Professor Dr. Nicolas Rohner
Publications
- Elevated DNA damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican cavefish.
Lloyd E, Xia F, Moore K, Zertuche M C, Rastogi A, Kozol RA, Kenzor O, Warren W, Appelbaum L, Moran RL, Zhao C, Duboue ER, Rohner N, Keene AC () eLife 13, doi: 10.7554/eLife.99191. - From Development to Regeneration: Insights into Flight Muscle Adaptations from Bat Muscle Cell Lines.
Deng F, Peña V, Morales-Sosa P, Bernal-Rivera A, Yang B, Huang S, Ghosh S, Katt M, Castellano LA, Maddera L, Yu Z, Rohner N, Zhao C, Camacho J () Cells 14 (15), doi: 10.3390/cells14151190. - Cave adaptation favors aging resilience in the Mexican tetra.
Cobham AE, Kenzior A, Morales-Sosa P, Javier JE, Swanson S, Wood C, Rohner N () npj metabolic health and disease 3 (1), 33–33, doi: 10.1038/s44324-025-00069-y. - Reproductive adaptation of Astyanax mexicanus under nutrient limitation.
Xia F, Santacruz A, Wu D, Bertho S, Fritz E, Morales-Sosa P, McKinney S, Nowotarski SH, Rohner N () Developmental Biology 523, 82–98, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2025.04.006. - A repeatedly evolved mutation in Cryptochrome-1 of subterranean animals alters behavioral and molecular circadian rhythms.
Swaminathan A, Kenzior A, Price A, Li H, McCoin C, Hintermann A, Weaver K, Morris N, Keene AC, Rohner N () iScience 28 (7), 112874–112874, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112874. - From Development to Regeneration: Insights into Flight Muscle Adaptations from Bat Muscle Cell Lines. [Preprint]
Deng F, Peña V, Morales-Sosa P, Bernal-Rivera A, Yang B, Huang S, Ghosh S, Katt M, Castellano L, Maddera C, Yu Z, Rohner N, Zhao C, Camacho J (), doi: 10.1101/2025.07.01.662643. - Divergent 3D genome organization in livers of cave and surface morphs of <i>Astyanax mexicanus</i> as a potential driver of unique metabolic adaptations in cave environment. [Preprint]
Biswas T, Li H, Rohner N (), doi: 10.1101/2024.09.30.615929. - Differentially expressed miRNAs offer new perspective into cave adaptation of Astyanax mexicanus.
Biswas T, Hassan H, Rohner N () Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1546 (1), 173–181, doi: 10.1111/nyas.15300. - Reproductive Adaptation of <i>Astyanax mexicanus</i> Under Nutrient Limitation. [Preprint]
Xia F, Santacruz A, Wu D, Bertho S, Fritz E, Morales-Sosa P, McKinney S, Nowotarski SH, Rohner N (), doi: 10.1101/2025.02.13.638191. - Population Genomics of Premature Termination Codons in Cavefish With Substantial Trait Loss.
Roback EY, Ferrufino E, Moran RL, Shennard D, Mulliniks C, Gallop J, Weagley J, Miller J, Fily Y, Ornelas-García CP, Rohner N, Kowalko JE, McGaugh SE () Molecular Biology and Evolution 42 (2), doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaf012.
- Postprandial Sleep in Short-Sleeping Mexican Cavefish.
