Noémie Becker: Evolution of humans and pathogens

Research topics

Originally an evolutionary anthropologist, I am interested in human evolution and on that of its pathogens. Research in the group focuses mainly on the evolution of Borrelia bacteria responsible for Lyme disease but also on other projects related to human and bacterial evolution.

Evolution of Borrelia and Lyme disease

Lyme disease is one of the most frequent zoonoses in the Northern Hemisphere. It is caused by bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex transmitted form host ot host by tick vectors. Understanding the evolution of Borrelia bacteria in the context of their adaptation to their different hosts is crucial for the understanding of the geographical spread of the disease as well as their adaptation to the human immune system. In collaboration with Dr. G. Margos and Dr. V. Fingerle from the Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, I have developed a project focusing on the evolution of Borrelia from different species and on their adaptation to their hosts. The methods used are mainly those of population genomics.

Related publications

• Becker NS, Margos G, Blum H, Krebs S, Graf A, Lane RS, Santiago Castillo-Ramírez, Sing A, Fingerle V. Recurrent evolution of host and vector association in bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex. In Prep.
• Gatzmann F, Metzler D, Krebs S, Blum H, Sing A, Takano A, Kawabata H, Fingerle V, Margos G and Becker NS. NGS population genetics analyses reveal divergent evolution of a Lyme Borreliosis agent in Europe and Asia. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases; 2015;6:344-351.DOI:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.02.008

Evolution of demographic parameters in human populations

In collaboration with the Metzler´s group I study the performance of the software for demographic inference Jaatha on models with three or more human populations. Using summary statistics based on the joint-site frequency spectrum this composite-likelihood method allows for infrence of demographic parameters when divergence between populations is recent as is the case in human populations.

Related publications

• Becker NS, Staab PR and Metzler D Recurrent evolution of host and vector association in bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex. In Prep.

Evolution of KdpD proteins in bacteria

This project is a collaboration of different groups of the Faculty of Biology and aims at understanding the evolution of this protein and its different domains in bacteria and archea.

Evolution of African Pygmy populations

Since I started my PhD in 2008 on the evolution of short stature in African Pygmies, I have not lost interest in these fascinating populations. I am still studying genetic factors involved in short stature in African Pygmies in collaboration with E. Patin and L. Quintana from Pasteur Institute, Y. LeBouc and S. Amselem from Trousseau Hospital and E. Heyer from MNHN. I have also an ongoing study on mutation involved in albinism in Baka Pygmies in collaboration with B. Arvelier from INSERM and A. Froment from MNHN.

Related publications

• Patin E, Siddle KJ, Laval G, Quach H, Harmant C, Becker N, Froment A, Régnault B, Lemée L, Gravel S, Hombert JM, Van der Veen L, Dominy NJ, Perry GH, Barreiro LB, Verdu P, Heyer E and Quintana-Murci L. The impact of agricultural emergence on the genetic history of African rainforest hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. Nature Communications. 2014;5:3163DOI:10.1038/ncomms4163
• Verdu P, Becker NSA, Froment A, Georges M, Grugni V, Quintana-Murci L, Hombert JM, Van der Veen L, Le Bomin S, Bahuchet S, Heyer E and Austerlizt F. Sociocultural Behavior, Sex-Biased Admixture, and Effective Population Sizes in Central African Pygmies and Non-Pygmies. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 2013; 30:918-937.DOI:10.1093/molbev/mss328 Becker NSA, Verdu P, Georges M, Duquesnoy P, Froment A, Amselem S, Le Bouc Y and Heyer E. The role of GHR and IGF1 genes in the genetic determination of African pygmies’ short stature. European Journal of Human Genetics. 2013; 21:653-658.DOI:10.1038/ejhg.2012.223
• Becker NSA, Touraille P, Froment A, Heyer E and Courtiol A. Short stature in African pygmies is not explained by sexual selection. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012;33:615-622.DOI:10.1016/evolhumbehav.2012.03.001
• Becker NSA, Verdu P, Froment A, Le Bomin S, Pagezy H, Bahuchet S, Heyer E. Indirect Evidence for the Genetic Determination of Short Stature in African Pygmies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2011; 145:390-401.DOI:10.1002/ajpa.21512
• Becker NS, Verdu P, Hewlett B, Pavard S. Can life history trade-offs explain the evolution of short stature in human pygmies? A response to Migliano et al. (2007). Hum Biol. 2010; 82:17-27.DOI:10.3378/027.082.0101

Current students

Theresa Puchner, Bachelor Biology, LMU

Theresa is doing her Bachelor Biology thesis on the evolution of CRASPs proteins in Borrelia bavariensis and garinii

Katie Wolcott, Master EES, LMU

Katie is working on the genomic evolution of Borrelia host species.

Former students

• Christoph Netz, Master EES, LMU
• Ekaterina Morozova, Master EES, LMU
• Gwenna Breton, ENS, Lyon
• Raul Gonzalez, Master EES, LMU
• Cendy Zheng, Master EES, LMU
• Sebastian Rehms, Bachelor Biology, LMU
• Fanny Gatzmann, Master Bioinformatics, LMU-TU

Teaching

Please refer to the AG Metzler website