Offer
We offer a full-time contract for two years. The contract starts between October 2021
and December 2021. The position involves no or extremely light teaching load, if the
candidate is interested. Salaries are competitive at the European level. The recruited
person will benefit from the Belgian social insurance scheme (health care, etc.) without
additional expenses.

Profile
Applicants are expected to show outstanding commitment to research and must have
obtained a PhD by the start of the position. A strong expertise in genomics is required.
More specifically, solid competences in bioinformatics (e.g. scripting pipelines) and in
genome evolution are needed. Knowledge or interest regarding recombination,
metazoan evolution, phylogenomics and population genomics is an added-value.

Application
Applications should be submitted via email to karine.van.doninck@ulb.be. The
application package should contain the following documents:
- A curriculum vitae with the complete list of publications
- A cover letter mentioning why the candidate is interested in the position
- Minimum 2 recommendation letters
Interviews: Interviews will be conducted with the selected candidates. Selected
candidates could also be invited to give a seminar to MBE ULB.
For any additional information, please contact karine.van.doninck@ulb.be

Daniel A Dalquen, Maria Anisimova, Gaston H Gonnet, Christophe Dessimoz: ALF - A Simulation Framework for Genome Evolution. Mol Biol Evol, 29(4):1115-1123, April 2012.
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/4/1115

Address of the bookmark: http://alfsim.org/#index

Key Findings of the Study:

1. Alu Insertion and Tail Loss:
   The researchers discovered an Alu-mediated genetic change in a common ancestor of modern apes and humans. This change disrupted the normal function of a gene involved in tail development, leading to the suppression of tail formation.

2. Gene Disruption Mechanism:
   The Alu insertion was found within a regulatory region of the TBXT gene (also known as T or Brachyury), which is crucial for tail development in vertebrates. This insertion likely altered the gene's expression patterns, leading to tail reduction over evolutionary time.

3. Functional Evidence from Model Organisms:
   To test their hypothesis, the researchers introduced similar genetic modifications in mice. The modified mice exhibited shortened or absent tails, supporting the idea that the identified mutation played a role in tail loss in hominoids.

4. Evolutionary Implications:
   The findings suggest that small, random genomic changes—such as transposable element insertions—can have profound effects on body morphology. This study provides evidence that mobile DNA elements (like Alu) can drive major evolutionary transitions.

5. Relevance to Human Evolution:
   Understanding the genetic basis of tail loss helps in reconstructing the evolutionary history of hominins (the lineage that includes humans and our extinct relatives). It also sheds light on how genetic variations contribute to anatomical diversity among primates.

Significance of the Study:

This research highlights the role of transposable elements in shaping evolutionary traits and provides a concrete genetic explanation for a defining characteristic of humans and great apes. It also demonstrates how mutations in regulatory regions of developmental genes can lead to significant anatomical changes.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/AppliedBioinformatics/RefKA

USAGE:

• -query: sequence A in fasta format
• -db: sequence B in fasta format
• -out: output matrix
• -kmer Integer: k>1 (default 32) Use 32 for chromosomes and genomes and 16 for small bacteria
• -diffuse Integer: z>0 (default 4) Use 4 for everything - if using large plant genomes you can try using 1
• -dimension Size of the output matrix and plot. Integer: d>0 (default 1000) Use 1000 for everything that is not full genome size, where 2000 is recommended

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/estebanpw/chromeister

Address of the bookmark: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj6987

1. SPAdes: An assembler specifically designed for single-cell and multi-cell bacterial genomes, as well as small eukaryotic genomes.

2. ABySS: A parallelized assembler for large genomes that uses de Bruijn graphs.

3. Velvet: Another de Bruijn graph-based assembler optimized for short-read sequencing data.

4. SOAPdenovo: A de Bruijn graph-based assembler designed for short reads, widely used for assembling large and complex genomes.

5. MaSuRCA: A hybrid assembler that combines data from multiple sequencing technologies, such as Illumina and PacBio.

6. Canu: A long-read assembler optimized for PacBio and Oxford Nanopore sequencing data.

7. Flye: A long-read assembler suitable for bacterial and small eukaryotic genomes.

8. SMARTdenovo: An assembler designed for long reads, particularly suited for PacBio data.

9. SPAdes Long Read (SPAdesLR): An extension of SPAdes for long-read data, such as those from PacBio or Nanopore.

10. Minia: An assembler optimized for low memory consumption, suitable for small and medium-sized genomes.

11. Unicycler: A hybrid assembler that combines short and long reads for circular bacterial genome assembly.

12. wtdbg2: A de Bruijn graph assembler for long reads, efficient for very large genomes.

13. Shasta: A long-read assembler that uses the Overlap-Layout-Consensus approach, suitable for PacBio and Nanopore data.

14. Sparc: An assembler designed to handle noisy long reads from Nanopore sequencing.

15. CANA: An assembler for metagenomic data, particularly for complex and diverse microbial communities.

16. Ra Assembler: A metagenome assembler for long reads, designed for highly complex metagenomic samples.

Please note that the field of bioinformatics is constantly evolving, and new assembly tools may have emerged since my last update. Additionally, the performance of these tools can vary depending on the characteristics of the sequencing data and the genome being assembled. When selecting an assembly tool, consider the specific requirements of your project, the available data types, and the computational resources at your disposal. Always refer to the respective tool's documentation and publications for the most up-to-date information and recommendations.

• Clustering module Predicts, clusters and annotates the genes of every input genome
• Lifestyle prediction Employs a machine learning model to forecast bacterial lifestyle or other specified metadata
• Analitical module (Shiny app) Results from the previous modules are embedded in a user-friendly interface for comprehensive and interactive comparative genomics.

You can find the complete wiki here [https://github.com/Carrion-lab/bacLIFE/wiki/bacLIFE-wiki]

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/Carrion-lab/bacLIFE

Kindly log on to conference website http://rgcb.res.in/IACR2014 for further details and timely updates and registration. We shall truly appreciate if the same be circulated among your friends, scholars and students encouraging them to participate in the meet.

http://210.212.237.38/iacrconference/

In addition to providing a broad sample of the diversity in S. bicolor, the genotypes included in this study are known to display agronomically important traits including stay-green drought resistance, insect resistance, grain size and grain quality.

Find more at http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/130827/ncomms3320/full/ncomms3320.html