Dr Nick Mundy
University Reader and
Mablethorpe Fellow,
Murray Edwards College
Department contact
Telephone: +44 (0) 1223 336657
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 336676
College contact
Telephone: +44 (0) 1223 769207
CV
Ph. D., University College London 1990
PostDoc, University of California, San Diego 1993-1997
University Lecturer, Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford 1997 - 2002
University Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, 2002 - 2011
Maplethorpe Fellow, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, 2009 -
University Reader, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, 2011- present
Research interests
Following postdoctoral work on primate phylogenetics and population genetics of island birds I became interested in the genes involved in adaptation in vertebrates. The approach I have taken is to identify relevant physiological systems in which a good understanding of the underlying genetics has been obtained from model organisms to identify candidate genes for adaptive phenotypic evolution. The identification of mutations involved in adaptive evolution allows many fundamental evolutionary issues to be addressed, such as: Do similar genetic changes underly similar phenotypic changes in different lineages ? What are the patterns of natural selection on the genes involved ? What is the nature of genetic constraints on evolution? This information also permits reconstruction of the history of phenotypic evolution.
The main systems that we work on are pigmentation genetics in primates and birds, and colour vision and olfaction in primates. For further details see under research.
I receive financial support from the Leverhulme Trust, Murray Edwards College, BBSRC, NERC and Royal Society.
Selected publications
Walsh, N., Dale, J., McGraw, K. J., Pointer, M. A. and N. I. Mundy (2012) Candidate genes for
carotenoid colouration in vertebrates and their expression profiles in the carotenoid-containing plumage and bill of a wild bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 279, 58-66.
Montgomery, S. H., Capellini, I., Venditti, C., Barton, R. A. and N. I. Mundy (2011) Adaptive
evolution of four microcephaly genes and the evolution of brain size in anthropoid primates. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28, 625-638.
Montgomery, S. H., and N. I. Mundy (2010) Brain evolution: microcephaly genes weigh in.
Current Biology 20, R244-245.
Bradley, B. J., Pedersen, A. and N. I. Mundy (2009) Blue eyes in lemurs and humans: same phenotype, different genetic mechanism. American Journal of Physical Anthropology139, 269-273.
MacFie, T. S., Nerrienet, E., de Groot, N. G., Bontrop, R. E. and N. I .Mundy (2009) Patterns of diversity in HIV-related loci among subspecies of chimpanzee: concordance at CCR5 and differences at CXCR4 and CX3CR1. Molecular Biology and Evolution 26, 719-727.
Nadeau, N.J., Minvielle, F., Ito, S., Inoue-Murayama, M., Gourichon, D., Follett, S.A., Burke, T. and N.I. Mundy (2008) Characterization of Japanese quail yellow as a genomic deletion upstream of the avian homologue of the mammalian ASIP (agouti) gene. Genetics 178, 777-786.
Pointer, M. A. and N. I. Mundy (2008) Testing whether macroevolution follows microevolution: Are colour differences among swans (Cygnus) attributable to variation at the MC1R locus? BMC Evolutionary Biology 8, 249.
Nadeau, N. J., Burke, T., and N. I. Mundy (2007) Evolution of an avian pigmentation gene correlates with a measure of sexual selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 274, 1807-1813.
Mundy, N. I. (2005) A window on the genetics of evolution: MC1R and plumage coloration in birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 272, 1633-1640.
Mundy, N. I., Badcock, N., Hart, T., Scribner, K., Janssen, K. and N. J. Nadeau (2004) Conserved genetic basis of a quantitative plumage trait involved in mate choice. Science 303, 1870-1873. [pdf]
Surridge, A. K., Osorio, D. and N. I. Mundy (2003) Evolution and selection of trichromatic vision in primates. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18, 198-205.
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