Dr. Karen Meusemann

Scientific Research Assistant

Directorate Staff

Tel: +49 228 9122-307

Fax: +49 228 9122-212

Mail: k.meusemann [at] leibniz-lib.de

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Profile

Field of work

Since April 2021 I am working as a Scientific Research Assistant at the LIB (Bonn, ZFMK). My areas of responsibility include the internal exchange within the LIB between the scientists between the different sites in Bonn and between Bonn and Hamburg, organization, support of projects, assistance of the directorate and the directorate staff, committee work & reporting, support of the graduate school, establishment and support of our mentoring program, etc. Furthermore, I am involved in various projects at the LIB (1KITE, Evolution of Ricefish, Molecular Methods, Evolution of Dexiarchia, etc.).

My scientific focus is on molecular biodiversity research, especially on phylogenomics and transcriptomics of diverse insect groups ( Basal Hexapods, Neuropterida, Mecoptera, Antliophora, Diptera). I am in particular interested in the establishment of new methods and critical evaluation of data sets.

After my Diploma (karyology in Agrodiaetus, Lycenidaeblue butterflies) I did my PhD within the SPP "Deep Metazoan Phylogeny" at the zmb (Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research, ZFMK Supervision: Prof. Dr. B. Misof) from 2005 - 2012 in the field of molecular phylogenomics of "basal" hexapods and myriapods. Furthermore, I am co-founder and co-coordinator in international 1KITE (www.kite.org(link is external)) and with focus on phylogenomics in insects and method development (transcriptomics). After working on phylogenomics of Diptera & Antliophora from 2013 - 2016 at the Australian National Insect Collection (CSIRO, Canberra), I was Scientific Coordinator of the Research Group (Sociality and the reversal of the fecundity-longevity trade-off: www.so-long.org(link is external)) in the AG Prof. Dr. J. Korb at the University of Freiburg from 2016 - 2020.

Research interests

Project and science management, project coordination and organization in the area biodiversity research, science-policy interactions, molecular evolution, phylogenomics, hexapods, speciation, hybridization, systematics & taxonomy

Memberships

Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik (GfBS), Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft (DZG)

External websites and profiles

http://www.meusemann.de/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uK45QqgAAAAJ&hl=de

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen-Meusemann

https://twitter.com/karenmeusemann

https://linkedin.com/in/karen-meusemann

Projects

2022

SIGI

We initiated SIGI to leverage emerging genomic tools to understand the ecology and evolution of soil invertebrates, their role in ecosystems and soil functions, to develop sustainable management procedures, and to provide resources for bioeconomy.This is a collaboration with the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (lead: M. Balint, Senckenberg). Photo: Andy Murray (German pauropod). Photo: German Pauropod, Andy Murray.

Unit:

Directorate Staff

Project lead:

Dr. Karen Meusemann

2017

AG RICEFISH

The focus of the proposed research group is to study the link between genotype and phenotype of evolutionary adaptive traits, a vital question of evolutionary biology in the postgenomic era. The group will study the morphological and genomic basis of a unique reproduction strategy in Sulawesi ricefishes (Actinopterygii: Adrianichthyidae) called “pelvic brooding”. In pelvic brooding species, females carry the eggs in an abdominal concavity until they hatch, which is assumed to be an adaptation to a predominantly pelagic lifestyle.

Unit:

Evolutionary Genomics, Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology (ztm), Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb), Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Ichthyology, Directorate Staff

Project lead:

Dr. Julia Schwarzer

Funding:

Leibniz Association

Evolution of Dexiarchia

The sea slugs of the subgroup Dexiarchia comprise at least 2,000 different species and many more undescribed members. Until today there exists no phylogenetic analysis of Dexiarchia that comprises all major families and corroborates the relationships within this group, which is the aim of our project.

