#Armadillos

Sophie presented her long-read metagenomics work at ESEB 2022 in Prague

Frederic Delsuc

Aug 16, 2022
1 min

Sophie presented her long-read metagenomics work at ESEB 2022 in Prague

As the last step in her oral presentation marathon, Sophie had the opportunity to present her work on long-read metagenomics and chitinase genes the Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB 2022) in Prague (Czech Republic). Sophie's presentation was selected as part of an exciting symposium dedicated to understanding "Microbiomes in the wild: the drivers and evolutionary consequences of microbiome variation". Teullet S.*, Tilak M.-K., Magdeleine A., Sch

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First publication of the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) consortium

Frederic Delsuc

Jan 23, 2022
1 min

First publication of the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) consortium

As a member of the recently created European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA), Frédéric participated to the first paper of the consortium published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (doi:10.1016/j.tree.2021.11.008). The ERGA is a pan-European scientific initiative aimed at generating high-quality complete genome resources for eukaryote species of continental Europe. This first consortium paper highlights the usefulness of producing high-quality complete genome resources in larg

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Chris' new paper on gene loss in the melatonin pathway published in Open Research Europe

Frederic Delsuc

Dec 12, 2021
2 min

Chris' new paper on gene loss in the melatonin pathway published in Open Research Europe

Chris' study on the molecular evolution and loss of function of the genes involved in the melatonin pathway in vertebrates has been published in Open Research Europe (doi:10.12688/openreseurope.13795.1) a new gold open access journal edited by the European Commission with a transparent process of peer-review. In this work, we studied the molecular evolution of genes involved in the synthesis (AANAT, ASMT) and signaling (MTNR1A, MTNR1B) of melatonin, a hormone secreted by the

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Sampling six-banded armadillos at the Montpellier zoo

Frederic Delsuc

Apr 19, 2021
1 min

Sampling six-banded armadillos at the Montpellier zoo

Frédéric visited the Parc Zoologique de Montpellier to collect blood from their two hosted six-banded armadillos (Euphractus sexcinctus) on the occasion of a routine annual check-up. These samples will be used for genome sequencing using Nanopore long reads. Many thanks as always to Baptiste Chenet and Laurie Virolle for their kind help and collaboration. #Fieldwork #Transcriptomes #Zoo #Genomics #Armadillos

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Congrats to Rémi for successfully defending his PhD!

Frederic Delsuc

Feb 11, 2021
1 min

Congrats to Rémi for successfully defending his PhD!

Despite a last year largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Rémi Allio managed to successfully defended his PhD entitled "Phylogenomics and comparative genomics in myrmecophagous mammals" co-directed by Frédéric Delsuc and Benoit Nabholz. Thanks to all jury members for joining virtually or physically: Carole Smadja (CNRS, University of Montpellier, France), Emmanuelle Jousselin (INRAe, France), Marie Sémon (ENS Lyon, France), Robert Waterhouse (Uni

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Welcome to Victor and Timothée as new Master students

Frederic Delsuc

Jan 31, 2021
1 min

Welcome to Victor and Timothée as new Master students

We are pleased to welcome Victor Luxey and Timothée Kastylevky as new Master students in the ConvergeAnt project for the next six months. Victor is a second year Master student from the Master program in Bioinformatics of the University of Bordeaux. His project consists in studying chitinase genes in mammalian fecal metagenomes. Timothée is a post-Master student from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure (ENS) Lyon co-supervised with Marie Sémon. His project is looking at molecular

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Mathilde attended an online course on Speciation Genomics

Frederic Delsuc

Dec 11, 2020
1 min

Mathilde attended an online course on Speciation Genomics

Mathilde attended the 4th edition of the Speciation Genomics course organized by Physalia. This one-week online course run by run by Dr. Mark Ravinet (University of Nottingham, UK) an Dr. Joana Meier (University of Cambridge, UK) provides how-to-guide on the main bioinformatic tools to perform statistical analysis of speciation using population genomics data. Mathilde will use her improved skills to analyze the genome re-sequencing data to perform species delimitation in some

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Invited talk at the 1st Xenarthra International Conservation Congress

Frederic Delsuc

Nov 30, 2020
1 min

Invited talk at the 1st Xenarthra International Conservation Congress

Frédéric was invited to present the recent advances made on sequencing xenarthran genomes in the ConvergeAnt project at the 1st Xenarthra International Conservation Congress. This four-days online congress was followed by a virtual meeting of the IUCN/SSC Anteater, Sloth and Armadillo Specialist Group to discuss conservation priority actions on this evolutionary distinct placental group. Delsuc F. (2020). Recent Advances and Future Prospects in Xenarthran Phylogenomics. 1st

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Two new PhD students join the ConvergeAnt project

Frederic Delsuc

Sep 30, 2020
1 min

Two new PhD students join the ConvergeAnt project

We are pleased to welcome back Sophie Teullet and Mathilde Barthe both starting their PhD within the ConvergeAnt project for the next three years. For her PhD, Sophie will follow-up from her Master degree investigating dietary adaptations in the genomes of ant-eating mammals but will also explore the functional potential of their gut microbiomes for insect digestion. Mathilde secured a PhD grant from the Center for the Study of Biodiversity in Amazonia (CEBA) to work on detec

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New paper on the evolution the vertebrate gut microbiome out in mBio!

Frederic Delsuc

Jan 7, 2020
2 min

New paper on the evolution the vertebrate gut microbiome out in mBio!

