Firefly genome(s) now available!

Dear Firefly Genome Fans,

Season's greetings! Team Firefly is happy to announce the release of the data and analyses for your genome project to sequence the Big Dipper Firefly, Photinus pyralis.  And we have another holiday surprise for you! Through an international collaborative effort, Team Firefly has now become Team Bioluminescent Beetles. Which means, in addition to the Photinus pyralis genome, we are also presenting the genome of the Japanese "Heike" firefly, Aquatica lateralis, as well as the genome of an intruiging non-firefly bioluminescent click-beetle, or "cucubano", Ignelater luminosus. Surprise!

 

One of most intriguing findings of our results so far is that we think that fireflies and click-beetles actually evolved their very similar bioluminescent systems independently, making beetle bioluminescence a possible new example of parallel evolution. But don't take my word for it: you can find these results and many others in our "preprint" on the BioArxiv service. Check it out here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/21/237586 

Be sure to get some hot cocoa before you sit down to read it in full though, right now it is 155 pages! This preprint represents the unreviewed "first look" at our full results, and our first sharing of said results with the scientific community. This kicks off the scientific review process, where our colleagues will read, ponder, comment on, and help improve our work. So, take our findings with a grain of salt - they still need to pass through the scientific review process, and there will likely be some key changes that happen to the manuscript before it becomes an official part of the scientific record. If you have any comments on our results or interpretation, please let us know, your comments could help us avoid any mistakes (or typos) that might have snuck in, and help our manuscript get closer to the truth.

Beyond the preprint, we've also made the genome data downloadable and explorable on an independent website. We hope this makes it easier for you to access the data: www.fireflybase.org 

 

Please dig in, let us know if you have any questions, and stay tuned for another lab note with a walkthrough on exploring the firefly genome data.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday,

-Team Firefly and/or Bioluminescent Beetles

Dec 23rd, 2017