Unit:

Computational Genomics, High-performance Computing, Phylogenetics and Evolutionary Biology, Morphology Laboratory, Chair Molecular Biodiversity Research

Project lead:

Dr. Alexander Donath

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

2014

The phylogeny of Holometabola

The Holometabola are the insects with complete metamorphosis (larva, pupa, adult) and comprise > 60% of the described animal species. The project aims at solving the open questions in the phylogeny of the group, in order to get a better understanding of t

Unit:

Hymenoptera, Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Directorate Staff

Project lead:

Dr. Ralph S. Peters

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

2012

MARE

In phylogenomics character matrices with extensive missing data are frequently used. These missing data have potentially detrimental effects on the accuracy and robustness of tree inference. Therefore, many investigators select taxa and genes with high data coverage.

Unit:

Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Directorate Staff

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof

1KITE: The evolution of the insects

Insects are one of the most species-rich groups of metazoan organisms. They play a pivotal role in most non-marine ecosystems and many insect species are of enormous economical and medical importance. Unraveling the evolution of insects is essential for understanding how life in terrestrial and limnic environments evolved. The 1KITE (1K Insect Transcriptome Evolution) project aims to study the transcriptomes (that is the entirety of expressed genes) of 1,000 insect species encompassing all recognized insect orders. For each species, so-called ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) will be produced…

Unit:

Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Directorate Staff, Biodiversity Informatics, Computational Genomics, High-performance Computing, Statistical Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics, Staff Council, Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation Science (zbm), Education, Biobank, Hymenoptera, Chair Molecular Biodiversity Research, Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb)

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof

2010

The evolution of…

We try to reconstruct a robust backbone tree of holometabolous insects based on extensive transcriptome/genome data. With our transcriptome data we cover all orders within these group of insects and optimize the procedures of tree inference based on these data. Additionally, Rolf Beutel's group is providing extensive 3D morphological data of head, thorax and abdominal structures. Together we are working on the most extensive morphological and molecular data addressing the above mentioned phylogenetic questions. Within this project we have also started to specifically address the "Strepsiptera…

Unit:

Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Directorate Staff, Hymenoptera, Graduate School (GBR)

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

FASconCAT - convenient handling of data matrices

FASconCAT is a user-friendly software that concatenates rapidly different kinds of sequence data into one supermatrix file.

Unit:

Algorithmic Development, Chair Molecular Biodiversity Research

Project lead:

Dr. Patrick Kück

Funding:

Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig

2009

The Atelocerata - a vanishing…

Berlese pitfalls

Unit:

Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Directorate Staff

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof

Funding:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

ALISCORE - Masking of Multiple Sequence Alignments

Random similarity of sequences or sequence sections can impede phylogenetic analyses or the identification of gene homologies.

Unit:

Directorate, Chair Systematic Zoology, Algorithmic Development, Directorate Staff, Biodiversity Informatics

Project lead:

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof

Funding:

Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig

Publications

A full publication list can be found at Google Scholar

Published in

2023

Flury JM, Meusemann K, Martin S, Hilgers L, Spanke T, Böhne A, Herder F, Mokodongan D, Altmüller J, Wowor D, Misof B, Nolte AW, Schwarzer J. (2023) Potential contribution of ancient introgression to the evolution of a derived reproductive strategy in ricefishes. Genome Biology and Evolution: evad138, doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad138

[more]

Links:

Potential contribution of ancient introgression to the evolution of a derived reproductive strategy in ricefishes.

2022

Kück, P., Romahn, J., Meusemann, K. (2022): Pitfalls of the site-concordance factor (sCF) as measure of phylogenetic branch support. - NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics. Accepted.Ro

[more]

Möckel, L., Meusemann, K., Misof, B., Schwartze, V.U, De Fine Licht, H., Voigt, K., Stielow, B, de Hoog, S., Beutel, R.G., Buellesbach, J. (2022). Phylogenetic revision and patterns of host specificity in the fungal subphylum Entomophthoromycotina. - Microorganisms. Accepted. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx

[more]

2021

Bayless, K. M., Trautwein, M. D., Meusemann, K., Petersen, M., Shin, S., Donath, A., Podsiadlowski, L., Mayer, C., Niehuis, O., Peters, R. S., Meier, R., Kutty, S. N., Liu,S., Zhou, X., Misof, B., Yeates, D. K., Wiegmann, B. M. (2021): Beyond Drosophila: resolving the rapid radiation of schizophoran flies with phylotranscriptomics. - BMC Biology 19: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00944-8.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00944-8

