Snail fans! This photo is a roadside verge that the local council have stopped mowing. On a rainy day, there are so so so many snails (mostly Cepaea nemoralis). You'll need to zoom in to see them. How many? 100, 200 or more per square metre? Incredible.
Of course, now also a sample site for #Genomics #snails #cepaea #springwatch #beeston #nottingham
Attached: 1 image Here’s my #printerSolstice @printerSolstice #linocut for the prompt “texture”. The Eastern Snail Shell Mason Bee (Osmia conjuncta) is a small North American blue bee which makes nests in suitable empty snail shells! In my linocut I show this adorable little pollinator with a Cepaea shell. Each print is 8” by 8” on delicate Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. #printmaking #masonBee #snailShell #OsmiaConjuncta #Cepaea #sciart #EasternSnailShellMasonBee #nativeBees #pollinator #washi
New 🐌 paper, in which we tried to identify qtls that contribute to continuous variation in snail shell colour. While lacking power, short answer is that colour locus is involved, as well as likely other loci elsewhere.
https://academic.oup.com/jeb/article/37/9/1091/7721743?guestAccessKey=4512cf78-ba5e-4c71-ac15-4352edfaade0
#PaperThemeTune "My New House" by the Fall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D36kOzop6oo #snails #genomics #cepaea #qtl
New 🐌 paper alert! We showed that snails with v. few mtDNA copies per nuclear genome (<10) have a v. high rate of heteroplasmy; heteroplasmy is inherited through the germline, albeit with selection against synonymous mutations. We also found that some mtDNA genomes have tRNAs that are repeated up to 24 times! https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10505-w
#PaperThemeTune "12XU" by Wire https://youtu.be/jOjCSLMZPok (mainly because I just rediscovered it 😄) #snails #mtDNA #genomics #heteroplasmy #cepaea #wgs #12XU #wire
Molluscan mitochondrial genomes are unusual because they show wide variation in size, radical genome rearrangements and frequently show high variation (> 10%) within species. As progress in understanding this variation has been limited, we used whole genome sequencing of a six-generation matriline of the terrestrial snail Cepaea nemoralis, as well as whole genome sequences from wild-collected C. nemoralis, the sister species C. hortensis, and multiple other snail species to explore the origins of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation. The main finding is that a high rate of SNP heteroplasmy in somatic tissue was negatively correlated with mtDNA copy number in both Cepaea species. In individuals with under ten mtDNA copies per nuclear genome, more than 10% of all positions were heteroplasmic, with evidence for transmission of this heteroplasmy through the germline. Further analyses showed evidence for purifying selection acting on non-synonymous mutations, even at low frequency of the rare allele, especially in cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 and cytochrome b. The mtDNA of some individuals of Cepaea nemoralis contained a length heteroplasmy, including up to 12 direct repeat copies of tRNA-Val, with 24 copies in another snail, Candidula rugosiuscula, and repeats of tRNA-Thr in C. hortensis. These repeats likely arise due to error prone replication but are not correlated with mitochondrial copy number in C. nemoralis. Overall, the findings provide key insights into mechanisms of replication, mutation and evolution in molluscan mtDNA, and so will inform wider studies on the biology and evolution of mtDNA across animal phyla.
Angus Davison
starfish
Faye
Colin Purrington