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Alexander Suh
© Mathilde Brunel
Prof. Dr. Alexander Suh

Website3

Affiliations
  • Bonner Institut für Organismische Biologie (BIOB)
  • Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels (LIB)
Research topics
  • evolutionary genomics
  • genetic conflict
  • germline/soma genome differences
My research focuses on the molecular and genome evolution of animal species through genomic and (reverse) transcriptomic interactions with their genomic parasites, namely transposable elements, endogenous viruses, and B chromosomes. I am particularly interested in the following questions: 1) How do the highly diverse “genomic ecosystems” of genomic parasites influence the diversification of their animal hosts? 2) How are interactions between or among hosts and genomic parasites manifested on recent and deep timescales of genome evolution? 3) How much do we really know about the complexity of animal genomes given that, until recently, it was overlooked that two thirds of all species of birds (an otherwise well-studied animal group) eliminate part of their genome during germline/soma differentiation?
Selected publications

Pei Y, Forstmeier W, Ruiz-Ruano FJ, Mueller JC, Cabrero J, Camacho JPM, Alché JD, Franke A, Hoeppner M, Börno S, Gessara I, Hertel M, Teltscher K, Knief U, Suh A*, Kempenaers B* (2022) Occasional paternal inheritance of the germline-restricted chromosome in songbirds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 119, e2103960119. *equal contributions.

Peona V, Palacios-Gimenez OM, Blommaert J, Liu J, Haryoko T, Jønsson KA, Irestedt M, Zhou Q, Jern P, Suh A (2021) The avian W chromosome is a refugium for endogenous retroviruses with likely effects on female-biased mutational load and genetic incompatibilities. Phil Trans R Soc B 376, 20200186.

Kinsella CM*, Ruiz-Ruano FJ*, Dion-Côté A-M, Charles AJ, Gossmann, TI, Cabrero J, Kappei D, Hemmings N, Simons MJP, Camacho JPM, Forstmeier W, Suh A (2019) Programmed DNA elimination of germline development genes in songbirds. Nat Commun 10, 5468. *equal contributions.

Weissensteiner MH, Pang AWC, Bunikis I, Höijer I, Vinnere-Petterson O, Suh A*, Wolf, JBW* (2017) Combination of short-read, long-read and optical mapping assemblies reveals large-scale tandem repeat arrays with population genetic implications. Genome Res 27, 697–708. *equal contributions.

Alexander Suh
© Mathilde Brunel
Prof. Dr. Alexander Suh

Website3

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Links

  1. https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/research-and-teaching/research-profile/transdisciplinary-research-areas/tra-3-life-and-health/members-directory/alexander-suh#research_profile-tab
  2. https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/research-and-teaching/research-profile/transdisciplinary-research-areas/tra-3-life-and-health/members-directory/alexander-suh#businesscard-tab
  3. https://genomicrocosm.wordpress.com/