TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Cong A1 - Hellemans, Simon A1 - Weng, Yi-Ming A1 - Mikhailova, Alina A. A1 - Aumont, Cédric A1 - Buček, Aleš A1 - Šobotník, Jan A1 - Harrison, Mark C. A1 - McMahon, Dino P. A1 - Bourguignon, Thomas T1 - Robust termite phylogenies built using transposable element composition and insertion events N2 - Phylogenetic trees are typically reconstructed using conserved sequence alignments. Other genomic elements, such as transposable elements (TEs), make up a large fraction of eukaryotic genomes but are ignored for phylogenetic reconstruction, despite potentially containing phylogenetic information, which could be used to resolve nodes that remain contentious. Here, we reconstructed accurate phylogenetic trees of 45 termites and two cockroaches using two types of characters derived from the TE landscape: (1) genome-wide presence and absence of 37,966 TE families and (2) presence/absence data of 37,966 TE families in the flanking regions of orthologous ultraconserved elements (UCEs), which was a proxy for TE insertions. The topologies of our TE-based phylogenetic trees were largely congruent with phylogenetic trees inferred from alignments of UCEs and single-copy orthologous genes, only differing for a few nodes variably reconstructed in other phylogenetic analyses. Notably, trees based on genome-wide TE family composition were more accurate than trees inferred from mitochondrial genome alignments, and trees based on TE family composition in regions flanking UCEs achieved comparable accuracy with trees inferred from single-copy orthologous gene alignments. Our results demonstrate that the TE landscape is phylogenetically informative, representing an additional set of markers for robust phylogenetic reconstructions, with potential use to resolve ambiguous nodes in the tree of life. KW - Comparative genomics KW - Genome evolution KW - Insects KW - Isoptera KW - Mitogenomes KW - Molecular markers KW - Phylogenomics KW - Transposons PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.019 SN - 0960-9822 VL - 35 IS - 22 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-64737 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Senges, Gene A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Lindič, Tilen A1 - Gully, Tyler A. A1 - Winter, Marlon A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Röder, Bettina A1 - Steinhauer, Simon A1 - Paulus, Beate A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Riedel, Sebastian T1 - Unravelling highly oxidized nickel centers in the anodic black film formed during the Simons process by in situ X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy N2 - The electrofluorination after Simons has been used for the last century to produce everyday life materials. An in situ XANES investigation of the controversially debated black film apparent in the Simons process revealed high-valent nickel centers. KW - Synchrotron KW - BAMline KW - XANES PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-608366 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sc06081k SN - 2041-6520 VL - 15 IS - 12 SP - 4504 EP - 4509 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-60836 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Dietzmann, Simon A1 - Mehmood, Asad A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Thomas, A. T1 - Characterization of Solid-State Complexes by XAS N2 - Atomically dispersed metal-nitrogen doped carbons (M-N-C) are promising catalysts for the activation of small molecules such as O2 and CO2. These single atom catalysts (SAC) operate at the interface between homogenous and heterogenous catalysts. Currently, many examples of M-N-C are known with good oxygen reduction reaction activity but lacking a controlled synthesis of the specific active sites of the precatalyst. Recently, our group facilitated the synthesis of pure pyrrolic M-N4 sites using Zn ions as imprinters.[1] These amorphous materials obtained by active site imprinting method are characterized at the BAMline (Bessy II) by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). In-situ/operando measurements will be crucial in future work for a better understanding of the dynamic changes of the active site. T2 - InSynX Workshop 2023 CY - Sao Paulo, Brazil DA - 06.03.2023 KW - Solid-State Complexes PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58933 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Cong A1 - Hellemans, Simon A1 - Kinjo, Yukihiro A1 - Mikhailova, Alina A A1 - Aumont, Cédric A1 - Weng, Yi-Ming A1 - Buček, Aleš A1 - Husnik, Filip A1 - Šobotník, Jan A1 - Harrison, Mark C A1 - McMahon, Dino P A1 - Bourguignon, Thomas T1 - Recurrent horizontal gene transfers across diverse termite genomes N2 - Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the transmission of genetic material across species, is an important innovation source in prokaryotes. In contrast, its significance is unclear in many eukaryotes, including insects. Here, we used high-quality genomes of 45 termites and two cockroaches to investigate HGTs from non-metazoan organisms across blattodean genomes. We identified 289 genes and 2,494 pseudogenes classified into 168 orthologous groups originating from an estimated 281 HGT events. Wolbachia represented the primary HGT source, while termite gut bacteria and the cockroach endosymbiont Blattabacterium did not contribute meaningfully to HGTs. Most horizontally acquired genes descended from recent and species-specific HGTs, experienced frequent duplications and pseudogenizations, and accumulated substitutions faster than synonymous sites of native protein-coding genes. Genes frequently transferred horizontally to termite genomes included mobile genetic elements and genetic information processing genes. Our results indicate that termites continuously acquired genes through HGT, and that most horizontally acquired genes are specific to restricted lineages. Overall, genes acquired by HGT by termites and cockroaches seemed generally non-functional and bound to be lost. KW - Phylogenomics KW - Isoptera KW - Comparative genomics PY - 2026 DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag003 SN - 0014-3820 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Oxford University Press (OUP) AN - OPUS4-65418 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -