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

  • "The evolution of a new sex chromosome in swordtail fish"  Blog Post about Franchini et al.'s paper in Nature Communications Link
  • "Das Geheimnis der Buntbarsch-Streifen" Spiegel Online coverage of Kratochwil et al.'s paper in Science Link
  • "Evolution does repeat itself after all: How evolution lets stripes come and go" coverage of Kratochwil et al.'s paper in Science from the University of Konstanz Link​
  • "Anchored phylogenomics uncovers early hybridization and adaptive loci shaping radiation of Lake Tanganyika cichlid fishes" featured on Nature Research Link
  • 5-year Research Fellowships and 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowships of the Zukunftskolleg Job opportunities​

Our latest publications

  • Franchini, P., Jones, J., Xiong, P., Kneitz, S., Gompert, Z., Warren, W.C., Walter, R.B., Meyer, A., and M. Schartl. 2018. Long-term experimental hybridisation results in the evolution of a new sex chromosome in swordtail fish. Nature Communications. 9: 5136.
  • Kratochwil, ​C.F., Liang, Y., Gerwin, J., Woltering, J.M.,  Urban, S., Henning, F., Machado-Schiaffino, G., Hulsey, C.D., and A. Meyer. 2018. Agouti-related peptide 2 facilitates convergent evolution of stripe patterns across cichlid fish radiations. Science. 362: 457-460.
  • Hulsey, C.D., Zheng, J., Holzman, R., Alfaro, M.E., Olave, M., and A. Meyer. 2018. Phylogenomics of a putatively convergent novelty:  Did hypertrophied lips evolve once or repeatedly in Lake Malawi cichlid fishes? BMC Evolutionary Biology. 18: 179.
  • ​all Meyer lab publications