Gallman K, Rastogi A, North O, O'Gorman M, Hutton P, Lloyd E, Warren WC, Kowalko JE, Duboue ER, Rohner N, Keene AC () Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology 341 (10), 1084–1096, doi: 10.1002/jez.2880. - Long-term hybridization in a karst window reveals the genetic basis of eye loss in cavefish. [Preprint]
Kellermeyer R, Seidel C, Redwine WB, Moran RL, Bertho S, Ornelas-García CP, Alegre D, Weaver K, Unruh J, Troutwine B, Wang Y, Collins E, Rutkowski J, McGaugh SE, Espinasa L, Rohner N (), doi: 10.1101/2024.10.25.620266. - Elevated DNA Damage without signs of aging in the short-sleeping Mexican Cavefish. [Preprint]
Lloyd E, Xia F, Moore K, Zertuche C, Rastogi A, Kozol R, Kenzior O, Warren W, Appelbaum L, Moran RL, Zhao C, Duboue E, Rohner N, Keene AC (), doi: 10.1101/2024.04.18.590174. - Establishing Primary and Stable Cell Lines from Frozen Wing Biopsies for Cellular, Physiological, and Genetic Studies in Bats.
Deng F, Morales-Sosa P, Bernal-Rivera A, Wang Y, Tsuchiya D, Javier JE, Rohner N, Zhao C, Camacho J () Current protocols 4 (9), e1123–e1123, doi: 10.1002/cpz1.1123. - Sugar assimilation underlying dietary evolution of Neotropical bats.
Camacho J, Bernal-Rivera A, Peña V, Morales-Sosa P, Robb S MC, Russell J, Yi K, Wang Y, Tsuchiya D, Murillo-García OE, Rohner N () Nature Ecology and Evolution 8 (9), 1735–1750, doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02485-7. - A repeatedly evolved mutation in Cryptochrome-1 of subterranean animals alters behavioral and molecular circadian rhythms. [Preprint]
Swaminathan A, Kenzior A, McCoin C, Price A, Weaver K, Hintermann A, Morris N, Keene AC, Rohner N (), doi: 10.1101/2024.09.19.613894. - Astyanax mexicanus surface and cavefish chromosome-scale assemblies for trait variation discovery.
Warren WC, Rice ES, X M, Roback E, Keene A, Martin F, Ogeh D, Haggerty L, Carroll RA, McGaugh S, Rohner N () G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 14 (8), doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae103. - Astyanax mexicanus surface and cavefish chromosome-scale assemblies for trait variation discovery.
Warren WC, Rice ES, X M, Roback E, Keene A, Martin F, Ogeh D, Haggerty L, Carroll RA, McGaugh S, Rohner N () G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 14 (8), doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae103. - Postprandial sleep in short-sleeping Mexican cavefish. [Preprint]
Gallman K, Rastogi A, North O, O'Gorman M, Hutton P, Lloyd E, Warren W, Kowalko JE, Duboue ER, Rohner N, Keene AC (), doi: 10.1101/2024.07.03.602003. - Starvation-resistant cavefish reveal conserved mechanisms of starvation-induced hepatic lipotoxicity.
Pozo-Morales M, Cobham AE, Centola C, McKinney MC, Liu P, Perazzolo C, Lefort A, Libert F, Bai H, Rohner N, Singh SP () Life Science Alliance 7 (5), doi: 10.26508/lsa.202302458. - 3D spheroid culturing of Astyanax mexicanus liver-derived cell lines recapitulates distinct transcriptomic and metabolic states of in vivo tissue environment.
Biswas T, Rajendran N, Hassan H, Li H, Zhao C, Rohner N () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 342 (3), 301–312, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.23236. - The prevalence of copy number increase at multiallelic copy number variants associated with cave colonization.
Pokrovac I, Rohner N, Pezer Ž () Molecular Ecology 33 (9), e17339–e17339, doi: 10.1111/mec.17339. - Unraveling stress resilience: Insights from adaptations to extreme environments by Astyanax mexicanus cavefish.
Cobham AE, Rohner N () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 342 (3), 178–188, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.23238. - Compartmentalized ocular lymphatic system mediates eye-brain immunity.
