Alexandros Pittis
The Comparative Genomics Lab @ IMBB-FORTH is an interdisciplinary biology research group located at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (IMBB-FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete.
The lab uses computational biology, comparative genomics and single-cell transcriptomic methods to address questions on genome, protein/gene family, and cellular evolution. We are interested in the range of phenotypical and molecular adaptations across eukaryotic species, focusing on the study of the molecular complexity and diversity of neuronal cell types and the animal nervous systems.
Pittis AA, Yañez-Guerra LA, Ruperti F, Musser JM, Cole AG, Marinković M, Thiel D, Huerta-Cepas J, Technau U, Jékely G, Arendt D. From promiscuity to specialization: Prebilaterian origin of biogenic amine neurotransmission (under submission).
Irwin NAT, Pittis AA, Richards TA, Keeling PJ. (2022) Systematic evaluation of horizontal gene transfer between eukaryotes and viruses. Nat Microbiol. 7:327-336.
Pittis AA, Goh V, Cebrian-Serrano A, Wettmarshausen J, Perocchi F, Gabaldón T. (2020) Discovery of EMRE in fungi resolves the true evolutionary history of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. Nat Commun. 11:4031.
Burns JA, Pittis AA, Kim E. (2018) Gene-based predictive models of trophic modes suggest Asgard archaea are not phagocytotic. Nat Ecol Evol. 2:697-704.
Pittis AA, Gabaldón T. (2016) Late acquisition of mitochondria by a host with chimaeric prokaryotic ancestry. Nature. 531:101-104.