Comparative Vertebrate Genomics

The comparative analysis of fully sequenced genomes and transcriptomes is becoming a cornerstone of biodiversity research. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies as well as in data analyses methods and algorithms make genomics in specimens derived from museum collections and environmental samples and entire populations accessible.

The section comparative genomics at zmb analyses biodiversity from an evolutionary perspective with the aim to understand phenotypic and genomic changes in vertebrates.

The section is headed by Dr. Astrid Böhne who has an outstanding expertise in de novo sequencing, assembly and comparative whole-genome data analyses.

The focus of this section lies on the genomic architecture of evolutionary novelties, adaptive traits and speciation. In more detail, our projects include studies of population dynamics, speciation processes, gene flow, hybridization, adaptation and sexual conflict, especially in fish. We investigate the origin, interaction and distribution of species, especially in particularly successful animal lineages as part of speciation hotspots and (adaptive) radiations but also in invasive species and hybrids to identify drivers of and threats to biodiversity on the genomic level.

The section comparative genomics interacts intensively with scientists of the sections Computational Genomics and Phylogenomics.