Yin X, Zhang S, Lee JH, Dong H, Mourgkos G, Terwilliger G, Kraus A, Geraldo LH, Poulet M, Fischer S, Zhou T, Mohammed FS, Zhou J, Wang Y, Malloy S, Rohner N, Sharma L, Salinas I, Eichmann A, Thomas JL, Saltzman WM, Huttner A, Zeiss C, Ring A, Iwasaki A, Song E () Nature 628 (8006), 204–211, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07130-8. - Host evolution shapes gut microbiome composition in <i>Astyanax mexicanus</i>.
Riddle MR, Nguyen NK, Nave M, Peuß R, Maldonado E, Rohner N, Tabin CJ () Ecology and Evolution 14 (4), e11192–e11192, doi: 10.1002/ece3.11192. - Establishing Primary and Stable Cell Lines from Frozen Wing Biopsies for Cellular, Physiological, and Genetic Studies in Bats. [Preprint]
Deng F, Morales-Sosa P, Bernal-Rivera A, Wang Y, Tsuchiya D, Javier JE, Rohner N, Zhao C, Camacho J (), doi: 10.1101/2024.03.22.586286. - Starvation resistant cavefish reveal conserved mechanisms of starvation-induced hepatic lipotoxicity. [Preprint]
Pozo-Morales M, Cobham AE, Centola C, McKinney MC, Liu P, Perazzolo C, Lefort A, Libert F, Bai H, Rohner N, Singh SP (), doi: 10.1101/2024.01.10.574986.
- Off the deep end: What can deep learning do for the gene expression field?
Raicu AM, Fay JC, Rohner N, Zeitlinger J, Arnosti DN () Journal of Biological Chemistry 299 (1), 102760–102760, doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102760. - Circadian rhythm disruption is associated with skeletal muscle dysfunction within the blind Mexican Cavefish. [Preprint]
Olsen L, Krishnan J, Banks C, Hassan H, Rohner N (), doi: 10.1101/2023.01.25.525368.
- Poor eyesight reveals a new vision gene.
Biswas T, Krishnan J, Rohner N () eLife 11, doi: 10.7554/eLife.81520. - Liver-derived cell lines from cavefish Astyanax mexicanus as an in vitro model for studying metabolic adaptation.
Krishnan J, Wang Y, Kenzior O, Hassan H, Olsen L, Tsuchiya D, Kenzior A, Peuß R, Xiong S, Wang Y, Zhao C, Rohner N () Scientific Reports 12 (1), 10115–10115, doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-14507-0. - The metabolome of Mexican cavefish shows a convergent signature highlighting sugar, antioxidant, and Ageing-Related metabolites.
Medley JK, Persons J, Biswas T, Olsen L, Peuß R, Krishnan J, Xiong S, Rohner N () eLife 11, doi: 10.7554/eLife.74539. - Genome-wide analysis of cis-regulatory changes underlying metabolic adaptation of cavefish.
Krishnan J, Seidel CW, Zhang N, Singh NP, VanCampen J, Peuß R, Xiong S, Kenzior A, Li H, Conaway JW, Rohner N () Nature Genetics 54 (5), 684–693, doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01049-4. - Enhanced lipogenesis through Pparγ helps cavefish adapt to food scarcity.
Xiong S, Wang W, Kenzior A, Olsen L, Krishnan J, Persons J, Medley K, Peuß R, Wang Y, Chen S, Zhang N, Thomas N, Miles JM, Alvarado AS, Rohner N () Current biology 32 (10), 2272.e6–2280.e6, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.03.038. - Hybridization underlies localized trait evolution in cavefish.
Moran RL, Jaggard JB, Roback EY, Kenzior A, Rohner N, Kowalko JE, Ornelas-García CP, McGaugh SE, Keene AC () iScience 25 (2), 103778–103778, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103778.
- Pleiotropic function of the oca2 gene underlies the evolution of sleep loss and albinism in cavefish.
O'Gorman M, Thakur S, Imrie G, Moran RL, Choy S, Sifuentes-Romero I, Bilandžija H, Renner KJ, Duboué E, Rohner N, McGaugh SE, Keene AC, Kowalko JE () Current biology 31 (16), 3694.e4–3701.e4, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.077. - Repeated evolution of circadian clock dysregulation in cavefish populations.
