Assoc.Prof. Ovidiu Paun
Group Leader, Plant Ecological Genomics
phone: +43-1-4277-540 57
fax: +43-1-4277-8-540 57
My group investigates why and how organisms diversify. For this aim, we focus on adaptation and divergence as fundamental evolutionary processes. We use integrative approaches, built upon a genomics core, in order to understand how lineages speciate and spread across niches, including some novel to their groups.
By integrating molecular data in their environmental context, we investigate natural populations of non-model and model organisms in order to explain the origin of biodiversity and its dynamics. Of particular interest for me is to understand the role of the environment in the evolutionary process. An important aim in my recent work is the exploration of the role of epigenetic variation in evolution.
Selected Publications
Szukala A, ..., Paun O. 2022. Polygenic routes lead to parallel altitudinal adaptation in Heliosperma pusillum (Caryophyllaceae). Molecular Ecology in press.
Yardeni G, ..., Lexer C*, Paun O*, Leroy T*. 2022. Taxon-specific or universal? Using target capture to study the evolutionary history of rapid radiations. Molecular Ecology Resources 22: 927-945.
Brandrud MK, ..., Hedren M*, Paun O*. 2020. Phylogenomic relationships of diploids and the origins of allotetraploids in Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae). Systematic Biology 69: 91-109.
Paun O, Verhoeven K, Richards C. 2019. Opportunities and limitations of reduced representation bisulfite sequencing in plant ecological epigenomics. New Phytologist 221: 738-742.
Balao F, ..., Paun O. 2017. Adaptive sequence evolution is driven by biotic stress in a pair of orchid species (Dactylorhiza) with distinct ecological optima. Molecular Ecology 26: 3649-3662.
Trucchi E, ..., Paun O. 2017. Genomic analyses suggest parallel ecological divergence in Heliosperma pusillum (Caryophyllaceae). New Phytologist 216: 267-278.
Paun O, Turner B et al. 2016. Processes driving the adaptive radiation of a tropical tree (Diospyros, Ebenaceae) in New Caledonia, a biodiversity hotspot. Systematic Biology 65: 212-217
Trucchi E, Mazzarella AB, ..., Paun O. 2016. BsRADseq: screening DNA methylation in natural populations of non-model species. Molecular Ecology 25: 1697-1713
Balao F, Tannhäuser M, ..., Paun O. 2016. Genetic differentiation and admixture between sibling allopolyploids in the Dactylorhiza majalis complex. Heredity 116: 351–361
Paun O, Bateman RM et al. 2010. Stable epigenetic effects and adaptation in allopolyploid orchids (Dactylorhiza: Orchidaceae). Molecular Biology and Evolution 27: 2465-2473 *Reviewed as “of special interest” by Richards 2011, Curr Opin Plant Biol 14: 204
Paun O, Bateman R et al. 2011. Altered gene expression and ecological divergence in sibling allopolyploids of Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae). BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 113
Paun O, Forest F et al. 2009. Hybrid speciation in angiosperms: parental divergence drives ploidy. New Phytologist 182: 507-518
Paun O, Schönswetter P et al. 2008. Historical divergence versus contemporary gene flow: evolutionary history of the calcicole Ranunculus alpestris group (Ranunculaceae) in the European Alps and the Carpathians. Molecular Ecology 17:4263-4275
Paun O, Fay MF et al. 2007. Genetic and epigenetic alterations after hybridization and genome doubling. Taxon 56: 649-656 [New Trends in Plant Systematics column]
Paun O, Stuessy TF, Hörandl E. 2006. The role of hybridization, polyploidization and glaciation in the origin and evolution of the apomictic Ranunculus cassubicus complex. New Phytologist 171: 223-236
For full list of publications see:
Biographical Info
Since 2019: Associate Professor, University of Vienna, Austria.
2015 - 2019: Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Since 2010: Group Leader at the University of Vienna, Austria.
2008 - 2010: Marie Curie Research Fellow at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, U.K..
2006 - 2008: Erwin Schrödinger Postdoctoral Fellow at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, U.K..
