Blog

May 2024: Bacterial lifestyle shapes pangenomes

Why do pangenomes vary so much across bacteria? 

We set out to explain this variation. In our new paper published in PNAS, we used a phylogenetic comparative approach across 126 species of bacteria. We found that bacterial lifestyle is the key factor shaping pangenome fluidity in bacteria. 

Put simply, species with more variable lifestyles and environments have more variable pangenomes.

The Comms team in our department has written a great news piece on the paper.

Dewar, Hao, Belcher, Ghoul & West (2024) Bacterial lifestyle shapes pangenomes. PNAS, 121(21). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2320170121 

2016: Tongue-testing fossils, Victorian-style

In summer 2016 I was an intern at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. I was tasked with identifying and cataloguing a large bag of Pleistocene cave mammal fossils which had been collected by the famous Victorian geologist, William Buckland.

While learning how to differentiate upper and lower molars of extinct cave bears, and marvelling at the size of cave lion paws, I stumbled upon a strange fossil with a potentially remarkable backstory. 

The intriguing fossil was the basis of a subsequent exhibition in the museum that autumn.

I wrote about what I discovered in the blog post below.