Polonez

Title
Cultural changes in the evolution of humans and its effects on the epigenetic mechanisms of modern life-style diseases

Funding source
POLONEZ In a combined action of the National Science Centre Poland and the EU’s Horizon 2020 program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement

Grant number
UMO-2015/19/P/NZ7/03971

Principle Investigator
Olaf Thalmann, PhD

Background and research aims
Centuries of research have unraveled the many facets of human’s singularity and with the advances in genetics we are now to infer the molecular foundation of the evolutionary success of our species in unprecedented depth. In particular research involving ancient humans has recently revealed some surprises that dramatically changed the perception of our very own evolution.

Inspired by the seminal work on ancient DNA, I am investigating the epigenetic composition, more precisely the methylomes of Neolithic hunter-gatherers and farmers from Scandinavia to mainly address the over-arching question, if life-style changes in the past have left footprints in the regulatory compartment of genomes. By means of generating high-quality genomes of Neolithic Scandinavians I will reconstruct the methylation patterns preserved in those and allude to adaptive changes between humans living under different life-styles.

Identifying the genetic mechanisms that played a role in the past might lead to new insights relating to diseases associated with nutrition or other modern life-style diseases.

Duration
24 moths

Budget
921,064.00 zł

Contact

Current Position
Adiunkt (Assistant Professor) at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences

Current working address
Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases
Poznan University of Medical Sciences
Szpitalna 27/33, 60-572 Poznan, Poland

Email
othalmann@ump.edu.pl

Research

The driving motivation of my research is tightly linked to the quest to understand the mechanisms that shape a species through time and space and explain its genetic adaptability with regard to various environments and climatic epochs.

The focal species of my research involve mainly mammals such as various canids including men’s best friend – the dog, or a critical bioinvader – the raccoon dog. More recently, I added our very own species to this list.

Using a range of genetic data generated from DNA and RNA of a wide variety of sources including ancient and modern materials I aim at reconstructing the respective evolutionary and adaptive histories.

• “Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism determines Vitamin K Supplementation effectiveness in Cystic Fibrosis Patients”
  Krzyżanowska-Jankowska P., Sobkowiak P., Thalmann O., Drzymała-Czyż S., Glapa A., Hołysz M., Walkowiak D., Rohovyk N., Bober L., Pogorzelski A. & Walkowiak J.
  Journal of Cystic Fibrosis 17(4): e39-e40: 2018
  
  
• “Paleogenomic inferences of dog domestication”
  Thalmann O. & Perri A. R. In: Lindqvist C., Rajora O. (eds) Paleogenomics. Population Genomics.
  Springer 2018
  
  
• “Natural Selection and origin of a melanistic allele in North American gray wolves”
  Schweizer R.M., Durvasula A., Smith J., Vohr S.H., Stahler D.R., Galaverni M., Thalmann O., Smith D.W, Randi E., Ostrander E.A., Green R.E., Lohmueller K.E., Novembre J. & Wayne R.K.
  Molecular Biology and Evolution 35(5):1190-1209. 2018
  
  
• “Non-invasive genetic monitoring involving citizen science enables reconstruction of current pack dynamics in a re-establishing wolf population”
  Granroth‑Wilding, H., Primmer C., Lindqvist M., Poutanen J., Thalmann O., Aspi J., Harmoinen J., Kojola I. & Laaksonen T.
  BMC Ecology 17:44. 2017
  
  
• “Prediction of harmful substitutions on mitochondrial OXPHOS genes: test of habitat-dependent and demographic effects in euryhaline fish”
  Vasemägi A., Sulku J., Bruneaux M., Thalmann O., Mäkinen H., Ozerov M.
  Ecology and Evolution 7:3826-3835. 2017
  
  
• “Genome-wide Evidence Reveals that African and Eurasian Golden Jackals Are Distinct Species”
  Koepfli K-P., Pollinger J., Godinho R., Robinson J., Lea A., Hendricks S., Schweizer R.M., Thalmann O., Silva P., Fan Z., Yurchenko A.A., Dobrynin P., Makunin A., Cahill J.A., Shapiro B., Álvares F., Brito J.C., Geffen E., Leonard J.A., Helgen K.M., Johnson W.E., O’Brien S.J., Van Valkenburgh B., Wayne R.K.
  Current Biology 25:1-8. 2015
  
