We study how genuinely new structures arise from changes in genomes, developmental programmes and regulatory networks.
The Comparative Developmental Genomics Lab combines genomics, transcriptomics and evolutionary developmental biology in a comparative approach to study key evolutionary transitions across animals.
We use a broad range of models, with a special focus on jawless vertebrates such as hagfish and lampreys, chondrichthyans or cartilaginous fishes, and non-model organisms like turtles. Together, these lineages provide a powerful comparative framework to investigate the genomic and developmental basis of evolutionary innovation, including the origin of jawed vertebrates and the emergence of unique body plans.
Including gene family expansions, co-option of regulatory elements and emergence of novel genes associated with major morphological innovations.
We examine the developmental programmes that underlie evolutionary innovations and the gene regulatory networks active during their formation.
We infer ancestral genomic and developmental states to understand the evolutionary trajectory of key novelties across vertebrate evolution.
Cyclostomes provide a key comparative window into the early history of vertebrates and the impact of genome duplication on morphological evolution.
The turtle carapace is a unique vertebrate structure whose developmental and genomic basis offers a powerful model for studying evolutionary novelty.
Cartilaginous fishes, such as sharks and rays, are essential for understanding the origin and early evolution of jawed vertebrates.
This website has been funded through the R&D&I project PID2021-125078NA-I00, financed by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and ‘ERDF/EU’.
