Lukas Schrader
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shaggyschrader.bsky.social
Lukas Schrader
@shaggyschrader.bsky.social
570 followers 780 following 17 posts
I like ants. I like TEs.

Evolutionary Biologist at the Institute for Evolution & Biodiversity (University of Münster)

schraderl.github.io
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shaggyschrader.bsky.social
Lukas Schrader @shaggyschrader.bsky.social · Jun 16
Over 50 researchers from over 25 countries have made this possible. Almost 10 years of work. I have 23,062 emails on this project.
It is wonderful to see this published and I hope you enjoy it.
There’s a lot on genome evolution in ants and much much more.
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social
Germline-limited transposon remnants foster somatic genome diversification https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.686105v1
November 3, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
genomebiolevol.bsky.social
Zhao, Quinteros & Machado describe unusually large and continuous pericentromeric transposable element-rich regions in all chromosomes of the genome of a Neotropical fig wasp,

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf158

#genome #evolution #TEsky
Evolutionary Consequences of Unusually Large Pericentric TE-rich Regions in the Genome of a Neotropical Fig Wasp
Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs), despite generally being considered deleterious, represent a substantial portion of most eukaryotic genomes. Specific
doi.org
September 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
selfishmeme.bsky.social
You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature
In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
esthervandenbos.bsky.social
Come find me at #SMBE2025 to chat about transposable elements in ants 🧬🐜
S15 - P8
July 22, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
cp-cell.bsky.social
Now online! Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants
Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants
Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolution and diversification of social traits and caste differentiation in ants.
dlvr.it
June 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
uni-muenster.de
Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team has now uncovered the genetic basis of ant evolution. (Orig. publ. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...) #ants #phylogenomics #evolution
New study provides deep insights into the genomes of superorganisms
Worker ants increase their reproductive success by caring for their siblings instead of producing their own offspring. An international research team, including Dr. Lukas Schrader from the University ...
www.uni-muenster.de
June 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
gmallaret.bsky.social
Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants 🐜🐜🐜
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Adaptive radiation and social evolution of the ants
Comparative analyses of 163 ant genomes reveal extensive genome rearrangements, context-specific gene family expansion patterns, and selection on conserved pathways that together underpin the evolutio...
www.cell.com
June 17, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
rosafernandez.bsky.social
Glad to see this paper finally out! An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids
@natecoevo.nature.com @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @csic.es @erc.europa.eu www.nature.com/articles/s41...
An episodic burst of massive genomic rearrangements and the origin of non-marine annelids - Nature Ecology & Evolution
An analysis of annelid genomes reveals massive reshuffling of chromosomes in the ancestral lineage leading to clitellates, a clade composed of non-marine annelids, with potential implications for the ...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 12:33 PM
shaggyschrader.bsky.social
Over 50 researchers from over 25 countries have made this possible. Almost 10 years of work. I have 23,062 emails on this project.
It is wonderful to see this published and I hope you enjoy it.
There’s a lot on genome evolution in ants and much much more.
June 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
cicin-sainlab.bsky.social
The Virological Society (Gesellschaft für Virologie - GfV), along with the German Society for Infectiology has issued a statement on lessons learned from the last pandemic. While it was originally issued in German, it is now also available in English. You can find it here:🧪
g-f-v.org/en/fuenf-jah...
Five years of COVID-19: Comments from the Society of Virology on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany | Society of Virology
g-f-v.org
June 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
This is also a useful complement to the "pivot" paper getting attention this week