Mack KL, Jaggard JB, Persons JL, Roback EY, Passow CN, Stanhope BA, Ferrufino E, Tsuchiya D, Smith SE, Slaughter BD, Kowalko J, Rohner N, Keene AC, McGaugh SE () PLOS Genetics 17 (7), e1009642–e1009642, doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009642. - Image3C, a multimodal image-based and label-independent integrative method for single-cell analysis.
Accorsi A, Box AC, Peuß R, Wood C, Sánchez A A, Rohner N () eLife 10, doi: 10.7554/eLife.65372. - Lipid metabolism in adaptation to extreme nutritional challenges.
Olsen L, Thum E, Rohner N () Developmental Cell 56 (10), 1417–1429, doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.02.024. - A chromosome-level genome of Astyanax mexicanus surface fish for comparing population-specific genetic differences contributing to trait evolution
Warren WC, Boggs TE, Borowsky R, Carlson BM, Ferrufino E, Gross JB, Hillier L, Hu Z, Keene AC, Kenzior A, Kowalko JE, Tomlinson C, Kremitzki M, Lemieux ME, Graves-Lindsay T, McGaugh SE, Miller JT, Mommersteeg M TM, Moran RL, Peuß R, Rice ES, Riddle MR, Sifuentes-Romero I, Stanhope BA, Tabin CJ, Thakur S, Yamamoto Y, Rohner N () Nature Communications 12 (1), 1447, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21733-zDO-10.1038/s41467-021-21733-z.
- Comparative transcriptome analysis of wild and lab populations of Astyanax mexicanus uncovers differential effects of environment and morphotype on gene expression.
Krishnan J, Persons JL, Peuß R, Hassan H, Kenzior A, Xiong S, Olsen L, Maldonado E, Kowalko JE, Rohner N () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 334 (7-8), 530–539, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22933. - Dark world rises: The emergence of cavefish as a model for the study of evolution, development, behavior, and disease.
McGaugh SE, Kowalko JE, Duboué E, Lewis P, Franz-Odendaal TA, Rohner N, Gross JB, Keene AC () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 334 (7-8), 397–404, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22978. - In the Spotlight-Early Career Researcher.
Rohner N () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 334 (7-8), 387–388, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.22992. - Introduction to the special issue-cavefish-adaptation to the dark.
Kowalko JE, Franz-Odendaal TA, Rohner N () Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 334 (7-8), 393–396, doi: 10.1002/jez.b.23014. - Adaptation to low parasite abundance affects immune investment and immunopathological responses of cavefish
Peuß R, Box AC, Chen S, Wang Y, Tsuchiya D, Persons JL, Kenzior A, Maldonado E, Krishnan J, Scharsack JP, Slaughter BD, Rohner N () Nature Ecology and Evolution 2020, doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1234-2.
- An Adult Brain Atlas Reveals Broad Neuroanatomical Changes in Independently Evolved Populations of Mexican Cavefish.
Loomis C, Peuß R, Jaggard JB, Wang Y, McKinney SA, Raftopoulos SC, Raftopoulos A, Whu D, Green M, McGaugh SE, Rohner N, Keene AC, Duboue ER () Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 13, 88–88, doi: 10.3389/fnana.2019.00088. - Stable transgenesis in Astyanax mexicanus using the Tol2 transposase system.
Stahl BA, Peuß R, McDole B, Kenzior A, Jaggard JB, Gaudenz K, Krishnan J, McGaugh SE, Duboue ER, Keene AC, Rohner N () Developmental Dynamics 248 (8), 679–687, doi: 10.1002/dvdy.32. - Gamete Collection and In Vitro Fertilization of Astyanax mexicanus.
