
🧪🌎
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
If butterflies & moths are your thing, you can’t go far wrong with Buddleja. They have short corolla tubes, so just about any Lep can feed on the tasty nectar. Warning: Some species are weedy and invasive (but some cultivars are sterile). #Scrophulariaceae #PollinatorWeek #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
June 19, 2025 at 11:29 AM
If butterflies & moths are your thing, you can’t go far wrong with Buddleja. They have short corolla tubes, so just about any Lep can feed on the tasty nectar. Warning: Some species are weedy and invasive (but some cultivars are sterile). #Scrophulariaceae #PollinatorWeek #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!
May 6, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Interested in a PhD connecting sensory ecology and evolutionary genetics? Applications are now open for a project on the Speciation Genomics of Eye Size Variation in Heliconius Butterflies in our lab at LMU Munich: www.evol.bio.lmu.de/research/mer... Please repost!
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.
Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca
In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.
globalnews.ca
February 9, 2025 at 9:58 PM
This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.
Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”
globalnews.ca/news/9793403...
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
This year I always had my camera and a small photo box to hand when I was gardening. My children are always finding caterpillars outside, and I wanted to document that a bit this year. With the exception of the garden tiger moth (Arctia caja), they all came from my garden.
December 9, 2024 at 8:21 PM
This year I always had my camera and a small photo box to hand when I was gardening. My children are always finding caterpillars outside, and I wanted to document that a bit this year. With the exception of the garden tiger moth (Arctia caja), they all came from my garden.
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
A workflow for Tidyverse-based local synteny visualization: Good for visualizing local synteny across species, genotypes, or acorss regions of a genome. Can be used to showcase copy number variation. Still need to write the tutorial, but will be on my GitHub soon. #Genomics #DataVisualization
December 10, 2024 at 8:14 PM
A workflow for Tidyverse-based local synteny visualization: Good for visualizing local synteny across species, genotypes, or acorss regions of a genome. Can be used to showcase copy number variation. Still need to write the tutorial, but will be on my GitHub soon. #Genomics #DataVisualization
Reposted by Martik Chatterjee
Our miRNA story is now in @science.org ! We found a microRNA, not a protein, that finally solved a long-standing evolutionary mystery of wing coloration in butterflies and moths. (1/n)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A microRNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus
In Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the genomic region around the gene cortex is a “hotspot” locus, repeatedly implicated in generating intraspecific melanic wing color polymorphisms across 100 mi...
www.science.org
December 5, 2024 at 9:36 PM
Our miRNA story is now in @science.org ! We found a microRNA, not a protein, that finally solved a long-standing evolutionary mystery of wing coloration in butterflies and moths. (1/n)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...