Dr. Andreas Kautt
Department of Biology
Building M, Room M821 University of Konstanz Universitätsstr. 10 78457 Konstanz Tel: +49 (0) 7531 884665 Fax: +49 (0) 7531 883018 E-mail: andreas.kautt[at]uni-konstanz.de Website: www.andikautt.weebly.com |
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My main research interest is the process of speciation, specifically the genome-wide dynamics of divergence-with-gene-flow and the genetic bases of adaptive traits. My research addresses questions such as how many loci are typically involved in adaptive traits and do they normally cluster together or are they distributed randomly among the genome? Do the genetic changes that are involved in adaptive divergence have to be acquired de-novo or did they already pre-exist as standing genetic variation in the ancestral population? Are there special genomic features that facilitate divergence by reducing recombination between co-adapted loci? Knowledge about these aspects is sorely needed if we want to understand how readily and fast populations can adapt to new environments and why speciation rates are so different even among closely related taxa.
I am currently working on the Midas Cichlid species complex from Nicaragua, which represents an excellent system to investigate the genomics of speciation, since Midas Cichlid fish have repeatedly colonized several young and isolated crater lakes and speciated in situ. In addition in some crater lakes they exhibit a case of parallel phenotypic evolution whereas in other crater lakes the Midas Cichlid populations seem to diverge primarily on different phenotypic axes. These repeated natural experiments of Midas Cichlid fishes in Nicaraguan crater lakes allow investigating different stages of the often continuous process of speciation-with-gene-flow and the genetic underpinnings of different ecologically important traits in a powerful comparative approach.
I am currently working on the Midas Cichlid species complex from Nicaragua, which represents an excellent system to investigate the genomics of speciation, since Midas Cichlid fish have repeatedly colonized several young and isolated crater lakes and speciated in situ. In addition in some crater lakes they exhibit a case of parallel phenotypic evolution whereas in other crater lakes the Midas Cichlid populations seem to diverge primarily on different phenotypic axes. These repeated natural experiments of Midas Cichlid fishes in Nicaraguan crater lakes allow investigating different stages of the often continuous process of speciation-with-gene-flow and the genetic underpinnings of different ecologically important traits in a powerful comparative approach.
Education
Awards & Grants
Publications
*equal contribution
Conference presentations
Society memberships
- 04/2016 - present: Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Group of Prof. Axel Meyer, University of Konstanz
- 09/2011 - 03/2016: Ph.D. student in Evolutionary Biology, Research Group of Prof. Axel Meyer, University of Konstanz
- 10/2008 - 12/2010: M.Sc. in Biological Sciences, University of Konstanz
- 10/2005 - 08/2008: B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, University of Konstanz
Awards & Grants
- 02/2017: Independent Research Grant (3,000 €), Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz
- 07/2014: Ph.D. scholarship (6 months), Landesgraduiertenförderung of the state of Baden-Württemberg
- 01/2012: Travel grant (1,300 €), Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
- 10/2011: Prize for outstanding Master's degree, Alumni Association of the University of Konstanz
- 05/2011: Ph.D. scholarship (1 year), Max-Planck-Society
Publications
- Franchini P, Monné Parera D, Kautt AF, Meyer A (2017). quaddRAD: A new high-multiplexing and PCR duplicate removal ddRAD protocol produces novel evolutionary insights in a non-radiating cichlid lineage. Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.14077
- Machado-Schiaffino G, Kautt AF, Torres-Dowdall J, Baumgarten L, Henning F, Meyer A. (2017). Incipient speciation driven by hypertrophied lips in Midas cichlid fish? Molecular Ecology. 26:2348–2362
- Kautt AF*, Machado-Schiaffino G*, Torres-Dowdall J, Meyer A. (2016). Incipient sympatric speciation in Midas cichlid fish from the youngest and one of the smallest crater lakes in Nicaragua due to differential use of the benthic and limnetic habitats? Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.1002/ece3.2287
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2016). Multispecies Outcomes of Sympatric Speciation after Admixture with the Source Population in Two Radiations of Nicaraguan Crater Lake Cichlids. PLoS Genetics. 12(6): e1006157
- Kavembe GD*, Kautt AF*, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2016). Eco-morphological differentiation in Lake Magadi tilapia, an extremophile cichlid fish living in hot, alkaline and hypersaline lakes in East Africa. Molecular Ecology. 25:1610–1625
- Machado-Schiaffino G, Kautt AF, Kusche H, Meyer A. (2015). Parallel evolution in Ugandan crater lakes: repeated evolution of limnetic body shapes in haplochromine cichlid fish. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 15:9
- Elmer KR, Fan S, Kusche H, Spreitzer ML, Kautt AF, Franchini P, Meyer A. (2014). Parallel evolution of Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fishes via non-parallel routes. Nature Communications. 5:5168
- Meyer A* & Kautt AF*. "Sympatric speciation". Oxford Bibliographies in Evolutionary Biology. Ed. Jonathan Losos. New York: Oxford University Press, Aug 2014.
- Torres-Dowdall J, Machado-Schiaffino G, Kautt AF, Kusche H, Meyer A. (2014). Differential predation on the two colour morphs of Nicaraguan Crater lake Midas cichlid fish: implications for the maintenance of its gold-dark polymorphism. Biol. J . Linn. Soc. 112:123-131
- Kautt AF, Elmer KR, Meyer A. (2012). Genomic signatures of divergent selection and speciation patterns in a 'natural experiment', the young parallel radiations of Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fishes. Molecular Ecology. 21:4770-4786
- Elmer KR, Lehtonen TK, Kautt AF, Harrod C, Meyer A. (2010). Rapid sympatric ecological differentiation of crater lake cichlid fishes within historic times. BMC Biology. 8:60
*equal contribution
Conference presentations
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2016). Speciation genomics in sympatrically diverging Midas cichlids from Nicaragua. Poster presentation. Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Speciation, Tuscany, Italy
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2016). Multispecies Outcomes of Sympatric Speciation after Admixture with the Source Population in Two Radiations of Nicaraguan Crater Lake Cichlids. Oral presentation. Annual Evolution meeting (SSE), Austin, USA
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2015). Heterogeneous genomic differentiation during sympatric ecological speciation in Midas cichlid fishes. Oral presentation. Satellite symposium on Biological adaptation of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBEBA), Montpellier, France
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2014). Sympatric speciation in Nicaraguan crater lake cichlids evaluated in the genomic era. Poster presentation. Workshop on the Genomics of the Speciation Continuum, Fribourg, Switzerland.
- Kautt AF, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2013). The genomic landscape of speciation in the repeated radiations of Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fishes. Oral presentation. 14th congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB), Lisbon, Portugal.
- Kautt AF, Elmer KR, Machado-Schiaffino G, Meyer A. (2012). Genome-wide patterns of adaptation and speciation in repeated radiations of Midas cichlid fishes. Oral presentation. 105th annual meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG), Konstanz, Germany.
- Kautt AF, Elmer KR, Meyer A. (2011). Isolation after colonization: Midas cichlid fishes in Nicaraguan crater lakes. Poster presentation. 13th congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB), Tübingen, Germany.
Society memberships
- 2011 - present: European Society for Evolutionary Biology
- 2012 - present: Society for the Study of Evolution