Peuß R, Zakibe Z, Krishnan J, Merryman MS, Baumann DP, Rohner N () Journal of Visualized Experiments X (147), doi: 10.3791/59334. - Sweet fish: Fish models for the study of hyperglycemia and diabetes.
Krishnan J, Rohner N () Journal of Diabetes 11 (3), 193–203, doi: 10.1111/1753-0407.12860.
- The role of gene flow in rapid and repeated evolution of cave-related traits in Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus.
Herman A, Brandvain Y, Weagley J, Jeffery WR, Keene AC, Kono T JY, Bilandžija H, Borowsky R, Espinasa L, O'Quin K, Ornelas-García CP, Yoshizawa M, Carlson B, Maldonado E, Gross JB, Cartwright RA, Rohner N, Warren WC, McGaugh SE () Molecular Ecology 27 (22), 4397–4416, doi: 10.1111/mec.14877. - Evolution: A Dark Past.
Rohner N () Current biology 28 (20), R1190–R1192, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.045. - Cavefish as an evolutionary mutant model system for human disease.
Rohner N () Developmental Biology 441 (2), 355–357, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.04.013. - CRISPR mutagenesis confirms the role of oca2 in melanin pigmentation in Astyanax mexicanus.
Klaassen H, Wang Y, Adamski K, Rohner N, Kowalko JE () Developmental Biology 441 (2), 313–318, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.03.014. - Early adipogenesis contributes to excess fat accumulation in cave populations of Astyanax mexicanus.
Xiong S, Krishnan J, Peuß R, Rohner N () Developmental Biology 441 (2), 297–304, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.06.003. - Seeing a bright future for a blind fish.
Gore AV, Rohner N, Rétaux S, Jeffery WR () Developmental Biology 441 (2), 207–208, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.08.004. - Temperature preference of cave and surface populations of Astyanax mexicanus.
Tabin JA, Aspiras A, Martineau B, Riddle M, Kowalko J, Borowsky R, Rohner N, Tabin CJ () Developmental Biology 441 (2), 338–344, doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.04.017. - Insulin resistance in cavefish as an adaptation to a nutrient-limited environment.
Riddle MR, Aspiras AC, Gaudenz K, Peuß R, Sung JY, Martineau B, Peavey M, Box AC, Tabin JA, McGaugh S, Borowsky R, Tabin CJ, Rohner N () Nature 555 (7698), 647–651, doi: 10.1038/nature26136.
- Cavefish and the basis for eye loss.
Krishnan J, Rohner N () Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 372 (1713), doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0487.
- Parallelism and Epistasis in Skeletal Evolution Identified through Use of Phylogenomic Mapping Strategies.
Daane JM, Rohner N, Konstantinidis P, Djuranovic S, Harris MP () Molecular Biology and Evolution 33 (1), 162–73, doi: 10.1093/molbev/msv208.
- Melanocortin 4 receptor mutations contribute to the adaptation of cavefish to nutrient-poor conditions.
Aspiras AC, Rohner N, Martineau B, Borowsky RL, Tabin CJ () Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112 (31), 9668–73, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1510802112.
- The cavefish genome reveals candidate genes for eye loss.
McGaugh SE, Gross JB, Aken B, Blin M, Borowsky R, Chalopin D, Hinaux H, Jeffery WR, Keene A, Ma L, Minx P, Murphy D, O'Quin KE, Rétaux S, Rohner N, Searle SM, Stahl BA, Tabin C, Volff JN, Yoshizawa M, Warren WC () Nature Communications 5, 5307–5307, doi: 10.1038/ncomms6307. - Development: facial makeup enhancing our looks.
Rohner N, Tschopp P, Tabin C () Current biology 24 (1), R36–R38, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.026.
- Cryptic variation in morphological evolution: HSP90 as a capacitor for loss of eyes in cavefish.
