Bioinformatics, Phylogeny and Evolutionary Genomics Group

Members

Our group focuses on two main axes: phylogenomics (i.e. the inference of evolutionary history based on genomics data) and evolutionary genomics (understanding the molecular and population processes that drive genome evolution). We see genomes both as a subject of research (how do genomes evolve, why are they structured the way they are?), but also as a main source of empirical knowledge about the macroevolutionary patterns (what do they tell us about the history of life on Earth?), or about the phenotypes and life-history strategies of organisms. Our works heavily rely on methodological developments (bioinformatics, modeling and statistical inference).

Evolution of genome architecture and expression

Genomes are the result of a long-term evolutionary process, shaped by multiple evolutionary forces. Some genomic features are adaptive (i.e. are beneficial for the fitness of organisms), others result from non-adaptive processes (random drift and biased gene conversion - BGC) or are caused by conflicts between multiple levels of selection (e.g. meiotic drive or the spread of selfish genetic elements). We explore different aspects of genome architecture (base composition landscapes, genome structure and size, impact of transposable elements, …) or functioning (gene expression, lncRNAs, epigenetic landscapes, …), and try to disentangle the relative contribution of adaptive and non-adaptive processes to their evolution. For this purpose, we consider both the molecular mechanisms (mutation, repair, recombination) and the population processes (selection, drift, BGC, …) that shape genetic variation.

Phylogenomics

We are interested in reconstructing the history of life on Earth. This research unfolds along several axes. First, we develop phylogenomic databases of aligned genetic sequences (e.g. BIBI, RiboDB or HOGENOM). Second, we conduct methodological research on how to accurately reconstruct deep phylogenies, infer divergence times, reconstruct ancestral genetic sequences, gene repertoires and life-history traits. This methodological work is translated into publicly available software programs (e.g. SeaView, PhyloBayes, Coevol). Finally, we apply these approaches to several important problems, among which: reconstructing the phylogeny of animals, of archaea, or the global tree of life; using phylogenies and ancestral gene repertoires to investigate the evolution of complex systems and the emergence of molecular and cellular functions in the three domains of life; reconstructing ancestral genetic sequences, a research activity that has industrial and biotechnological applications.

Teaching and outreach

We teach at University Lyon 1 (Master Bioinfo@Lyon), INSA, ENS Lyon, we organize bioinformatics internships. We regularly give conferences on evolution (tree of life, human evolution, genetic diversity, …).
Prospective students and postdocs are invited to apply, as we often welcome visitors for internships or research projects.
 
Keywords: Molecular evolution and Population Genomics; Phylogenomics; Computational Genomics; Comparative genomics; Bioinformatics; Statistical inference.

Publications

Display of 121 to 150 publications on 1005 in total

Reconstruction of body mass evolution in the Cetartiodactyla and mammals using phylogenomic data.

Emeric Figuet, Marion Ballenghien, Nicolas Lartillot, Nicolas Galtier

Peer Community Journal . 1 : e42

DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.42

Journal article

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A Bayesian Mutation–Selection Framework for Detecting Site-Specific Adaptive Evolution in Protein-Coding Genes

Nicolas Rodrigue, Thibault Latrille, Nicolas Lartillot

Molecular Biology and Evolution . 38 ( 3 ) : 1199-1208

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa265

Journal article

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Universal probabilistic programming offers a powerful approach to statistical phylogenetics

Fredrik Ronquist, Jan Kudlicka, Viktor Senderov, Johannes Borgström, Nicolas Lartillot, Daniel Lundén...

Communications Biology . 4 ( 1 ) : 244

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01753-7

Journal article

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Reconstructing the History of Variation in Effective Population Size along Phylogenies

Mathieu Brevet, Nicolas Lartillot

Genome Biology and Evolution . 13 ( 8 )

DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evab150

Journal article

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Climatic change and diet of the pre-Hispanic population of Gran Canaria (Canary Archipelago, Spain) during the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age

Christophe Lécuyer, Jean Goedert, Johanne Klee, Thibault Clauzel, Pascale Richardin, François Fourel...

Journal of Archaeological Science . 128 : 105336

DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2021.105336

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Chromosomal Conjugative and Mobilizable Elements in Streptococcus suis: Major Actors in the Spreading of Antimicrobial Resistance and Bacteriocin Synthesis Genes

Virginie Libante, Yves Nombre, Charles Coluzzi, Johan Staub, Gérard Guédon, Marcelo Gottschalk...

Pathogens . 9 ( 1 ) : 22

DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9010022

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Ancient DNA from Guam and the peopling of the Pacific

Irina Pugach, Alexander Hübner, Hsiao-Chun Hung, Matthias Meyer, Mike Carson, Mark Stoneking

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 118 ( 1 ) : 1-12

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2022112118

Journal article

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Expanding the Geographic Characterisation of Epstein–Barr Virus Variation through Gene-Based Approaches

Marco Telford, David Hughes, David Juan, Mark Stoneking, Arcadi Navarro, Gabriel Santpere

Microorganisms . 8 ( 11 ) : 1686

DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8111686

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Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China

Melinda Yang, Xuechun Fan, Bo Sun, Chungyu Chen, Jianfeng Lang, Ying-Chin Ko...

