The results of our field study of the impact of different Methylobacterium strains on their host rice landraces (traditionally cultivated rice varieties from Manipur) are out! We find that strains show host-specific effects (beneficial or deleterious). Though the mechanisms remain unclear still, it is clear that there is enormous potential to use beneficial host-bacterial interactions for... Continue Reading →
We are very happy that former lab member Laasya has joined Ashoka University as an Assistant Professor and will be building her group there to continue exploring themes of mistranslation and antimicrobial resistance. If you are interested in these areas of research, do consider joining her lab.
Bacteria have remarkably diverse base composition in their genomes, with many well studied cases of rapid GC reduction associated with obligate symbiosis and genome streamlining in poor environments. But we don't really understand how GC content generally changes in evolutionary time. To find out, Saurabh tested different evolutionary models of change in GC content in... Continue Reading →
This month the lab completes a decade of existence. I am proud of all the fun science we have done as a group over the years, and the myriad ways in which all of us have grown. A lot of earlier themes are wrapping up and there are new exciting directions to pursue. Onward, to... Continue Reading →
In the second installment of our series of reviews on the lab's favourite papers, Shubha Govindarajan writes about a classic paper that gave a new perspective on individual variation and tradeoffs. Read on! Fig 1 from van Noordwijk & de Jong 1986, American Naturalist Acquisition and Allocation of Resources: Their Influence on Variation in Life... Continue Reading →
We are happy to finally announce the 1st meeting of our special topic network on synthesizing micro- and macro- evolutionary processes shaping prokaryotic genomes, supported by ESEB. The meeting will be hosted at the Milner Center for Evolution at the University of Bath, UK, from 30 May to 1 June 2022. We have a great... Continue Reading →
Our paper reporting the impact of selection bias in mutation accumulation (MA) experiments is now published! A few years ago, Mrudula had tested the effect of single mutations accumulated in MA experiments (see Sane et al 2018, Evolution), finding that a surprisingly large fraction were beneficial. In the new paper, mathematician Lindi Wahl uses simulations... Continue Reading →
The Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) conducted a survey of ~800 young scientists establishing an independent research career in India. The report and associated recommendations will hopefully guide positive change. Read the full report here.
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