Martin Kapun
Table of contents
Research Interests
As an evolutionary biologist, I am interested in the evolutionary and ecological factors that maintain and shape genetic and phenotypic variation in natural populations. Moreover, I want to better understand the eco-evolutionary dynamics of host-symbiont interactions. In my research, I combine bioinformatics, biostatistics, population genomics, experimental evolution and quantitative phenotyping. Using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and dung flies of the genus Sepsis as my focal model systems, I investigate patterns and mechanisms of in neutral and adaptive evolution in natural populations: My main research questions are centered around:
- the demographic history of world-wide fruit fly populations and sym- and allopatric dungfly species
- the genetic and phenotypic basis of sexual trait dimorphisms and adaptation along environmental gradients
- the evolution of chromosomal inversion polymorphisms
- the influence of ecology and evolution on host-symbiont interactions
CV
Education and Professional Positions
2020 - present | Independent Group Leader, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
2019 - present | Independent Group Leader, Medical University of Vienna, Austria |
2019 - present | Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dr. Wolf Blanckenhorn, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Switzerland |
2019 | Bioinformatics specialist with Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Kawecki, University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
2018 | Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dr. Thomas Flatt, University of Fribourg, Switzerland |
2013 - 2017 | Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Dr. Thomas Flatt, University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
2008 - 2013 | Ph.D. in Ecology with Prof. Dr. Christian Schlötterer, Vetmeduni Vienna, Austria |
2007 - 2008 | Research Assistant with Prof. Dr. Hans Winkler, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria |
2004 - 2007 | M.Sc. in Ecology with Prof. Dr. Konrad Fiedler, University of Vienna, Austria |
1999 - 2004 | B.Sc. in Biodiversity and Ecology, Karl Franzens University Graz, Austria |
Selected Publications
- Haudry A., Laurent S., Kapun M. (2020.: Population Genomics on the Fly: Recent Advances in Drosophila. in Dutheil J, editor. 2020. Statistical Population Genomics, Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer US. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0199-0
- Ramaekers A., Claeys A., Kapun M., Mouchel-Vielh E., Potier D., Weinberger S., Grillenzoni N., Dardalhon-Cuménal D., Yan J., Wolf R., Flatt T., Buchner E., Hassan BA. (2019). Altering the temporal regulation of one transcription factor drives evolutionary trade-offs between head sensory organs. Developmental Cell, 50(6):780-792. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.07.027
- Kapun M., Flatt T. (2018). The Evolutionary Significance of Inversion Polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster. Invited Review for a Special Issue in Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.14871
- Mallard F., Nolte V., Tobler R., Kapun M., Schlötterer C. (2018). Rapid metabolic rewiring drives adaptation to novel thermal environments in Drosophila. Genome Biology. DOI: 10.1186/s13059-018-1503-4
- Truitt A., Kapun M., Kaur R., Miller W. (2018). Wolbachia infections modify temperature preference in Drosophila melanogaster. Environmental Microbiology. DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14347
- Kapun M., Fabian DK., Goudet J., Flatt T. (2016). Genomic Evidence for Adaptive Inversion Clines in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33, 1317-1336. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw016
- Kapun M., van Schalkwyk H., McAllister B., Flatt T., Schlötterer C. (2014). Inference of chromosomal inversion dynamics from Pool-Seq data in natural and laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Ecology, 23, 1813–1827. DOI: 10.1111/mec.12594
- Fabian DK., Kapun M., Nolte V., Kofler R., Schmidt P., Schlötterer C., Flatt T. (2012). Genome-wide patterns of latitudinal differentiation among populations of Drosophila melanogaster from North America. Molecular Ecology, 21, 4748–4769. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05731.x