The results of the vertebrate microbiome project in collaboration with Rob Knight's lab at the University of California in San Diego are finally being published in mBio. This paper is based on comparisons of the gut microbiomes of over 900 vertebrate species. We found that not only do birds and bats have more similar gut microbiome compositions, but they seem to be similar in how they change across host evolution compared to nonflying mammals. While most mammal gut microbiome

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Frederic Delsuc

Jan 6, 2020
1 min

Welcome to Sophie Teullet!

We are pleased to welcome Sophie Teullet in the ConvergeAnt project for the next six months. Sophie is a Master student (M2) from the Master Programme in Ecologyof the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France). She will be working on chitinase evolution in ant-eating mammals using both genomic and transcriptomic data. #Anteaters #Armadillos #Aardwolf #Aardvark #Master #Students #Bioinformatics #Transcriptomes #Pangolins #Genomes

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Congrats Sérgio for a successful PhD defense!

Frederic Delsuc

Nov 29, 2019
1 min

Congrats Sérgio for a successful PhD defense!

Congratulations to Sérgio Ferreira-Cardoso who successfully defended his PhD entitled "Morphological convergence and dental simplification in myrmecophagous placentals" co-directed by Frédéric and Lionel. Thanks to his reviewers Anjali Goswami (The Natural History Museum London, UK) and John Nyakatura (Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany), and examiners Thomas Lehman (Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt am Main, Germany), Anthony Herrel (Muséum National d'Histoire Natur

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Frederic Delsuc

Oct 12, 2019
1 min

Kathleen presented a poster at SVP 2019

Kathleen attended SVP 2019, the 79th Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in her Brisbane hometown (Australia). She presented a poster on using cribiform plate as a proxy to characterize the olfactory capacities of myrmecophagous mammals based on 3D CT-scans obtained during her Master project in the ConvergeAnt team. Reference: Garland K.*, Hautier L., Ferreira-Cardoso S., Wright M., Martinez Q., Fabre P.-H., Lebrun R. & Delsuc F. (2019). Exploring the olfactory

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Frederic Delsuc

Sep 16, 2019
1 min

Welcome to Yin Xun (Zach)!

Yin Xun (Zach) Tan joins the ConvergeAnt project for the next semester. Zach is a Master student from the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology. He will be working on comparative phylosymbiosis among gut, oral, and skin microbiomes of mammals. #Anteaters #Armadillos #Aardwolf #Aardvark #Master #Students #Microbiome

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Frederic Delsuc

Jul 27, 2019
1 min

Two ConvergeAnt talks at ICVM 2019

Sérgio and Lionel participated to ICVM 2019, the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology in Prague (Czech Republic). Sérgio gave a presentation on patterns of phenotypic covariation in the skull of myrmecophagous placentals based on modularity analyses. Lionel talked about covariation patterns in the olfactory system of myrmecophagous mammals based on 3D CT-scans of olfactory turbinals and cribiform plates respectively obtained by Mark and Kathleen during their Master

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Frederic Delsuc

Jun 30, 2019
1 min

Congrats Dave and Mathilde!

Congratulations to Dave Lutgen and Mathilde Barthe who successfully defended their Master projects from the Darwin Master Programme in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Montpellier. Dave's M2 project was on the comparative transcriptomics of mammalian salivary glands. Mathilde's M1 project consisted in detecting convergent evolution in the genomes of myrmecophagous carnivorans. Good luck to Dave for his upcoming PhD in Germany and to Mathilde for her Maste

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Frederic Delsuc

Mar 25, 2019
1 min

Welcome to Mathilde Barthe!

We are pleased to welcome Mathilde Barthe in the ConvergeAnt project for the next three months. Mathilde is a Master student (M1) from the Darwin Master Programme in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Montpellier. She will be working on detecting convergent evolution in the genomes of myrmecophagous carnivorans. #Anteaters #Armadillos #Aardwolf #Aardvark #Master #Students #Bioinformatics #Transcriptomes #Pangolins

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Frederic Delsuc

Feb 28, 2019
1 min

Good bye Kathleen!

Kathleen Garland successfully defended her six-month Master project from the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology. For her second project with us, Kathleen explored the olfactory capabilities of ant-eating mammals using the cribriform plate as an osteological proxy under the supervision of Sérgio and Lionel. Kath, we wish you all the best for the next steps in her career! #Anteaters #Armadillos #Aardwolf #Aardvark #Master #Students #Genomics #Pseudogenes

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New paper on the molecular evolution and loss of function of the ODAM gene in mammals

Frederic Delsuc

Jan 24, 2019
1 min

New paper on the molecular evolution and loss of function of the ODAM gene in mammals

Chris and Frédéric participated in a study on the molecular evolution and loss of function of the ameloblast-associated gene ODAM in mammals published in BMC Evolutionary Biology (doi:10.1186/s12862-019-1359-6). In this study, we discovered inactivating mutations in the ODAM gene in all species of placental mammals that either lack teeth or lack enamel on their teeth. Surprisingly, ODAM is also inactivated in all toothed whales that were examined. We hypothesize that ODAM ina

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Outreach article in French on the evolution of chitinase genes in placental mammals

Frederic Delsuc

Jan 23, 2019
1 min

Outreach article in French on the evolution of chitinase genes in placental mammals

Frédéric wrote a short scientific outreach article in French in Médecine/Sciences (doi:10.1051/medsci/2018317) giving some general context on our recent study on the evolution of chitinase genes in placental mammals published last year in Science Advances (doi:10.1126/sciadv.aar6478). A first paper in French for Chris! Citation: Delsuc F., Emerling C.A. & Nachman M.W. (2019). Les chitinases, témoins de la radiation des mammifères placentaires. Médecine/Sciences 35:12-15. doi

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