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LOEWE-Zentrum für Translationale Biodiversitätsgenomik (TBG)


LOEWE-TGB ist ein institutionenübergreifendes Drittmittelprojekt zur Erforschung der genomischen Basis von Biodiversität. Wissenschaftler*innen sequenzieren und untersuchen die genomische Vielfalt, um Ursprung und funktionelle Anpassungen von bislang wenig erforschten Organismen zu verstehen.

Ein erstes Highlight des Projekts ist die Untersuchung der Evolutionsgeschichte der größten Tiere dieser Welt. So konnte durch die Vorarbeit das komplette Genom des Blauwals sowie sechs weiterer Furchenwale entschlüsselt werden. Die Entschlüsselung der Genome bietet einen Ansatz, um zu verstehen, wie sich Biodiversität in Ozeanen entwickeln konnte.

Forschungsinhalte des Projekts Laufzeit Website
Erforschung der genomischen Basis von Biodiversität 2018 – 2021 https://tbg.senckenberg.de/

Ansprechpartner

Mitarbeiterfoto
Prof. Dr. Axel Janke
Professor, Head of Research Group 'Evolutionary vertebrate genomics'

CV

I am interested in the evolution of vertebrates in general, including marsupials, birds, almost every placental mammalian order, lizards, snakes, crocodiles and fishes. Besides reconstructing and dating their evolutionary tree, placing the events into larger contexts of e.g. biogeography, plate tectonics and climate is exciting. The increasing amount of genomic data show that evolution may not be a bifurcating process, but seeing it as a network will enhance our understanding of evolution. Currently – as of January 2017 – I am interested and working on the following topics for which PhD, master or project students are welcome:
Giraffe Research  
Mammalian phylogenomics (see D2.3)
Arctic adaptation (see D2.4)
Genomics and speciation (see D2.3)
Genomics and climate (environmental) change (see D2.4)
The basic divergences of crocodiles
The evolution of marsupials
Click here for more information about the topics.

External links

Publications, Citations, h- and i10-index
Who is Who in Phylogenetic Networks

LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics

Selected recent publications

Bruno Lopes da Silva Ferrette, Raphael TF Coimbra, Sven Winter, Menno J De Jong, Samuel Mackey Williams, Rui Coelho, Daniela Rosa, Matheus Marcos Rotundo, Freddy Arocha, Bruno Leite Mourato, Fernando Fernandes Mendonça, Axel Janke (2023) Seascape genomics and mitogenomic phylogeography of the sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) . Genome Biology and Evolution 

Menno J de Jong, Aidin Niamir, Magnus Wolf, Andrew C Kitchener, Nicolas Lecomte, Ivan V Seryodkin, Steven R Fain, Snorre B Hagen, Urmas Saarma, Axel Janke (2023) Range-wide whole-genome resequencing of the brown bear reveals drivers of intraspecies divergence. Communications Biology 6 (1), 153 

Magnus Wolf, Menno De Jong, Sverrir Daníel Halldórsson, Úlfur Árnason, Axel Janke (2022) Genomic Impact of Whaling in North Atlantic Fin Whales. Molecular biology and evolution 39 (5) 

Raphael TF Coimbra, Sven Winter, Vikas Kumar, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Rebecca M Gooley, Pavel Dobrynin, Julian Fennessy, Axel Janke (2021) Whole-genome analysis of giraffe supports four distinct species. Current Biology

Stefan Prost, Sven Winter, Jordi De Raad, Raphael TF Coimbra, Magnus Wolf, Maria A Nilsson, Malte Petersen, Deepak K Gupta, Tilman Schell, Fritjof Lammers, Axel Janke (2020) Education in the genomics era: Generating high-quality genome assemblies in university courses. Gigascience

Arnason,  U., Lammers, F., Kumar, V., Nilsson, M.A. Janke A (2018) Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow. Science Advances

Kumar, V., Lammers, F., Bidon, T., Pfenninger, M., Kolter, L., Nilsson, M.A. and Janke, A. (2017) The 
evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species. Scientific Reports 

Fennessy, J., Bidon, T., Reuss, F., Kumar, V., Elkan, P., Nilsson, M.A., Vamberger, M., Fritz, U. and Janke, A. (2016) Multi-locus analyses reveal four giraffe species instead of one. Current Biology

Bidon, T., Schreck, N., Hailer, F., Nilsson, M.A., Janke A (2015) Genome-wide search identifies 1.9 megabases from the polar bear Y chromosome for evolutionary analyses. Genome Biol Evol

Gallus, S., Hallström, B.M., Kumar, V., Janke, A., Ning, Z., Murchison, E.M., Yang, F., Fu, B., Bertelsen, M.F., Schumann, G.G., Nilsson, M.A. (2015) Evolutionary histories of transposable elements in the genome of the largest living marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian devil. Mol Biol Evol (early access)

Kutschera, V. E., Bidon, T., Hailer, F., Rodi, J. L., Fain, S. R., Janke, A. (2014) Bears in a forest of gene trees: Phylogenetic inference is complicated by incomplete lineage sorting and gene flow. Molecular Biology and Evolution, MBE2014/06/05/molbev.msu186

Bapteste, E., van Iersel, L., Janke, A., Kelchner, S., Kelk, S., McInerney, J. O., Morrison, D. A., Nakhleh, L., Steel, M., Stougie, L., Whitfield, J. (2013) Networks: expanding evolutionary thinking. Trends in Genetics 29:439-441. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2013.05.007.

Arnason,  U., Lammers, F., Kumar, V., Nilsson, M.A. Janke A (2018): Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow. Science Advances.

Projektpartner