Rohner N, Jarosz DF, Kowalko JE, Yoshizawa M, Jeffery WR, Borowsky RL, Lindquist S, Tabin CJ () Science 342 (6164), 1372–5, doi: 10.1126/science.1240276. - Convergence in feeding posture occurs through different genetic loci in independently evolved cave populations of Astyanax mexicanus.
Kowalko JE, Rohner N, Linden TA, Rompani SB, Warren WC, Borowsky R, Tabin CJ, Jeffery WR, Yoshizawa M () Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 (42), 16933–8, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1317192110. - Loss of schooling behavior in cavefish through sight-dependent and sight-independent mechanisms.
Kowalko JE, Rohner N, Rompani SB, Peterson BK, Linden TA, Yoshizawa M, Kay EH, Weber J, Hoekstra HE, Jeffery WR, Borowsky R, Tabin CJ () Current biology 23 (19), 1874–83, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.07.056. - Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution.
JJ S, S K, C H, T S-S, N J, MS C, MD Y, T M, A M, OE B, JR M, JD B, R S, C S, AS G, M C, R K, LM W, SA S, WA D, JA H, CT A, NR S, KM B, JP R, S D, M H, N M, P G, N R, CJ T, P P, G E, M R, BL A, SM S, M M, M P, J H, M J, CT B, YW C-D, KG N, SV L, CY Y, DW M, JA L, Z P, B F, PJ d J, B Z, LL F, B T, P F, ME B, WC W, SW C, RK W, W Li () Nature Genetics 45 (4), 415–21, 2, doi: 10.1038/ng.2568. - The African coelacanth genome provides insights into tetrapod evolution.
CT A, J A, AP L, S F, H P, I M, I B, T M, I S, N R, C O, D C, JJ S, M R, RA D, M G, B A, MA B, M B, D B, AM B, GL B, F B, T B, MS C, A C, JP C, A C, G De M, AL E, L F, AM F, N F, M F, J G, S G, A G, JV G, W H, ME H, U H, S H, J J, SI K, S K, M L, JZ L, GW L, E M, T M, MG M, DR N, A N, E O, T O, A P, S P, B P, CP P, SJ P, D P, NR S, V R, FJ R, T S-S, G S, SM S, T S, O S, PF S, JJ S, K S, D T, H T, J T-M, P v H, S W, L W, M Y, H B, JN V, CJ T, N S, M S, DB J, JH P, B V, F Di P, ES L, A M, K L-T () Nature 496 (7445), 311–6, doi: 10.1038/nature12027.
- Enhancing the efficiency of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutagenesis in the zebrafish.
Rohner N, Perathoner S, Frohnhöfer HG, Harris MP () Zebrafish 8 (3), 119–23, doi: 10.1089/zeb.2011.0703. - Modulation of Fgfr1a signaling in zebrafish reveals a genetic basis for the aggression-boldness syndrome.
Norton WH, Stumpenhorst K, Faus-Kessler T, Folchert A, Rohner N, Harris MP, Callebert J, Bally-Cuif L () Journal of Neuroscience 31 (39), 13796–807, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2892-11.2011.
- Duplication of fgfr1 permits Fgf signaling to serve as a target for selection during domestication.
Rohner N, Bercsényi M, Orbán L, Kolanczyk ME, Linke D, Brand M, Nüsslein-Volhard C, Harris MP () Current biology 19 (19), 1642–7, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.065.
- Zebrafish eda and edar mutants reveal conserved and ancestral roles of ectodysplasin signaling in vertebrates.
Harris MP, Rohner N, Schwarz H, Perathoner S, Konstantinidis P, Nüsslein-Volhard C () PLOS Genetics 4 (10), e1000206–e1000206, doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000206.
Projects
- A genomic toolkit for functional interrogation of trait variation in an aquatic model ()
Participation in other joint Project: National Institutes of Health | Project Number: C00073967-3 - Adaptation to extreme environments ()
Individual Granted Project: Stowers Institute for Medical Research