Victor A. Albert
@plantgenomes.bsky.social
Professor, University at Buffalo | plant genomes, polyploidy, organismal radiations, phylo/population genomics, carnivorous plants, holocentric chromosomes, evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dLniyH0AAAAJ&
See Derek Taylor’s and my eLetter in #Science critiquing the #proteomic evidence ostensibly supporting the Penghu 1 mandible as a #Denisovan - at the end of www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
May 10, 2025 at 1:46 AM
See Derek Taylor’s and my eLetter in #Science critiquing the #proteomic evidence ostensibly supporting the Penghu 1 mandible as a #Denisovan - at the end of www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our paper on a chromosome-level genome of the carnivorous #butterwort plant #Pinguicula gigantea and other species is now published on bioRxiv ! Exciting to get this project close to done 😀 See the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
April 7, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Our paper on a chromosome-level genome of the carnivorous #butterwort plant #Pinguicula gigantea and other species is now published on bioRxiv ! Exciting to get this project close to done 😀 See the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Sea sandwort (Honckenya peploides) genome update - first Nanopore flow cell looking pretty good. Dormant shoots were collected from under beach sand in Denmark. A salt tolerant species that was the first plant to appear on the volcanic island Surtsey (Iceland), which erupted out of the sea in 1963.
February 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Sea sandwort (Honckenya peploides) genome update - first Nanopore flow cell looking pretty good. Dormant shoots were collected from under beach sand in Denmark. A salt tolerant species that was the first plant to appear on the volcanic island Surtsey (Iceland), which erupted out of the sea in 1963.
Here’s the other - needs some manual adjustments tho. This work done by expert PhD student Michaela Richter 😀
February 14, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Here’s the other - needs some manual adjustments tho. This work done by expert PhD student Michaela Richter 😀
Here’s one haplotype .. 14 chrs
February 14, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Here’s one haplotype .. 14 chrs
For example, in this study I’ll be publishing soon, what is the monophyletic taxon to which Nepenthes belongs? Nepenthes itself is monophyletic - but does it form a clade with Drosophyllum/Triphyophyllum+Ancistrocladus, or a clade with “Droseraceae”? Neither. A NeighborNet reveals the same
January 16, 2025 at 12:56 AM
For example, in this study I’ll be publishing soon, what is the monophyletic taxon to which Nepenthes belongs? Nepenthes itself is monophyletic - but does it form a clade with Drosophyllum/Triphyophyllum+Ancistrocladus, or a clade with “Droseraceae”? Neither. A NeighborNet reveals the same
Please don’t 100% ignore this paper because of its NeighborNet 🥹😅 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 16, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Please don’t 100% ignore this paper because of its NeighborNet 🥹😅 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Clermontia research update - SNPs seem to confirm that C. oblongifolia subsp. mauiensis is a hybrid of C. arborescens and C. kakeana - maybe needs to be be removed from the federal endangered species list .. Here’s an ADMIXTURE analysis .. (1/2)
December 13, 2024 at 5:06 PM
Clermontia research update - SNPs seem to confirm that C. oblongifolia subsp. mauiensis is a hybrid of C. arborescens and C. kakeana - maybe needs to be be removed from the federal endangered species list .. Here’s an ADMIXTURE analysis .. (1/2)
We got the cover :) Complete with a coffee leaf rust infection :(
April 16, 2024 at 8:21 AM
We got the cover :) Complete with a coffee leaf rust infection :(
Our latest genome project - Paphiopedilum gigantifolium from Sulawesi - an up to 25 gigabase genome :)
March 2, 2024 at 6:58 PM
Our latest genome project - Paphiopedilum gigantifolium from Sulawesi - an up to 25 gigabase genome :)
Brown bear - polar bear hybridization has been principally bidirectional over time, but with different preponderant directions; ancient being brown—>polar, more recent, polar—>brown. Read our work and new method, delta-statistics, led by Kalle Leppälä
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 25, 2024 at 2:14 PM
Brown bear - polar bear hybridization has been principally bidirectional over time, but with different preponderant directions; ancient being brown—>polar, more recent, polar—>brown. Read our work and new method, delta-statistics, led by Kalle Leppälä
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Alpha taxonomy still vital :) Our new species, Fagraea christinae Y.W. Low & V.A. Albert, named for Christina Soh Jeng Har (1955–2020) of the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ library. Collected by principal author Yee Wen Low in Southwest Papua Province, Indonesia.
bioone.org/journals/can...
bioone.org/journals/can...
November 20, 2023 at 1:04 PM
Alpha taxonomy still vital :) Our new species, Fagraea christinae Y.W. Low & V.A. Albert, named for Christina Soh Jeng Har (1955–2020) of the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ library. Collected by principal author Yee Wen Low in Southwest Papua Province, Indonesia.
bioone.org/journals/can...
bioone.org/journals/can...
