Gene annotations matter for downstream analyses: different structural gene-annotation pipelines yield markedly different orthology calls. We compare four strategies across species and argue for standards & QC before inference. Work led by @silviaprietob.bsky.social. Paper: doi.org/10.1093/bioi...

This work is partly limited by a poorly resolved phylogeny and so future work will look to revisit these results with an improved phylogenetic framework. Nonetheless, we hope our extensive literature synthesis and results will facilitate further work in this under-studied molluscan clade 🌈🐌.

Surprisingly, we found no evidence that diet choice, chemical acquisition and colour pattern evolved together.

What was the dorid ancestor like? Likely a sponge-eater 🧽 sequestering its metabolites, with a flair for fashion: showing complex colour patterns with spots or stripes ✨👗👔. This trend remains common in modern dorids (figs 1 & 3).

We compiled data on prey preference 🍔, chemical acquisition method 🧪 and colour pattern 🎨 across 88 dorid genera.

Using published sequence data, we reconstructed a phylogeny of the Doridoidei to investigate the evolution of these traits in tandem.

Nudibranchs are known for housing diverse chemical compounds and for their eye-catching colour patterns. These features are key in predator deterrence and signaling.