Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾
Evolutionary biologist. Postdoctoral Fellow & LCF Junior Leader at CRG (Barcelona).
«Ara mateix / enfilo aquesta agulla amb el fil d'un propòsit que no dic / i em poso a apedaçar.»
xgrau.github.io & ecoevo.social/@xgrau
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Exciting news! Our invited perspectives in npj Biodiversity looks at how marine life bounced back after the worst mass extinction ever, the Permian‑Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) ~252M years ago. Big questions: fast or slow? recovery or restructure? www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾A new Cambrian soft-bodied biota after the first Phanerozoic mass extinction: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Many non-bilaterian animals including beautiful sponge (panel b, c) and ctenophore (panel d) fossils🤩 🧽🪼. #sponges #ctenophores #Cambrian
- A new-found Cambrian soft-bodied biota immediately after the Sinsk Event, the first mass-extinction crisis of the Phanerozoic - paper in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Our project on molecular convergence in teleosts is published in MBE. This study involved analysing over 2 million genes, and combining multiple data modalities to uncover some surprising insights behind the evolution of adaptations in teleosts. Thank you @hfspo.bsky.social for the funding!
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾New review! Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬 Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social @annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Nice feature summarising the decades-long debate about the first-branching animal lineages — sponges or ctenophores? Key quote: “I’m not going to say this is the answer because I’ve been around long enough” www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- PS: I'd never noticed this apparent “divide” between zoologists/genomicists in this regard.
- The article also acknowledges all the progress that’s been made thanks to everyone striving to crack this question: new cool comparative genomics methods (cue chrom tectonics), new theory, phylogenetic models & tests… and great work on the organismal biology of these seriously understudied animals!
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View full thread“We’re learning so much about these animals,” [Dunn] says. “People present this as a ping-pong match that’s standing still, but that couldn’t be further from the case.”
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Yet we were rescued by that fancy, and saved by a myth.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾If you’re interested in extinction risk, please check out our new paper in @science.org led by my former PhD student Cooper: www.science.org/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Love this from @stephenbheard.bsky.social on how to prioritize learning and useful discussion over tearing apart papers, and look forward to using some of these question prompts in future lab meetings: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2026/01/13/h...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾One of my concerns with AI-assisted research in biology is that we're already looking only in the lamplight and AI incentivizes us to narrow the beam. Seems like it's happening... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Thank you @ebpgenome.bsky.social for highlighting @projectpsyche.bsky.social If you want to learn more about the large-scale genomics project on Lepidoptera in Europe, we introduce the project in our paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- 🦋🧬 A milestone for biodiversity genomics. Project Psyche is building chromosome-level genomes for ~11,000 European butterflies & moths — 1,000 sequenced, 3,000+ collected, across 34 countries. 🔗 Read the publication: bit.ly/ProjectPsyche @projectpsyche.bsky.social #BiodiversityGenomics 🧬🌍
- Honestly, how is this a paradox?
- Analyses of hundreds of thousands of papers in the natural sciences reveal a paradox: scientists who use AI tools produce more research but on a more confined set of topics go.nature.com/458k7Ub
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Globally, no single day in 2025 was cooler than its 1991-2020 average. climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version? I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/ It all started a few years ago... 🧵
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Have you ever heard that women have more chances than men of getting grants or positions in academia? Of course you have, and here are my personal views on this. With the shocking revelation that no, it is NOT TRUE ! (1/n)
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾How did @Nature become "prestigious" to scientists? In our opening article of Issue 09, writer Robert Reason traces the journal's history. By understanding how Nature’s prestige was constructed, we can also clarify which elements are deserved and which are entrenched.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Our eLetter github.com/caseywdunn/s... responding to a recent Science paper was just posted. The paper found more genes with consistent support for sponge-sister than ctenophore-sister. We found several technical issues that, when corrected, reverse the conclusions and recover ctenophore-sister.
- Molt lentament giravolta la sínia i passen anys, o segles, fins que l'aigua s'enfila al cim més alt i, gloriosa, proclama la claror per tots els àmbits. Molt lentament davallen aleshores els catúfols per recollir més aigua. Així s'escriu la història. Saber-ho no pot sobtar ni decebre ningú.
- The Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative keeps growing! We're looking for a Bioinformatician to join the BCA team in Hinxton (UK). www.linkedin.com/posts/wellco...
- Open Senior Bioinformatician position at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social Tree of Life, to work on the Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative with @marakat.bsky.social and me. 📅 Apply by January 18 🔗 sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco... Please share with anyone who might be interested!
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Great work showing the power of scATAC-seq to decode ontogenetic relationships! Maybe I will check chromatin after all...