  
• “Attempted DNA extraction from a Rancho La Brea Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi): Prospects for ancient DNA from asphalt deposits”
  Gold D.A., Robins J., Farrell A.B., Harris J.M., Thalmann O. and Jacobs D.K.
  Ecology and Evolution 4:329. 2014
  
  
• “Complete mitochondrial genomes of ancient canids suggest a European ancestry of domestic dogs”
  Thalmann O., Shapiro B., Cui P., Schuenemann V.J., Sawyer S.K., Greenfield D.L., Germonpré M.B., Sablin M.V., López-Giráldez F., Domingo-Roura X., Napierala H., Uerpmann H-P., Loponte D.M., Acosta A.A., Giemsch L., Schmitz R.W., Worthington B., Buikstra J.E., Druzhkova A., Graphodatsky A.S., Ovodov N.D., Wahlberg N., Freedman A.H., Schweizer R.M., Koepfli K-P., Leonard J.A., Meyer M., Krause J., Pääbo S., Green R.E. and Wayne R.K.
  Science 342:871. 2013
  
  
• “Ancient DNA analysis affirms the canid from Altai as a primitive dog”
  Druzhkova A.S*, Thalmann O.*, Trifonov V.A., Leonard J.A., Vorobieva N.V., Ovodov N.D., Graphodatsky A.S. and Wayne R.K.
  PLoS One 8(3): e57754. 2013
  
  
• “A comparison of brain gene expression levels in domesticated and wild animals”
  Albert F.W, Somel M, Carneiro M., Aximu A., Halbwax M., Thalmann O., Blanco-Aguiar J.A., Plyusnina I.Z., Trut L., Villafuerte Fernandez R., Ferrand N., Kaiser S., Jensen P., Paabo S.
  PLoS Genetics 8(9). 2012
  
  
• “Efficient recovery of whole blood RNA – a comparison of commercial RNA extraction techniques for high-throughput applications”
  Schwochow D., Serieys L.E.K., Wayne R.K. and Thalmann O.
  BMC Biotechnologies 12:33. 2012
  
  
• “Historical sampling reveals dramatic demographic changes in western gorilla populations”
  Thalmann O.*, Wegmann D.*, Spitzner M., Arandjelovic M., Guschanski K., Leuenberger C., Bergl R.A., Vigilant L.
  BMC Evolutionary Biology 11:85. 2011
  
  
• “Solving a Darwinian Mystery: Evolutionary History of the Falkland Island Wolf”
  Slater G. J.*, Thalmann O.*, Leonard J.A., Schweitzer R.M., Koepfli K-P., Pollinger J.P., Rawlence N.J., Austin J.J., Cooper A., Wayne R.K.
  Current Biology 19: R937-R938. 2009
  
  
• “Two-step multiplex polymerase chain reaction improves the speed and accuracy of genotyping using DNA from noninvasive and museum samples”
  Arandjelovic M., Guschanski K., Schubert G., Harris T.R., Thalmann O., Siedel H., Vigilant L.
  Molecular Ecology Resources 9(1): 28-36. 2009
  
  
• “The complex evolutionary history of gorillas: insights from genomic data”
  Thalmann O., Fischer A., Lankester F., Pääbo S. and Vigilant L.
  Molecular Biology and Evolution 24. 146-158. 2007
  
  
• “Demographic history and genetic differentiation in Great Apes”
  Fischer A., Pollack J., Thalmann O., Nickel B. and Pääbo S.
  Current Biology 16. 1133-1138. 2006
  
  
• “Nuclear insertions help and hinder inference of the evolutionary history of gorilla mtDNA”
  Thalmann O., Serre D., Hofreiter M., Lukas D., Eriksson J. and Vigilant L.
  Molecular Ecology 14. 179-188. 2005
  
  
• “Unreliable mtDNA data due to nuclear insertions: a cautionary tale from analysis of humans and other great apes”
  Thalmann O., Hebler J., Poinar H.N., Pääbo S. and Vigilant L.
  Molecular Ecology 13. 321-335. 2004