Karmeinski, D., Meusemann, K., Goodheart, J. A., Schroedl, M., ..., Wägele, H., Donath, A. (2021): Transcriptomics provides a robust framework for the relationships of the major clades of cladobranch sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia), but fails to resolve the position of the enigmatic genus Embletonia. - BMC Ecolology and Evolution 21: 226. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01944-0.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01944-0

Korb, J., Meusemann, K., Aumer, D., Bernadou, A. , ..., Paxton, R. J., Séguret Alice C., ... Flatt, T. et al. (2021): Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the mechanisms underpinning ageing and fecundity in social insects. - Philosophilcal Transactions of the Royal Society B. 376:20190728. http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0728.

[more]

Links:

http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0728

Kramer, B. H., Nehring, V., Buttstedt, A., Heinze, J., Korb, J., Libbrecht, R., Meusemann, K., Paxton R. J., et al. (2021): Oxidative stress and senescence in social insects: a significant but inconsistent link? - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 376:20190732. http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0732.

[more]

Links:

http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0732

Monroy Kuhn, J. M., Meusemann, K., Korb, J. (2021): Disentangling the aging gene expression network of termite queens. - BMC Genomics 22: 339. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-07649-4.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-07649-4

Pauli, T., Meusemann, K., Kukowka, S., Sann, M., Donath, A., Mayer C., Oeyen, J.P., ..., Podsiadlowski, L., ..., Misof, B., Peters, R.S., et al. (2021): Analysis of RNA-Seq, DNA Target Enrichment, and Sanger Nucleotide Sequence Data Resolves Deep Splits in the Phylogeny of Cuckoo Wasps (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae). - Insect Systematics and Diversity 5: 1. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa018.

[more]

Links:

https://academic.oup.com/isd/article/5/1/1/6061886
https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaa018

Sann, M., Meusemann, K., Niehuis, O., Escalona, H. E., Mokrousov, M., Ohl, M., Pauli, T., Schmid-Egger, C. (2021): Reanalysis of the apoid wasp phylogeny with additional taxa and sequence data confirms the placement of Ammoplanidae as sister to bees. - Systematic Entomology 46: 558-569. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12475.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12475

Séguret, A. C., Stolle, E., Fleites-Ayil, F. A., Quezada-Euán, J. J. G., Hartfelder, K., Meusemann, K., Harrison, M., et al. (2021): Transcriptomic signatures of ageing vary in solitary and social forms of an orchid bee. - Genome Biology and Evolution 13 (6): evab075. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab075.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evab075

Stringer, D. N., Bertozzi, T., Meusemann, K., Delean, S., Guzik, M. T., Tierney, S. M., Mayer, C., Cooper, S. J. B., Javidkar, M., Zwick, A., Austin, A. D. (2021): Development and evaluation of a custom bait design based on 469 single-copy protein-coding genes for exon capture of isopods (Philosciidae: Haloniscus). - PLOS ONE 16 (9): e0256861. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256861.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256861

Vasilikopoulos, A., Balke, M., Kukowka, S., Pflug, J. M., Martin, S., Meusemann, K., Hendrich, L., Mayer, C., Maddison, D. R., Niehuis, O., Beutel, R. G. Misof, B. (2021): Phylogenomic analyses clarify the pattern of evolution of Adephaga (Coleoptera) and highlight phylogenetic artefacts due to model misspecification and excessive data trimming. - Systematic Entomoly 46: 991-1018. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12508.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12508

Yan, L., Pape, T., Meusemann, K., Kutty, S. N., Meier, R., Bayless, K. M., Zhang, D. (2021): Monophyletic blowflies revealed by phylogenomics. - BMC Biololgy 19: 230. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-021-01156-4.

