Our lab is interested in the genetic/genomic bases of health and disease. We are interested in the evolution of microbes that are important pathogens of humans like Plasmodium and Streptococcus mutans, and Streptococcus pyogenes, among others. We are also interested in understanding the demographic and selection scenarios that explain the evolution mutations involved in disease resistance to these pathogens in human and non-human primate populations.

We are particularly interested in using realistic demographic models underlying human evolution to better understand the evolution of regions of the genome under selection by human pathogens.

Our work in collaboration with  Martin Sikora at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, has shown how a commonly known mutation in DARC, a chemokine receptor required for the invasion of red cells by Plasmodium vivax, evolved in Africa from a variant already present at low frequency in humans. Our work on the evolutionary history of P. vivax, suggestive of an Asian origin, is inconsistent with the strong selection detected in DARC as well as it African origin.

Relevant publications

• McManus KF, Tavarella A, Henn B, Bustamante CD, Sikora M*, Cornejo OE*. (2017) Population genetic analysis of the DARC locus (Duffy) reveals complex evolutionary history of a malaria resistance locus. PLOS Genetics 13(3): e1006560. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006560. (Highlighted in Science, Mar 2017: Dramatic evolution within human genome may have been caused by malaria parasite)
• Cook TF, Yee M-C, Muzzio M, Adams A, Bell R, Cornejo OE, Kelley JL, Bailliet G, Bravi CM, Bustamante CD, Kenny EE. (2016) GBStools: A unified approach for reduced representation sequencing and genotyping. PLoS Genetics. 12(2): e1005631. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1005631
• Raghavan M, Steinrücken M, Harris K, Schiffels S, Rasmussen S, DeGiorgio M, Albrechtsen A, Valdiosera C, Ávila-Arcos MC, Malaspinas AS, Eriksson A, Moltke I, Metspalu M, Homburger JR, Wall J, Cornejo OE, Moreno-Mayar JV, Korneliussen TS, Pierre T, Rasmussen M, Campos PF, Damgaard Pde B, Allentoft ME, Lindo J, Metspalu E, Rodríguez-Varela R, Mansilla J, Henrickson C, Seguin-Orlando A, Malmström H, Stafford T Jr, Shringarpure SS, Moreno-Estrada A, Karmin M, Tambets K, Bergström A, Xue Y, Warmuth V, Friend AD, Singarayer J, Valdes P, Balloux F, Leboreiro I, Vera JL, Rangel-Villalobos H, Pettener D, Luiselli D, Davis LG, Heyer E, Zollikofer CP, Ponce de León MS, Smith CI, Grimes V, Pike KA, Deal M, Fuller BT, Arriaza B, Standen V, Luz MF, Ricaut F, Guidon N, Osipova L, Voevoda MI, Posukh OL, Balanovsky O, Lavryashina M, Bogunov Y, Khusnutdinova E, Gubina M, Balanovska E, Fedorova S, Litvinov S, Malyarchuk B, Derenko M, Mosher MJ, Archer D, Cybulski J, Petzelt B, Mitchell J, Worl R, Norman PJ, Parham P, Kemp BM, Kivisild T, Tyler-Smith C, Sandhu MS, Crawford M, Villems R, Smith DG, Waters MR, Goebel T, Johnson JR, Malhi RS, Jakobsson M, Meltzer DJ, Manica A, Durbin R, Bustamante CD, Song YS, Nielsen R, Willerslev E. (2015) Genomic evidence for the Pleistocene and recent population history of Native Americans. Science. Vol. 349 no. 6250 DOI: 10.1126/science.aab3884
• Raghavan M, DeGiorgio M, Albrechtsen A, Moltke I, Skoglund P, Korneliussen TS, Grønnow B, Appelt M, Gulløv HC, Friesen TM, Fitzhugh W, Malmström H, Rasmussen S, Olsen J, Melchior L, Fuller BT, Fahrni SM, Stafford T Jr, Grimes V, Renouf MA, Cybulski J, Lynnerup N, Lahr MM, Britton K, Knecht R, Arneborg J, Metspalu M, Cornejo OE, Malaspinas AS, Wang Y, Rasmussen M, Raghavan V, Hansen TV, Khusnutdinova E, Pierre T, Dneprovsky K, Andreasen C, Lange H, Hayes MG, Coltrain J, Spitsyn VA, Götherström A, Orlando L, Kivisild T, Villems R, Crawford MH, Nielsen FC, Dissing J, Heinemeier J, Meldgaard M, Bustamante C, O’Rourke DH, Jakobsson M, Gilbert MT, Nielsen R, Willerslev E. (2014) The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic. Science. 345 (6200) DOI: 10.1126/science.1255832
• Rasmussen M, Anzick SL, Waters MR, Skoglund P, DeGiorgio M, Stafford TW Jr, Rasmussen S, Moltke I, Albrechtsen A, Doyle SM, Poznik GD, Gudmundsdottir V, Yadav R, Malaspinas AS, White SS 5th, Allentoft ME, Cornejo OE, Tambets K, Eriksson A, Heintzman PD, Karmin M, Korneliussen TS, Meltzer DJ, Pierre TL, Stenderup J, Saag L, Warmuth VM, Lopes MC, Malhi RS, Brunak S, Sicheritz-Ponten T, Barnes I, Collins M, Orlando L, Balloux F, Manica A, Gupta R, Metspalu M, Bustamante CD, Jakobsson M, Nielsen R, Willerslev E. (2014) The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana. Nature. 506 (7487): 225 – 229 doi:10.1038/nature13025
• Dewey FE, Chen R, Cordero SP, Ormond KE, Caleshu C, Karczewski KJ, Whirl-Carrillo M, Wheeler MT, Dudley JT, Byrnes JK, Cornejo OE, Knowles JW, Woon M, Sangkuhl K, Gong L, Thorn CF, Hebert JM, Capriotti E, David SP, Pavlovic A, West A, Thakuria JV, Ball MP, Zaranek AW, Rehm HL, Church GM, West JS, Bustamante CD, Snyder M, Altman RB, Klein TE, Butte AJ, Ashley EA. (2011) Phased whole genome genetic risk in a family quartet using a major allele reference sequence. PLoS Genetics. 7(9): e1002280. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002280
• Leung SW, Apponi LH, Cornejo OE, Kitchen CM, Valentini SR, Pavlath GK, Dunham CM, Corbett AH. (2009) Splice Variants of the Human ZC3H14 Gene Generate Multiple Isoforms of a Zinc Finger Polyadenosine RNA Binding Protein. Gene. 439(1-2):71-78.