Ben Wielstra

Target capture sequencing provides insights into hybridogenetic water frogs

This study uses target capture sequencing to analyze hybridogenetic water frogs, revealing mtDNA introgression and polyploidy in P. esculentus.

Identification of Y-chromosome turnover in newts fails to support a sex chromosome origin for the Triturus balanced lethal system

The paper identifies the Y-chromosome in newts and finds it not homologous to the balanced lethal system, refuting a proposed sex chromosome origin for the system.

NewtCap: an efficient target capture approach to boost genomic studies in Salamandridae (True Salamanders and Newts)

NewtCap is a target capture method for Salamandridae genomes, effective across multiple lineages but not other salamander families, enabling phylogenomics and conservation studies.

Safeguarding Iguana diversity: Enabling rapid and low-effort tracking of non-native iguanas through terrestrial eDNA innovations

This paper develops an eDNA toolkit using KASP technology to detect native and invasive iguanas and their hybrids, enabling rapid and low-effort tracking for conservation.

The balanced lethal system in Triturus newts originated in an instantaneous speciation event.

The paper identifies a balanced lethal system in Triturus newts as arising from a single macromutation causing instantaneous speciation.

PAV-spotter: using signal cross-correlations to identify Presence/Absence Variation in target capture data

PAV-spotter identifies presence/absence variation in target capture data by comparing read count distributions between sample classes, revealing structural variants in Triturus newts with low coverage and noise.

Conserved gene content and unique phylogenetic history characterize the 'bloopergene' underlying Triturus' balanced lethal system

The paper investigates the evolutionary history of Triturus chromosome 1, revealing conserved gene content and unique phylogenetic patterns in its balanced lethal system.

Determining zygosity with multiplex Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (mxKASP) genotyping

The paper introduces mxKASP, a modified KASP method for determining zygosity in diploid organisms, validated using a balanced lethal system in Triturus newts.