- Lovely Xmas gift 🎄—our paper is out today in @natecoevo.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...! Huge thanks to everyone who made it possible, especially @aelek.bsky.social and @arnausebe.bsky.social
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Alpenglow Morning
- www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/una... “Perquè la bondat no és cap feblesa, sinó l’única forma de fortalesa capaç de perdurar i mantenir estable una societat. […] Les societats que renuncien a entendre-la com a valor polític acaben devorant-se a si mateixes.» Estable, pròspera, oberta i lliure.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾A scepter snatch’d with an unruly hand Must be as boisterously maintain’d as gain’d; And he that stands upon a slipp’ry place Makes nice of no vild hold to stay him up
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Absolutely thrilled to share the latest work from my lab focused on the variation and evolution of human centromeres among global populations! We assembled 2,110 human centromeres, identifying 226 new major haplotypes and 1,870 α-satellite HOR variants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Lovely Xmas gift 🎄—our paper is out today in @natecoevo.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...! Huge thanks to everyone who made it possible, especially @aelek.bsky.social and @arnausebe.bsky.social
- From a personal POV, tagging along with @martaig.bsky.social and @aelek.bsky.social while they developed this project has been one big learning opportunity. In Nematostella biology, clever omics, evo-devo, and more. And the paper certainly reflects all of that. Go check it out!
- Excited to share the final version of our study on Nematostella cell type regulatory programs. Part of our @erc.europa.eu StG project, this was a challenging 5-year effort extraodinarily led by @aelek.bsky.social and @martaig.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Dimecres @mossosdesquadra.bsky.social van desallotjar 400 persones del B9 de Badalona, sense alternativa d’allotjament i amb un dispositiu policial desproporcionat entre ARRO i @policia.es 🚨 Una acció degradant i inhumana, racista i violenta, que vulnera els DDHH. 🔗 www.3cat.cat/3catinfo/man...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Thanks @jcellsci.bsky.social for this opportunity to contribute to your centenary collection with our take on the state of the field - 10 years after its modern reincarnation 🧪🌍 W/ @alebenoit.bsky.social @eelcotromer.bsky.social @fritzlaylin.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾DNA is the best kind of time machine - really feels like we’re in a golden age of big data studies like this. Can’t wait to read!
- New preprint out! Using ~75k environmental OTUs + 77 fossil calibrations, we reconstructed a Proterozoic timeline of eukaryote evolution. Our results show crown eukaryotes were already diversifying >1.6 Ga, long before the first undisputed fossils (~1.05 Ga). 🔗 DOI: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Permanent Research Group Leader Position, Crete, Greece: Interested to assume long-term responsibilities for the Biodiversity Computing Group www.biocomp.gr I have set up in Crete? Apply now via apella.minedu.gov.gr/en/node/5998 (PDF also in English) - for questions email to stamatak@ics.forth.gr
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Save the date! The next instalment of Comparative Genomics of Unicellular Eukaryotes is a GO! Join us next year for a programme of talks, posters, ECR/networking activities. Website and registration details to follow in the coming weeks. See you October 5-10 2026 in beautiful San Feliu!!
- The next SMBE conference is shaping up to be a great one…
- @debbiemleigh.bsky.social and I are inviting abstracts for our symposium S05 showcasing research at the interface of molecular evolution, population genomics, and biodiversity monitoring.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Our latest, led by the inimitable Chris Kay "Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes" in which we used gene duplications to test hypotheses of eukaryogenesis. TLDR? They're all wrong. With @tweethinking.bsky.social @anya1.bsky.social @ssolo.bsky.social Davide Pisani
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾I'm excited to present this new model to detect positive selection on regulatory sequences, which has been 3 years in the making! Thanks to Alexandre Laverré and @phylogenetrips.bsky.social for their amazing work on this project. 😃 doi.org/10.1101/2025... Thread!
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾We are thrilled to announce the first official release (v0.1.8) of #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗿, the successor to one of our flagship tool, #𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀! Based on ideas we conceived of long ago (!), this was achieved thanks to the dedication of Brent Pedersen. 1/n
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... ), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾This is an extremely interesting article about the collapse of early farming societies across Europe around ~5000 BC. We like to think of prehistoric times as being largely peaceful, but it seems early civilisations weren't immune to ritualistic violence & cultural collapse.
- Looking for PhD opportunities?👇🏻
- Our annual PhD call is closing at the end of this week on 30 November. If you're interested in carrying out world-class scientific research in Barcelona, you still have a few days left to submit your application! www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Introducing popEVE, an AI model which can support diagnosing diseases "as rare as one". It was created by a team from the CRG and @harvardmed.bsky.social using data from hundreds of thousands of different species and of genetic variation across the human population. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Most interesting! The abstract says it all: «The neutral theory of molecular evolution, positing that most amino acid substitutions are neutral, [is well supported]. However, here we report that the key premise of the theory—beneficial mutations are extremely scarce—is violated.»
- Population genetics simulations and analysis of experimental datasets in yeast, Drosophila and E. coli show that beneficial mutations are abundant but transient, as they become deleterious after environmental turnover (antagonistic pleiotropy)🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- It's a well-conducted study with an intellectually ambitious goal — to provide an alternative theoretical framework to a key tenet of the neutral theory. I seldom read reviewer reports, but in this case I'm grateful they're there. They make great counterpoints & put these efforts into perspective.
