The Meyer Lab

We study several fundamental issues in evolutionary biology. In particular, the evolution of biodiversity, and specifically the genesis of genomic, developmental and morphological diversity as well as their evolutionary interconnections, are of interest to us. To this end we study: morphological differentiation and its developmental basis within a phylogenetic framework, genetic differentiation among populations and species, and the evolution of genes and genomes, and the evolution of novel gene functions. In an effort to better understand the origin and maintenance of diversity we mostly use molecular and bioinformatic approaches, to ask how many and what kind of genetic changes accompany morphological differentiation among populations and species.

News:

20. October 2025 WAMC Northeast Public Radio. All about seahorses. The best of our knowledge.

10. September 2025. Patterns and processes of genomic evolution inferred from the ten smallest vertebrate genomes. published in Advanced Sciences. 

7. September 2025. Wan, N. et al. APLF/DNA2 variants drive chromosomal fission and accelerate speciation in zokors. Science Advances  11  eadt2282

25. August 2025 Our (collaboration with Lin Qiang's lab in Guangzhou) paper on the genome of the pygmy seahorse and its incredible mimicry to its coral host is published in PNAS 
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See report on the study by Qu, M. et al. by Carl Zimmer in the New York Times
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​Forthcoming papers:
  Liu, Y. et al. Molecular and cellular basis of seahorse male pouches, pregnancy, and live birth. Nature Ecology and Evolution

Our latest (selected) publications

  • 25.8. 2025 Study on the genome of the pygmy seahorse is published in PNAS.
  • 18.8. 2025 Paper on shark genomes and opsin evolution is out in Nature Communications View PDF
  • 30.7. 2025 Study on the genomic basis of head asymmetry in scale-eating cichlid fish published in Science Advances. View PDF
  • 14.8.2024. The genomes of all lungfish inform on genome expansion and tetrapod evolution. Nature​​​
  • ​all Meyer lab publications
Wissenschafts-Podcast "MenschenTiereSensationen" (MTS) mit Prof. Michael Sommer auf cicero.de -
​Dem Magazin für Politische Kultur
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