A new paper from the group proposes an ecosystem model for the origin and evolution of prokaryotic pangenomes.
Read MoreA new paper from the group proposes an ecosystem model for the origin and evolution of prokaryotic pangenomes.
Read MoreThis is the webpage of the Manchester Evolution Symposium, funded by the Templeton Foundation and the research Domain of Evolution, Systems and Genomics. Organiser: Professor James O. McInerney Key Administrator: Marian Halfpenny Strategic Funding Team Support: Dr. Daniel Jameson Thursday 14th December, Kanaris Theatre 10:30 Arrival, Registration & Coffee 11:00-11:30 Mark Wilkinson ‘Post Phylogenetic Systematics’ […]
Read MoreThis is a short video to accompany our recent paper, published here: http://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol201740 The citation is: McInerney, J.O., McNally, A and O’Connell, M.J. (2017) Why Prokaryotes Have Pangenomes. Nature Microbiology 2, 17040 (doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.40). Please use the social media buttons to share.
Read MoreOn October 28th, 2016, Prof. McInerney gave a talk at The Natural History Museum, London on the subject of “Network Thinking”. The specific title for the talk was “The dominant role of mergers in evolutionary history” and the talk took place in the Neil Chalmers seminar room.
Read MoreOur latest paper has just been published. It is on the evolution of Escherichia coli, which is a pathogenic bacterium. The work was led by Dr. Alan McNally, who has just moved from Nottingham Trent University to Birmingham University. The work centres on the analysis of what we call the pangenome of this bacterium. There is a lot […]
Read MoreThe Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have confirmed the award of £326,000 to the McInerney lab to investigate how recombination structures life on the planet. The title of the research proposal is “Investigating how non-homologous recombination structures genes, proteins, operons, clusters, genomes and ecosystems”. Over a period of three years, this programme will […]
Read MoreDr. Davide Pisani from the University of Bristol spoke today about his work using molecular phylogenetics in order to resolve the earliest branches on the Animal tree of life. His talk was based on a recent paper in PNAS from his research group in Bristol and collaborators. http://www.pnas.org/content/112/50/15402.abstract The main thrust of this argument is […]
Read MoreShort interview with Bill Martin about the manuscript in Nature that deals with the different kinds of gene transfer that we typically see in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Read MoreA workshop on the subject of phylogenetic networks was held at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Prof. McInerney spoke at the meeting on the subject of N-rooted fusion graphs, Epaktologs and generally the subject of introgression. The timetable for the meeting was as follows: The Phylogenetic Network Workshop (27 – 31 […]
Read MoreAt a luncheon at the New Orleans Mariott Hotel, Prof McInerney was inducted into the American Academy of Microbiology as a Fellow. In total, 79 fellows were elected this year. According to the academy: The American Academy of Microbiology (Academy) is the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the world’s […]
Read MoreIn late 2014, Prof. McInerney was interviewed for the RTE radio series “Bright Sparks” which sought to highlight the work of a wide variety of Irish scientists. This particular excerpt is from a program that was broadcast on Sunday May 24th, 2015.
Read MoreThere is a post-doc position available in my research group in Ireland. The position is to continue our work on the origins and early evolution of eukaryotes. In this case, we are going to dig into the metabolism of early eukaryotes. We will spend time trying to reconstruct ancestral metabolisms, analysing the origins of eukaryote-specific […]
Read MoreThis scheme is for outstanding scientists in the UK who are in the early stages of their research career and have the potential to become leaders in their field. The scheme provides the opportunity to build an independent research career. Those appointed are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the […]
Read MoreCurrent State of Registrations: [wppb progress=100 option=”red candystripe” location=inside] We’re full. What?: Week-long, intensive phylogenetics course covering all aspects of bioinformatics and phylogenetics/phylogenomics. Where?: Department of Biology, National University of Ireland Maynooth. This is approximately 40 minutes from Dublin Airport (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Ryanair, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, etc.) , 25km from the centre […]
Read MoreA recent comment from the lab was published in Nature in the News and Views Section on the evolution of developmental genes in animals. With the sequencing of sponge genomes, if is becoming obvious that the standard view of the evolutionary history of developmental genes is somewhat over-simplified. Sponges have ParaHox, NK and possibly HOX genes, […]
Read MoreProfessor McInerney is to give the plenary lecture at the Sociedad Española de Biología Evolutiva meeting in Barcelona on July 1st. This meeting is the premier evolution meeting in Spain and this year it is being organised by the Societat Catalana de Biologia. You can see more information about this meeting here: http://blogs.iec.cat/scb/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2014/05/XIV-JORNADA-DE-BIOLOGIA-EVOLUTIVA2014.pdf […]
Read MoreSome years ago, it occurred to me and indeed to others that the monophyly of the three groups that constitute the three domains of life might not be as robust as people had said. My PhD thesis was on ribosomal RNA phylogeny of environmental sequences and depending on the dataset I was using, I was […]
Read MoreIn 2009 I got an email from the Beijing Genomic Institute asking me if I would like to become involved in a project they are beginning, where they were going to sequence the genome of a polar bear. They asked me if I was interested in the project and if so, what I might contribute […]
Read MoreI spoke at a meeting organised by Nick Lane at Chichley Hall, home of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre, Buckinghamshire. This was a wonderful meeting, full of diverse talks and with a lot of people interested in major evolutionary transitions on the planet. The programme for the meeting can be picked up here. I gave […]
Read MoreThe genome era has really taught us something impressive about the plasticity of bacterial genomes. Gene exchange between strains of the same species and gene exchange between different species is not limited to special categories of genes and is not limited to ‘oddball’ species. It is pervasive, frequent and it is also a public health […]
Read MoreA few years back, Mark Wilkinson at The Natural History Museum, London came up with the idea that we should really have a more precise language for groups that we can see on unrooted trees. The problem stemmed from the fact that on an unrooted tree a clade is not defined. A clade is a […]
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