- «Puta paparra, carronya on fermenta la claveguera de la llum del dia, apunta el seu coet lluna opulenta i implora no fallar la punteria. Teixeix sotanes una aranya lenta. Com ballen amb les vides per la via que va del militar a la serventa! Despullen amb les ungles pedreria. …
- Ens fa de mare i de pare, i s'engreixa de tèrbola tenebra, i no desdenya de beneir la reixa de la queixa. Be mossegaire, mal de tots nosaltres, aquesta activitat d'ensenyar els altres, aplica-te-la, porca, a tu mateixa.» (L'església catòlica espanyola, Joan Brossa, 1954)
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾This writing doesn't affect reality any more than any writing does; that is to say, indirectly, but considerably.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾You were moved to do this by pride and by hate. Is it any wonder the result was ruin?
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Happy to share Jialin's first publication. She did a great job exploring the transition to land in animals. Co-supervised by the great Jordi Paps and me and in collaboration with Davide Pisani and @phil-donoghue.bsky.social
- Nature research paper: Convergent genome evolution shaped the emergence of terrestrial animals go.nature.com/4i0i61w
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾A truly refreshing perspective on an age old debate. Big implications for animal evolution but also useful techniques to address many other remaining phylogenetic questions. Congrats to you both on a wonderful piece of work!
- NEW pub in @science.org 🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Most interesting. Increasing air travel connectivity in Europe has diminishing or negative economic returns in many regions, and may even be a regressive subsidy to the already rich.
- And do we know whether the putative benefits are equitably redistributed in the local economies? «[Recent studies in Barcelona] fail to mention the possibility that some sub-groups of the local population could experience negative economic outcomes from the airport and its proposed expansion…»
- «… Given that at least some segments of the local community have taken to the streets of Barcelona to protest the socioeconomic and cultural costs of mass tourism, there clearly are costs to these types of schemes».
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Today at the @iec.cat , @matteoagazzi.bsky.social gave an update on our coral reference genomes project🪸, part or the @catbiogenoma.bsky.social. It was great to see what everyone is working on within the @catbiogenoma.bsky.social effort! #corals #genomes
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾If you're interested in understanding discordance in phylogenomic analyses, the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social's special issue 'Phylogenomic Discordance: Patterns, Processes, and Solutions' is for you! tinyurl.com/v2eces3s I'll be sharing a few articles a week until we're through the issue! (1/n)🧪
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Come and Join Us. Not only will it be fun, but you will be learning a lot of methods & travel some more ;)!
- It is a collaboration between my lab (Uppsala U) and the labs of @dudinlab.bsky.social (Geneva U) and @filiphusnik.bsky.social (OIST). More info and how to apply here: uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/.... (The use of AI for writing the motivation letter is discouraged and will be regarded unfavourably) 2/2
- There must be someone out there who finds R's tryCatch function intuitive. I'd like to take a look into their unique brain.
- That title feels like a little rollercoaster.
- If someone told you: "I'm doing a study featuring lichen, drones and #dinosaur bones" What would you say? www.cell.com/current-biol...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾🚨 We're hiring! 🚨 Our lab at the University of Málaga, Spain🇪🇸 is looking for a bioinformatician researcher for a postdoc position (1+1 years). Check the ad, and if you're interested, get in touch! 📅 Starting date early 2026, with some flexibility. 🙏Please, RT!
- Imma repost this again because I've been reading it more closely and, frankly, it's a great review.
- Our review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2 We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets. These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit. @lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️ Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾🪸 🪸 🪸 Postdoc position in my group at Bristol to study the role of venom in surviving environmental stress in corals! 🪸 Interested in venom biochemistry and coral ecology?Please apply by November 24! @bristolbiosci.bsky.social www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Avui que naixia Dylan Thomas, "Fern Hill" en traducció de María Manent. Un dels poemes més bonics del món.
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Weekend reading: our latest research about a dual feeding strategy in a Mediterranean coral is covered in French magazine @sciencesetavenir.bsky.social @arnausebe.bsky.social @xgrau.bsky.social
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities? Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation. 🧵(1/n) @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
- «A global coral phylogeny reveals resilience and vulnerability through deep time» This looks great. Figure 2 is textbook material! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- «Symbiosis with photosynthetic dinoflagellates was established around 300 million years ago and spurred coral diversification. However, only a few photosymbiotic lineages survived major environmental disruptions in the Mesozoic era… 1/2
- … By contrast, solitary, heterotrophic corals with flexible depth and substrate preferences appear to have thrived in the deep sea despite these environmental disturbance events.» 2/2
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Are you looking for a PhD? Join us in Barcelona! You'll dive into a community of >100 PhD students from 30 countries exploring the frontiers of biology. You can also join an online workshop on 6 November (15:00 CET) to learn how to find the right lab for you. More info: www.crg.eu/en/content/t...
- Reposted by Xavier Grau-Bové 🌾Nature research paper: The evolution of facultative symbiosis in stony corals go.nature.com/43bS70Q
