# The population genomics of hybridization: from genetic incompatibilities to genome evolution

> **NIH NIH R35** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $433,379

## Abstract

Project summary
 Due to advances in genome sequencing, researchers have discovered that
hybridization, or genetic exchange between species, is widespread. Research over the
past decade has demonstrated that hybridization is an important process that has
contributed to the modern-day genomes of many eukaryotic species, including
humans and our relatives. Given how recently biologists came to appreciate the
importance of hybridization, there are basic unanswered questions about its genetic
and evolutionary consequences. Addressing these questions from the single gene to
the genomic scale is the major focus of research in my lab group.
 Hybridization is not simply a feature of a population's history; it can impact
diverse biological processes from adaptation to disease. During the first four years
of R35 funding in my lab group, we studied several fundamental genetic consequences
of hybridization and developed new computational methods to study hybridization.
Because the genomes of two species have been evolving is isolation, combining these
genomes can have severe consequences. We used the swordtail model system
developed by my lab to pinpoint the genetic interactions that breakdown in hybrids and
the mechanisms through which they act. We will continue this work by building the first
genome-wide map of such genetic interactions in vertebrates and by unravelling the
molecular mechanisms that lead to melanoma and embryonic lethality in hybrids.
 My lab also studies broad scale principles governing where in the genome
hybrid ancestry persists and where it is removed by selection. Our past work
uncovered a key role of recombination rate and the density of conserved base pairs in
shaping the dynamics of genetic exchange between species along the genome. We
propose to continue this work to uncover additional processes shaping evolution after
hybridization on a genome-wide scale, focusing on the role of structural
rearrangements, divergence in transposable element families, and protein complexes.
Together this research will help us understand the mechanisms shaping genome
evolution after hybridization in species across the tree of life.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10841347
- **Project number:** 2R35GM133774-06
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Molly Schumer
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $433,379
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-08-20 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10841347

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10841347, The population genomics of hybridization: from genetic incompatibilities to genome evolution (2R35GM133774-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10841347. Licensed CC0.

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