Molly Schumer

About

Our lab aims to understand evolutionary processes at the molecular level. We are particularly focused on studies that link genetic mechanisms to evolution in natural populations. Current research in our lab explores the genetic basis of adaptation, mechanisms of genome evolution, and consequences of hybridization.

Research topics

• Evolutionary biology
• Biology
• Genetics
• Fishery
• Zoology

Selected publications

• Natural hybridization reveals incompatible alleles that cause melanoma in swordtail fish

  Science · 2020 · 139 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  The establishment of reproductive barriers between populations can fuel the evolution of new species. A genetic framework for this process posits that "incompatible" interactions between genes can evolve that result in reduced survival or reproduction in hybrids. However, progress has been slow in identifying individual genes that underlie hybrid incompatibilities. We used a combination of approaches to map the genes that drive the development of an incompatibility that causes melanoma in swordt…

  DOI

• Analysis of ancestry heterozygosity suggests that hybrid incompatibilities in threespine stickleback are environment dependent

  PLoS Biology · 2022 · 50 citations

  Hybrid incompatibilities occur when interactions between opposite ancestry alleles at different loci reduce the fitness of hybrids. Most work on incompatibilities has focused on those that are “intrinsic,” meaning they affect viability and sterility in the laboratory. Theory predicts that ecological selection can also underlie hybrid incompatibilities, but tests of this hypothesis using sequence data are scarce. In this article, we compiled genetic data for F 2 hybrid crosses between divergent p…

  DOI

• Patterns of recombination in snakes reveal a tug-of-war between PRDM9 and promoter-like features

  Science · 2024-02-22 · 46 citations

  article

  In some mammals, notably humans, recombination occurs almost exclusively where the protein PRDM9 binds, whereas in vertebrates lacking an intact PRDM9 , such as birds and canids, recombination rates are elevated near promoter-like features. To determine whether PRDM9 directs recombination in nonmammalian vertebrates, we focused on an exemplar species with a single, intact PRDM9 ortholog, the corn snake ( Pantherophis guttatus ). Analyzing historical recombination rates along the genome and cross…

  PublisherDOI

• Phylogenomic analyses of all species of swordtail fishes (genus Xiphophorus) show that hybridization preceded speciation

  Nature Communications · 2024-08-04 · 24 citations

  articleOpen access

  Hybridization has been recognized to play important roles in evolution, however studies of the genetic consequence are still lagging behind in vertebrates due to the lack of appropriate experimental systems. Fish of the genus Xiphophorus are proposed to have evolved with multiple ancient and ongoing hybridization events. They have served as an informative research model in evolutionary biology and in biomedical research on human disease for more than a century. Here, we provide the complete geno…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Swordtail fish hybrids reveal that genome evolution is surprisingly predictable after initial hybridization

  PLoS Biology · 2024-08-26 · 20 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Over the past 2 decades, biologists have come to appreciate that hybridization, or genetic exchange between distinct lineages, is remarkably common-not just in particular lineages but in taxonomic groups across the tree of life. As a result, the genomes of many modern species harbor regions inherited from related species. This observation has raised fundamental questions about the degree to which the genomic outcomes of hybridization are repeatable and the degree to which natural selection drive…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• The population genomics of hybridization: from genetic incompatibilities to genome evolution

  NIH · $2.9M · 2019–2029

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel L. Powell

  Stanford University

  193 shared

• Gil G. Rosenthal

  University of Padua

  111 shared

• Shreya M. Banerjee

  Stanford University

  91 shared

• Cheyenne Payne

  Stanford University

  84 shared

• Manfred Schartl

  Texas State University

  69 shared

• Quinn K. Langdon

  Gladstone Institutes

  62 shared

• Theresa R. Gunn

  Stanford University

  61 shared

• Rongfeng Cui

  Sun Yat-sen University

  55 shared

Labs

• Schumer labPI

Education

• PhD

  Princeton University

  2016

Awards & honors

• Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows
• Hanna H. Gray Fellow at Harvard Medical School

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Liqun Luoh-150
• Gretchen C. Dailyh-126
• Marcus Feldmanh-110