Publications

Evolution of Borrelia and Lyme disease

Rollins RE, Wülbern J, Röttgerdung F, Nowak TA, Hepner S, Fingerle V, Margos G, Lin YP, Kraiczy P & Becker NS*. Utilizing Two Borrelia bavariensis isolates naturally lacking the PFam54 gene array to elucidate the roles of PFam54-encoded proteins. Applied and Environmental Microbiology; 2022.

Wolcott K, Margos G, Fingerle V, & Becker NS*. Host association of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato: a review. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases; 2021.

Rollins RE, Mouchet A, Margos G, Chitimia-Dobler L, Fingerle V, Becker NS & Dingemanse NJ. Repeatable differences in exploratory behaviour predict tick infestation probability in wild great tits. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology; 2021;75.

Rollins RE, Schaper S, Kahlhofer C, Frangoulidis D, Strauß AFT, Cardinale M, Springer A, Strube C, Bakkes DK, Becker NS*, Chitimia-Dobler L. Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on birds migrating to the island of Ponza, Italy, and the tick-borne pathogens they carry. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases; 2021;12.

Rollins RE, Yeyin Z, Wyczanska M, Alig N, Hepner S, Fingerle V, Margos G and Becker NS*. Spatial variability in prevalence and genospecies distributions of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato from ixodid ticks collected in southern Germany. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases; 2021;12.

Becker NS*, Rollins RE, Nosenko K et al. High conservation combined with high plasticity: genomics and evolution of Borrelia bavariensis. BMC Genomics; 2020;21.

Norte AC,  Margos G, Becker NS, et. al. Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick-borne bacterial pathogen. Molecular Ecology; 2020;29:485-501

Margos G, Becker NS, Fingerle V, Sing A, Ramos JA, Lopes de Carvalhoc I, Norte AC. Core genome phylogenetic analysis of the avian associated Borrelia turdi indicates a close relationship to Borrelia garinii. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; 2019;131:93-98.

Margos G, Fedorova N, Becker NS, Kleinjan JE, Marosevic D, Krebs S, Hui L, Fingerle V, Lane RS. Borrelia maritima sp. nov., a novel species of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, occupies a basal position to North American species. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology; 2019; In Press.

Becker NS*, Margos G, Blum H, Krebs S, Graf A, Lane RS, Castillo-Ramírez S, Sing A and Fingerle V. Recurrent evolution of host and vector association in bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex. BMC Genomics; 2016;17:734.

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.

Evolution of African Pygmy populations

Pemberton TJ, Verdu P, Becker NS, Willer CJ, Hewlett BS, Le Bomin S, Froment A, Rosenberg NA, Heyer E. A genome scan for genes underlying adult body size differences between Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers. Human Genetics; 2018;137: 487-509.

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;5:3163.

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.

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.

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.

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. AJPA. 2011; 145:390-401.

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). Human Biology. 2010 ; 82:17-27.

*: as corresponding author