[more]

Links:

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-021-01156-4

2020

Song, H., Béthoux, O., Shin, S., Donath, A., Letsch, H., Liu, S., McKenna, D., Meng, G., Meusemann, K., Misof, B., Podsiadlowski, L., Zhou, X., Wipfler, B., Simon, S. (2020). Phylogenomic analysis sheds new light on the evolutionary pathways towards acoustic communication in Orthoptera. Nature Communications 11: 4939

[more]

Szucsich, N.U., Bartel, D., Blanke, A., Böhm, A., Donath, A., Fukui, M., Grove, S., Liu, S., Macek, O., Machida, R., Misof, B., Nakagaki, Y., Podsiadlowski, L., Sekiya, K., Tomizuka, S., Reumont, B.v., Waterhouse, R., Walzl, M., Meng, G., Zhou, X., Pass, G., Meusemann, K. (2020). Four myriapod relatives – but who are sisters? No end to debates on relationships among the four major myriapod subgroups. BMC Evol Biology 20: 144

[more]

2019

Evangelista, D.A., Wipfler, B., Bethoux, O., Donath, A., Fujita, M., Kohli, M.K., Legendre, F., Liu, S., Machida, R., Misof, B., Peters, R.S., Podsiadlowski, L., Rust, J., Schuette, K., Tollenaar, W., Ware, J.L., Wappler, T., Zhou, X., Meusemann, K., Simon, S. (2019) An integrative phylogenomic approach illuminates the evolutionary history of cockroaches and termites (Blattodea). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286: 20182076

[more]

Vasilikopoulos, A., Balke, M., Beutel, R.G., Donath, A., Podsiadlowski, L., Pflug, J.M., Waterhouse, R.M., Meusemann, K., Peters, R.S., Escalona, H.E., Mayer, C., Liu, S., Hendrich, L., Alarie, Y., Bilton, D.T., Jia, F., Zhou, X., Maddison, D.R., Niehuis, O., Misof, B., (2019): Phylogenomics of the superfamily Dytiscoidea (Coleoptera: Adephaga) with an evaluation of phylogenetic conflict and systematic error. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2019.02.022

[more]

2018

Rakitov, R., Moysa, A.A., Kopylov, A.T., Moshkovskii, S.A., Peters, R.S., Meusemann, K., Misof, B., Dietrich, C.H., Johnson, K.P., Podsiadlowski, L., Walden, K.KO. (2018): Brochosomins and other novel proteins from brochosomes of leafhoppers (Insecta, Hemiptera, Cicadellidae). Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 94, 10-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2018.01.001

[more]

Pauli, T., Burt, T., Meusemann, K, Bayless, K,. Donath, A., Podsiadlowski, L., Mayer, C., Kozlov, A., Vasilikopoulos, A., Liu, S., Zhou, X., Yeates, D., Misof, B., Peters, R.S., and Mengual, X. (2018): New data, same story: phylogenomics does not support Syrphoidea (Diptera: Syrphidae, Pipunculidae). Systematic Entomology 43(3), 447–459.

[more]

Documents:

2018_syrphoidea.pdf

Pages

Short Scientific CV

since 04/2021: Scientific Assistant at the Leibniz Institute for the Analyses of Biodiversity Change - Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig, Bonn, Germany
05/2016 - 03/2021: Scientific Coordinator in the Research Unit FOR 2281 (www.so-long.org) and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Freiburg, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecolgy (AG Korb), Freiburg (Brsg.), Germany
07/2013 – 04/2016: Postdoctoral Fellow (Schlinger) at the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, National Research Collections Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia
03/2012 – 06/2013: Postdoctoral Fellow (DFG) at the Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb), Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig (ZFMK), Bonn, Germany
03/2012: Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude), Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb), Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig (ZFMK), University of Bonn, Germany
since 2012: Active (founding) Member of 1KITE (www.1kite.org): coordination, organization, data analysis, lead of the sub-project "Basal Hexapods"
2006 – 2012: PhD student at the the Centre for Molecular Biodiversity Research (zmb), Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig (ZFMK), Bonn, Germany. Ph.D. thesis: Molecular phylogeny and evolution of ’basal hexapods’: The “Atelocerata” - A vanishing hypothesis? (DFG priority program SPP1174 “Deep Metazoan Phylogeny”). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. B. Misof. Published online: https://bonndoc.ulb.uni-bonn.de/xmlui/handle/20.500.11811/5363

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