Michael Nachman

Professor

Email: mnachman@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 642-1792
Lab Webpage: https://www.nachmanlab.org/

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Research Description

Research in the Nachman lab addresses a range of basic questions in population genetics and genomics.   Broadly, we are interested in understanding how genetic variation in natural populations is shaped by the interplay of migration, mutation, selection, recombination, drift, and changes in population size.  We study the genetic details of how new species arise as well as the genetics of adaptation.  Most of our work is on mammals with a particular emphasis on humans and mice.  Major current projects include: (1) environmental adaptation in introduced populations of house mice across the Americas, (2) the genetic basis of reproductive isolation between closely related lineages, and (3) the genetic basis of color variation in desert rodents.  We use a variety of approaches including field work, controlled crosses in the laboratory, genomic tools, molecular biological approaches, and computational analysis of large datasets.

Selected Publications

Campbell, P., and M.W. Nachman, 2014. X-Y interactions underlie sperm head abnormality in hybrid male house mice. Genetics 196: 1231-1240. 

Sheehan, M.J. and M.W. Nachman, 2014. Morphological and population genomic evidence that human faces have evolved to signal individual identity. Nature Communication 5: 4800. 

Carneiro, M., F.W. Albert, S. Afonso, R. J. Pereira, H. Burbano, R. Campos, J. Melo-Ferreira, J. A. Blanco-Aguiar, R. Villafuerte, M. W. Nachman, J. M. Good, and N. Ferrand, 2014. The genomic architecture of population divergence between subspecies of the European rabbit. PLOS Genetics 10(8):e1003519. 

Phifer-Rixey, M., M. Bomhoff, and M.W. Nachman, 2014. Genome-wide patterns of differentiation among house mouse subspecies inferred from transcriptome sequencing. Genetics 198: 283-297. 

Carneiro, M., S.J.E. Baird, S. Afonso, E. Ramirez, P. Tarroso, H. Teotonio, R. Villafuerte, M.W. Nachman, and N. Ferrand, 2013. Steep clines within a highly permeable genome across a hybrid zone between two subspecies of the European rabbit. Molecular Ecology 22: 2511-2525. 

Campbell, P., J.M. Good, and M.W. Nachman, 2013. Meiotic sex chromosome inactivation is disrupted in sterile hybrid male house mice. Genetics 193: 819-828. 

Campbell, P., J.M. Good, M.D. Dean, P.K. Tucker, and M.W. Nachman, 2012. The contribution of the Y chromosome to hybrid male sterility in house mice. Genetics 191(4): 1271-1281. 

Phifer-Rixey, M., F. Bonhomme, P. Boursot, G.A. Churchill, J. Pialek, P.K. Tucker, and M.W. Nachman, 2012. Adaptative evoluton and effective population size in wild house mice. Molecular Biology and Evolution 29(10): 2949-2955. 

Janousek, V., L. Wang, K. Luzynski, P. Dufkova, M.M. Vyskocilova, M.W. Nachman, P. Munclinger, M. Macholan, J. Pialek, and P.K. Tucker, 2012. Genome-wide architecture of reproductive isolation in a naturally occurring hybrid zone between Mus musculus and M. m. domesticus. Molecular Ecology 21(12): 3032-3047. 

Carnerio, M., F.W. Albert, J. Melo-Ferreira, N. Galtier, P. Gayral, J.A. Blanco-Aguiar, R. Villafuerte, M.W. Nachman, N. Ferrand, 2012. Evidence for widespread positive and purifying selection across the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) genome. Molecular Biology and Evolution 29(7): 1837-1849. 

Nachman, M.W. and B.A. Payseur, 2012. Recombination rate variation and speciation: theoretical predictions and empirical results from rabbits and mice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367: 409-421. 

Geraldes, A., P. Basset, K.L. Smith, and M.W. Nachman, 2011. Higher differentiation among subspecies of the house mouse (Mus musculus) in genomic regions with low recombination. Molecular Ecology 20(22): 4722-4736. 

Song, Y., S. Endepols, N. Klemann, D. Richter, F.-R. Matuschka, C.-H. Shih, M.W. Nachman, and M.H. Kohn, 2011. Adaptive introgression of anticoagulant rodent poison resistance by hybridization between Old World mice. Current Biology 21: 1296-1301. 

Dean, M.D., G.D. Findlay, M.R. Hoopmann, C.C. Wu, M.J. MacCoss, W.J. Swanson, and M.W. Nachman, 2011. Identification of ejaculated proteins in the house mouse (Mus domesticus) via isotopic labeling. BMC Genomics 12: 306. 

Yang, H., J.R. Wang, J.P. Didion, R.J. Buus, T.A. Bell, C.E. Welsh, F. Bonhomme, H.T. Yu, M.W. Nachman, J. Pialek, P.K. Tucker, P. Boursot, L. McMillan, G.A. Churchill, and F. Pardo-Manuel de Villena, 2011.  Subspecific origin and haplotype diversity in the laboratory mouse.  Nature Genetics 43: 648-655. 

Wang, L., K. Luzynski, J. Pool, V. Janoušek, P. Dufková, M. Vyskocilová, K.C. Teeter, M.W. Nachman, P. Munclinger, M. Macholán, J. Piálek, and P.K. Tucker, 2011. Measures of linkage disequilibrium among neighboring SNPs indicate asymmetries across the house mouse hybrid zone. Molecular Ecology 20: 2985-3000. 

Reifova, R., J. Reif, M. Antczak, and M.W. Nachman, 2011. Ecological character displacement in the face of gene flow: evidence from two species of nightingales.  BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 138. 

Carneiro, M., S. Afonso, A. Geraldes, H. Garreau, G. Bolet, S. Boucher, A. Tircazes, G. Queney, M.W. Nachman, and N. Ferrand, 2011. The genetic structure of domestic rabbits. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28(6): 1801-1816. 

Good, J.M., D. Vanderpool, K.L. Smith, and M.W. Nachman, 2011. Extraordinary sequence divergence at Tsga8, an X-linked gene involved in mouse spermiogensis. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28(5): 1675-1686.