Science . 369 ( 6501 ) : 282-288

DOI: 10.1126/science.aba0909

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Cultural variation impacts paternal and maternal genetic lineages of the Hmong-Mien and Sino-Tibetan groups from Thailand

Wibhu Kutanan, Rasmi Shoocongdej, Metawee Srikummool, Alexander Hübner, Thanatip Suttipai, Suparat Srithawong...

European Journal of Human Genetics . 28 : 1563 - 1579

DOI: 10.1038/s41431-020-0693-x

Journal article

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Papuan mitochondrial genomes and the settlement of Sahul

Nicole Pedro, Nicolas Brucato, Verónica Fernandes, Mathilde André, Lauri Saag, William Pomat...

Journal of Human Genetics .

DOI: 10.1038/s10038-020-0781-3

Journal article

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The paternal and maternal genetic history of Vietnamese populations

Enrico Macholdt, Leonardo Arias, Nguyen Thuy Duong, Nguyen Dang Ton, Nguyen Van Phong, Roland Schröder...

European Journal of Human Genetics . 28 ( 5 ) : 636-645

DOI: 10.1038/s41431-019-0557-4

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Extensive Ethnolinguistic Diversity in Vietnam Reflects Multiple Sources of Genetic Diversity

Dang Liu, Nguyen Thuy Duong, Nguyen Dang Ton, Nguyen van Phong, Brigitte Pakendorf, Nong van Hai...

Molecular Biology and Evolution . 37 ( 9 ) : 2503 - 2519

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa099

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Tissue-specific patterns of regulatory changes underlying gene expression differences among Ficedula flycatchers and their naturally occurring F 1 hybrids

Carina Mugal, Mi Wang, Niclas Backström, David Wheatcroft, Murielle Ålund, Marie Sémon...

Genome Research . 30 ( 12 ) : 1727-1739

DOI: 10.1101/gr.254508.119

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Polymorphism Data Assist Estimation of the Nonsynonymous over Synonymous Fixation Rate Ratio ω for Closely Related Species

Carina Mugal, Verena Kutschera, Fidel Botero-Castro, Jochen Wolf, Ingemar Kaj

Molecular Biology and Evolution . 37 ( 1 ) : 260-279

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz203

Journal article

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Scalable Empirical Mixture Models That Account for Across-Site Compositional Heterogeneity

Dominik Schrempf, Nicolas Lartillot, Gergely Szöllősi

Molecular Biology and Evolution . 37 : 3616 - 3631

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa145

Journal article

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Why and when was lactase persistence selected for? Insights from Central Asian herders and ancient DNA

Laure Ségurel, Perle Guarino-Vignon, Nina Marchi, Sophie Lafosse, Romain Laurent, Céline Bon...

PLoS Biology . 18 ( 6 ) : e3000742

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000742

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Response of the human gut and saliva microbiome to urbanization in cameroon

Ana Lokmer, Sophie Aflalo, Norbert N. Amougou, Sophie Lafosse, Alain Froment, Francis Ekwin Tabe...

Scientific Reports . 10 ( 1 )

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-59849-9

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How consistent is RAD‐seq divergence with DNA‐barcode based clustering in insects?

Marie Cariou, Hélène Henri, Sonia Martinez, Laurent Duret, Sylvain Charlat

Molecular Ecology Resources . 20 ( 5 ) : 1294-1298

DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13178

Journal article

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Evolutionary plasticity of mating-type determination mechanisms in Paramecium aurelia sibling species

Natalia Sawka-Gądek, Alexey Potekhin, Deepankar Pratap Singh, Inessa Grevtseva, Olivier Arnaiz, Simon Penel...

Genome Biology and Evolution . ( evaa258 )

DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa258

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Exploring protein space: From hydrolase to ligase by substitution

Nir Hecht, Caroline Monteil, Guy Perriere, Marina Vishkautzan, Eyal Gur

Molecular Biology and Evolution .

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa215

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Repeated horizontal gene transfers triggered parallel evolution of magnetotaxis in two evolutionary divergent lineages of magnetotactic bacteria

Caroline Monteil, Denis Grouzdev, Guy Perriere, Béatrice Alonso, Zoé Rouy, Stéphane Cruveiller...

The International Society of Microbiologial Ecology Journal .

DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-0647-x

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Treerecs: an integrated phylogenetic tool, from sequences to reconciliations.

Nicolas Comte, Benoît Morel, Damir Hasic, Laurent Guéguen, Bastien Boussau, Vincent Daubin...

Bioinformatics . 36 ( 18 ) : 4822-4824

DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa615

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The TERB1-TERB2-MAJIN complex of mouse meiotic telomeres dates back to the common ancestor of metazoans

Irene da Cruz, Celine Brochier-Armanet, Ricardo Benavente

BMC Evolutionary Biology . 20 ( 1 )

DOI: 10.1186/s12862-020-01612-9

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Hepatitis B virus preS2Δ38–55 variants: A newly identified risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma

Damien Cohen, Sumantra Ghosh, Yusuke Shimakawa, Njie Ramou, Pierre Simon Garcia, Anaëlle Dubois...

JHEP Reports Innovation in Hepatology . 2 ( 5 ) : 100144

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2020.100144

Journal article

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The Bayesian Approach to Molecular Phylogeny

Nicolas Lartillot

Phylogenetics in the Genomic Era . : 1.4:1--1.4:17

Book chapter

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