Happy to share that the Antarctic fly, Belgica antarctica, genome has been published in Nature Communications! We sequenced and assembled the genome of the only insect endemic to Antarctica. The fly has the smallest insect genome surveyed or sequenced to date! While most of the genes in other Diptera are present in B. antarctica, it is notably lacking repetitive elements, including transposable elements. Thanks and congratulations to my co-authors, who all worked hard on assembling, annotating and making sense of this exciting genome!

Links to popular press about the article:

ScienceNews
BBC Nature News
WSU Press Release
Natureasia.com
Phys.org
Yahoo News and here too!
IFLS
Voice of America with a short interview clip
Le Parisien