"...science marches backward when the participants are unwilling to consider preexisting information, and a certain level of push-back is warranted when such behavior is combined with excessive self-promotion"
philipcball.bsky.social Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · May 30
Here Mike Lynch mounts a fierce challenge to two recent attempts to understand the evolution of complexity in biology and beyond. I wouldn't like to place bets on the winner in this bout, but it does seem Lynch presents some tough questions.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Complexity myths and the misappropriation of evolutionary theory | PNAS
Recent papers by physicists, chemists, and geologists lay claim to the discovery of new principles of evolution that have somehow eluded over a cen...
www.pnas.org
May 31, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
transposableman.bsky.social
#TEsky Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Advanced analysis of retrotransposon variation in the human genome with nanopore sequencing using RetroInspector
doi.org
April 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
cihancelik.bsky.social
Für viele Deutsche mit Migrationsgeschichte ist es keine Randnotiz, dass eine rechtsextreme völkische Partei in Umfragen führt. Es bedeutet existenzielle Bedrohung und verstärkte Ausgrenzung. Solche Zahlen ignorieren zu können, ist ein Privileg, das viele nicht haben.
April 23, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social
Termites became the dominant decomposers of the tropics after two diversification pulses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.25.645184v1
March 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
shaggyschrader.bsky.social
New ant supergene just dropped.
biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · Mar 26
A novel supergene controls queen size and colony social organization in the ant Myrmica ruginodis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.24.644106v1
March 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
shaggyschrader.bsky.social
Awesome work!
mayavoichek.bsky.social Maya Voichek @mayavoichek.bsky.social · Mar 17
1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
Drosophila follicle showing retrotransposons (pink & yellow) expressed in somatic cells infecting the oocyte
March 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
mayavoichek.bsky.social
1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬
But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯
Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread 🧵👇
Drosophila follicle showing retrotransposons (pink & yellow) expressed in somatic cells infecting the oocyte
March 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
boyanbonev.bsky.social
🚨New preprint from @bonevlab.bsky.social 🚨: What are the key epigenetic mechanisms that drive species-specific gene regulation during primate neurogenesis - and how do they contribute to the evolution of the human neocortex?
Here’s what we discovered 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
3D Epigenome Evolution Underlies Divergent Gene Regulatory Programs in Primate Neural Development
The expansion of the neocortex is a hallmark of human evolution and is closely linked to neural stem cell biology. Yet, the epigenetic mechanisms driving divergent gene regulation during primate neuro...
www.biorxiv.org
March 13, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
vfl-bochum.de
DAS KANN DOCH NICHT WAHR SEIN!?!?😱🤯 Wer kneift uns bitte mal eben ganz ganz kräftig?

#FCBBOC 2:3
March 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
politicalbeauty.bsky.social
BREAKING: Nachdem die Polizei den Adenauer nicht mehr beschlagnahmen kann, hat sie gerade die Scheiben eingeschlagen, ihn gestürmt, umstellt und unser gesamtes Team verhaftet! Das ist so krass - uns fehlen die Worte.
Wir sind auf der AfD-Wahlparty. Die Faschisten feiern weiter.
Polizei umstellt Adenauer Polizei stürmt den Adenauer
February 23, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
robert-habeck.de
Zu heute.
Es geht eine dramatische, bittere Woche zu Ende. Friedrich Merz hat sein Versprechen, nicht mit der AfD zusammenzuarbeiten, gebrochen. Er hat Erpressung als Mittel der Politik eingesetzt. Damit hat er der AfD den größten Erfolg beschert: die Spaltung der Demokraten. Wir haben alles versucht, zu einer Lösung unter den Demokratinnen und Demokraten zu kommen. Aber Merz war im Blindflug unterwegs gen Abgrund. Dank und Respekt gebührt jenen, die verhindert haben, dass erstmals im Deutschen Bundestag ein Gesetz durch eine gemeinsame Mehrheit mit der AfD zustande gekommen wäre. Sie haben sich gegen ihre Fraktionslinien gestellt, das verdient Hochachtung.
January 31, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Lukas Schrader
politicalbeauty.bsky.social
Tesla Gigafactory, Berlin. – Buy a Tesla, support facism!
January 23, 2025 at 10:42 AM
shaggyschrader.bsky.social
Ok. I am trying to find time to take pictures of the various Cardiocondyla species we have in the lab now. Starting with this tiny, really tiny!, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii worker. The larva she carries is even tinier! Hard to believe…
A worker of Cardiocondyla wroughtonii carrying a small larva.
December 13, 2024 at 5:28 PM
shaggyschrader.bsky.social
This is mind-boggling! TEs never cease to amaze.
bjornschumacher.bsky.social Björn Schumacher @bjornschumacher.bsky.social · Dec 5
🧠🧠🧠Could the brain influence evolution? Check out our super hot preprint: A single pair of neurons that sense temperature controls genetic changes in the inheritable genome by triggering transposons that change the genome for generations to come www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Thermosensory neurons control genetic inheritance through regulation of germline transposons
Epigenetic inheritance can be influenced by environmental conditions and somatic inputs originating from different tissues. Such transgenerational inheritance is reversable as it does not lead to muta...
www.biorxiv.org
December 5, 2024 at 10:43 PM