Vera Warmuth
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Tel: +44 (0)1223 767 129 Position: Postdoc (co-based at UCL) |
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Research
I am a biologist with a background in Zoology. I graduated from Bonn University, Germany, in 2006 with a study on the effect of blood-sucking flies on the habitat use of Przewalski's horses in a semi-reserve in Hungary.
I am currently working on characterising geographic patterns of horse genetic variation throughout Eurasia using microsatellites. I am interested in determining to what extent large-scale patterns of microsatellite variation can inform us about the evolutionary history and origins of the domestic horse.
Geographic patterns of genetic variation and the evolutionary history of the domestic horse
The domestication of the horse has been studied extensively across multiple disciplines. However, studies from different fields have yielded conflicting results: while archaeological research suggests an important domestication centre in the central Asian steppes, molecular studies have been unable to support this idea but instead are suggestive of multiple domestications in geographically distant locations. Potential limitations of the molecular studies carried out so far include an underrepresentation of Central and East Asian horse populations as well as the use of just one marker, the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA. To address these issues, I am generating genotypic data on indigenous horse populations distributed throughout Eurasia using a set of highly polymorphic microsatellites and focusing in particular on Central and East Asian populations. These data will also allow me to address smaller-scale questions, such as geographical and political boundaries to gene flow.
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Publications
2013
3) Warmuth, V, Manica, A, Eriksson, A, Bower, MA, Barker, G. 2013. Autosomal genetic diversity in non-breed horses from eastern Eurasia provides insights into historical population movements. Animal Genetics 44: 53–61. [PDF]
2012
2) Warmuth, V, Eriksson, A, Bower, MA, Barker, G, Barrett, E, Hanks, BK, Li, S, Lomitashvili, D, Ochir-Goryaeva, M, Sizonov, GV, Soyono, V, Manica, A. 2012. Reconstructing the Origin and Spread of Horse Domestication in the Eurasian Steppe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109: 8202–8206. [PDF] [Media]
2011
1) Warmuth, V, Eriksson, A, Bower, MA, Canon, J, Cothran, G, Distl, O, Glowatzki-Mullis, M-L, Hunt, H, Luis, C, Oom, M do M, Tupac Yupanqui, I, Zabek, T, Manica, A. 2011. European Domestic Horses Originated in Two Holocene Refugia. Plos One 6: e18194. [PDF] [Suppl. Mat.]
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