2006 - 2006: Postdoc at University of Vienna, Austria.
Academic training
Dec 2005: PhD in Evolutionary Biology at University of Vienna. Awarded Dr. rer. nat. Dissertation: "Evolution of apomixis in the Ranunculus cassubicus group". Supervisors: Elvira Hörandl and Tod Stuessy.
Jul 2000: Degree in Horticulture, University of Agronomical Sciences, Bucharest, Romania. Awarded Dipl. Ing.
Most important third party funding
FWF Stand-alone grant (Austrian Science Fund, FWF): "The sources of diversity shaping adaptive radiation" (P35275-B, 2022 - 2026, €600K).
Marie Curie Intra-European Grant (EU Commission): "StrucRadiation" (2022 - 2024, €184K).
Marie Curie Intra-European Grant (EU Commission): "CondensDrought" (2022 - 2024, €175K).
Doktoratskollegs - DK (Austrian Science Fund, FWF): "Population genetics" (2015-2023, ca €797K share of €5.6M).
START grant (Austrian Science Fund, FWF for the Austrian Ministry of Science, BMWF): "Evolution through recurrent allopolyploidization" (Y661, 2013 - 2022, €1.2M).
FWF Stand-alone grant (Austrian Science Fund, FWF): "Evolution through recurrent allopolyploidization" (P25363-B16, 2013 - 2016, funded €348K, given up after 6 months to take up the START grant).
Marie Curie Intra-European Grant (EU Commission): "TransAdaptation" (2013 - 2015, €180K).
Marie Curie Reintegration Grant (EU Commission): "PolyAdaptation" (2011 - 2014, €45K).
FWF Stand-alone grant (Austrian Science Fund, FWF): "Transcript architecture of ecological adaptation in sibling allopolyploid lineages (Dactylorhiza)" (P22260-B16, 2010 - 2012, €145K).
Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (EU Commission): "DactGene" (2008 - 2010, €169K).
Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship (Austrian Science Fund, FWF): "Genetic consequences of allopolyploidization in Dactylorhiza" (J2604, 2006 - 2008, €80K).
Honors and Awards
2013 START Prize. Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for the Austrian Ministry of Science (BMWF).
2009 Elected fellow of the Linnean Society, London.
2007 Marie Curie Fellowship. EU Commission.
2006 Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship. Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
2006 Best Presentation Award from the Systematics Association at "the Young Systematists Forum", Natural History Museum, London.
2002 IAPT Award for young investigators in Plant Systematics. International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT).
Service
Faculty Member
Reviewer - Funding Agencies
European Research Council (ERC) • Research Executive Agency of the European Commission (H2020) • NERC - Natural Environment Research Council (U.K.) • NSF - US National Science Foundation (U.S.) • The Leverhulme Trust (U.K.) • SNF - Swiss National Science Foundation • French national Research Agency (ANR) • DFG - German Research Foundation (Germany) • The Royal Society (U.K.) • Leibnitz Gemeinschaft (Germany) • NWO - Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (The Netherlands) • Czech Science Foundation • National Authority for Scientific Research (Romania) • FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal)
Associate Editor
2011-2019: Botanical Journal of Linnean Society for Population Genetics.
Reviewer - Selected Scientific Journals
PNAS • Nature Communications • eLife • Molecular Biology and Evolution • PLoS Genetics • Systematic Biology • Molecular Ecology • New Phytologist • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
Organization of International Symposia
2017: 40th New Phytologist Symposium - "Plant epigenetics: from mechanisms to ecological relevance", Vienna, Austria (local organiser).
2015: "Evolutionary Epigenetics: Switching from Models to the Field" at the ESEB meeting, Lausanne, Switzerland (with C. Alonso, Estacion Biologica de Donana, Spain).
2015: "Speciation Genomics" at the meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vienna, Austria (with P. Novikova, GMI, Austria).
2013: "Evolutionary Epigenetics" at the BioSystEU2013 Congress, Vienna, Austria.
2011: "The Role of Heritable Epigenetic Variation in Plant Evolution" at the XVIII International Botanical Congress, Melbourne, Australia.