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed; Apocynaceae) genome underway - leaves collected next to my backyard dock 🤪:)
November 14, 2023 at 1:18 AM
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed; Apocynaceae) genome underway - leaves collected next to my backyard dock 🤪:)
From that other app - an awesome collage of Nepenthes pitcher plants :)
November 11, 2023 at 7:44 PM
From that other app - an awesome collage of Nepenthes pitcher plants :)
A new version of our Arabica coffee genome / population genomics paper is now up on bioRxiv - 🤞🤞:)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 11, 2023 at 7:30 PM
A new version of our Arabica coffee genome / population genomics paper is now up on bioRxiv - 🤞🤞:)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Was very fortunate to see and photograph the Australian pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, in the Torndirrup National Park near Albany, Western Australia.. see our genome paper from 2017 here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 9, 2023 at 3:27 AM
Was very fortunate to see and photograph the Australian pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, in the Torndirrup National Park near Albany, Western Australia.. see our genome paper from 2017 here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
My favorite slipper orchid, Mexipedium xerophyticum V.A.Albert and M.W.Chase .. described by us 31 years ago 🤪 Endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico.. maybe 20 individuals alive in the wild.. Genome complete, now under analysis ..
November 9, 2023 at 3:23 AM
My favorite slipper orchid, Mexipedium xerophyticum V.A.Albert and M.W.Chase .. described by us 31 years ago 🤪 Endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico.. maybe 20 individuals alive in the wild.. Genome complete, now under analysis ..
Part of a Bandage view of our Utricularia macrorhiza (carnivorous bladderwort) meta-assembly .. Nanopore-based, DNA sample included goo inside traps.. At least the colored BLAST hits in the hairball match some Utricularia gibba chromosomal contigs.. (see www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....)
November 9, 2023 at 3:09 AM
Part of a Bandage view of our Utricularia macrorhiza (carnivorous bladderwort) meta-assembly .. Nanopore-based, DNA sample included goo inside traps.. At least the colored BLAST hits in the hairball match some Utricularia gibba chromosomal contigs.. (see www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....)
I call this a CTHULHUGRAM :) Paper STILL coming on genome evolution in holocentric carnivorous plant Drosera regia (Queen sundew) and monocentric D. capensis (Cape sundew). Here is synteny betw them & the dominant subgenome (1 of 5!) of pitcher plant Nepenthes. Graphic by Andre Marques
November 9, 2023 at 3:03 AM
I call this a CTHULHUGRAM :) Paper STILL coming on genome evolution in holocentric carnivorous plant Drosera regia (Queen sundew) and monocentric D. capensis (Cape sundew). Here is synteny betw them & the dominant subgenome (1 of 5!) of pitcher plant Nepenthes. Graphic by Andre Marques
Genome of Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush; coffee family) on its way .. for study of genetics of monoterpene indole alkaloid production
November 8, 2023 at 12:35 PM
Genome of Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush; coffee family) on its way .. for study of genetics of monoterpene indole alkaloid production
New journal - FRONTIERS IN PLANT GENOMICS - starting soon - keep posted, and spread the word :)
November 8, 2023 at 4:03 AM
New journal - FRONTIERS IN PLANT GENOMICS - starting soon - keep posted, and spread the word :)
Genome sequencing complete for Clermontia montis-loa (an endemic lobelioid) from the Big Island of Hawai - from flower bud material collected by me *13 years ago* in the RNAlater reagent, frozen at -20 C since then…
C. montis-loa photo here is by K Magnacca, uk.inaturalist.org/photos/12031...
C. montis-loa photo here is by K Magnacca, uk.inaturalist.org/photos/12031...
November 8, 2023 at 3:38 AM
Genome sequencing complete for Clermontia montis-loa (an endemic lobelioid) from the Big Island of Hawai - from flower bud material collected by me *13 years ago* in the RNAlater reagent, frozen at -20 C since then…
C. montis-loa photo here is by K Magnacca, uk.inaturalist.org/photos/12031...
C. montis-loa photo here is by K Magnacca, uk.inaturalist.org/photos/12031...
Nanopore DNA sequencing of the (carnivorous) purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea - going very well so far .. read lengths rose after short-read elimination - time to assemble and analyze
November 8, 2023 at 3:32 AM
Nanopore DNA sequencing of the (carnivorous) purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea - going very well so far .. read lengths rose after short-read elimination - time to assemble and analyze
Our paper on evolutionary genomics of the carnivorous East Asian pitcher plant, Nepenthes, is up as a preprint on bioRxiv - coming out soon :)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 8, 2023 at 3:18 AM
Our paper on evolutionary genomics of the carnivorous East Asian pitcher plant, Nepenthes, is up as a preprint on bioRxiv - coming out soon :)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...