Tree of Life
18 July 2025Filled with colour-coding chromosomes and genome re-arrangements, learn more about some of our resident moths and butterflies that have been genome sequenced at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. With a bit of luck, you could identify these colourful creatures yourself next time you are out and about.
3 July 202514.6 min readEnter the absorbing world of sponges, the intricate animals that have evolved to inhabit all corners of our Earth’s waterways and oceans. Thanks to a worldwide collaboration of sponge scientists through the Aquatic Symbiosis Genomics project, which is led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, more than 50 published high-quality sponge genomes and counting are now freely accessible to the research community.
13 September 20249.3 min readTapping out the DNA code of the Deathwatch Beetle gives hope to future conservation research into battling this wood-munching marauder.
5 May 20248.6 min readC. elegans, a workhorse of modern biology, was the first multicellular organism to have its DNA code sequenced in 1998. But it is just one of potentially millions of nematode species. We explore the latest work to sequence the genomes of hundreds of nematodes and put C. elegans in its evolutionary context.
21 September 20239.8 min readWith adult Pine Hoverflies seen in Scotland for the first time in many years, top-quality genome sequences are now helping make a permanent success of saving arguably Britain’s most endangered insect.
14 September 20238.5 min readA thousand reference genomes of the highest quality have now been produced for diverse eukaryotic species across the tree of life.
3 August 20236.9 min readFrom sex-changing fish to asexual lizards, these and many more species will be captured in a new sex database made possible by the Wellcome Sanger Institute’s powerful genomic resources.
21 June 20235.3 min readSanger researchers are involved in large-scale projects that aim to revolutionise how we monitor and understand global biodiversity – starting with insects. But some of their work is starting closer to home, working with schools and local communities to monitor insect biodiversity across Cambridgeshire and Essex.
