Luiz A. Cauz-Santos, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
phone:+43-1-4277-540 40
room: 209
Biographical information
2022 - 2025: Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow, University of Vienna, Austria. Project: CondensDrought: Can chromosome reorganisation aid adaptation to drought?
2020 - 2022: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Vienna, Austria. Project: Phylogenomics of Nicotiana sect Suaveolentes.
2016 – 2020: PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
2018 – 2019: Research internship, French National Research Institute for Agriculture (INRA), France.
2012 – 2013: Science without Borders (SwB) fellow, University of Barcelona, Spain.
2009 – 2013: Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Brazil.
Since the beginning of my undergraduate studies a great interest in genetics and biodiversity strengthened my motivation in science. After a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology working with molecular markers, I started a PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the University of São Paulo working on genomics and phylogenomics of passionflowers. My studies discovered an extreme dynamism of structural variation of the plastomes in this group, with an unusually high number of rearrangements and gene losses. With my graduate studies I have developed a passionate interest in structural variation of genomes and their impact in evolutionary processes.
Currently, I’m a postdoctoral researcher working on the evolutionary history of the paleotetraploid Nicotiana sect Suaveolentes, a fascinating plant group that originated 5-6 million years ago in South America. Following its formation, this group dispersed widely and it is not found in South America today. Among other regions, the group produced a rapid adaptive radiation in Australia, where it colonized also the arid interior. This process happened in parallel with descending dysploidy that resulted in wide cariation in chromosome number and genome size.
Awards / Third-party funding
2021: Best PhD thesis award from University of Sao Paulo.
2021: Marie Curie Fellowship (EU Commission) with Host Ovidiu Paun (University of Vienna) - "CondensDrought: Can chromosome reorganisation aid adaptation to drought?" (€180K).
2021: 1 additional year fellowship from the University of Vienna, as a top-ranked Marie Curie fellow for CondensDrought.
2018 and 2019: FAPESP Research internship abroad (BEPE) grant for a research stay at French National Research Institute for Agriculture (INRA), France.
2018: Honorable mention for the poster "A gene-rich fraction analysis of the passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) genome". 22nd International Congress of Genetics.
2012: Science without borders, Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ) grant for a research stay at University of Barcelona, Spain.
2017: ICGEB Student travel grant for attending the Bioinformatics course from ICGEB Trieste, Italy.
2015: Honorable mention for the oral presentation "Phylogenomics of the passionflower (Passiflora edulis) based on the whole chloroplast genome sequence". Brazilian Genetics Society.
Publications
Cauz-Santos LA, Dodsworth S, Samuel R, Christenhusz MJM, Patel D, Shittu T, Jakob A, Paun O, Chase MW. 2022. Genomic insights into recent species divergence in Nicotiana benthamiana and natural variation in Rdr1 gene controlling viral susceptibility. The Plant Journal in press. Pre-print: bioRxiv 2022.02.01.478068 .
Costa ZP, Varani AM, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2021. A genome sequence resource for the genus Passiflora, the genome of the wild diploid species Passiflora organensis. The Plant Genome 14: e20117.
Chase MW, Christenhusz MJM, Palsson RL, Fay MF, Dodsworth S, Conran JG, Cauz-Santos LA, Nollet F, Samuel MR, Paun O. 2021. Species delimitation in Nicotiana sect. Suaveolentes (Solanaceae): reciprocal illumination leads to recognition of many new species. Curti's Botanical Magazine 38: 266-286.
Sader M, Vaio M, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2021. Large vs small genomes in Passiflora: the influence of the mobilome and the satellitome. Planta 253:86. Pre-print: bioRxiv 2020.08.24.264986.
Cauz-Santos LA, Costa ZP, Callot C, Cauet S, Zucchi MI, Berges H, van den Berg C, Vieira MLC. 2020. A repertory of rearrangements and the loss of an inverted repeat region in Passiflora chloroplast genomes. Genome Biology and Evolution 12: 1841–1857.
da Costa ZP, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2019. Transposable element discovery and characterization of LTR-retrotransposon evolutionary lineages in the tropical fruit species Passiflora edulis. Molecular Biology Reports46: 6117–6133.
Chavarria-Perez LM, Giordani W, Dias KOG, Costa ZP, Ribeiro CAM, Benedetti AR, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2020. Improving yield and fruit quality traits in sweet passion fruit: Evidence for genotype by environment interaction and selection of promising genotypes. PLoS ONE 15.
Vieira MLC, Almeida CB, Oliveira CA, Tacuatiá LO, Munhoz CF, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2018. Revisiting meiosis in sugarcane: Chromosomal irregularities and the prevalence of bivalent configurations. Frontiers in Genetics 9.
Munhoz CF, da Costa ZP, Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2018. A gene-rich fraction analysis of the Passiflora edulis genome reveals highly conserved microsyntenic regions with two related Malpighiales species. Scientific Reports 8.
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2017. The chloroplast genome of Passiflora edulis (Passifloraceae) assembled from long sequence reads: Structural organization and phylogenomic studies in Malpighiales. Frontiers in Plant Sciences 8.
Conference contributions
Cauz-Santos LA, Samuel MR, Metschina D, Christenhusz MJM, Paun O, Chase MW. 2023. Phylogenomics and biogeography of wild allopolyploid tobaccos (Nicotiana sect. Suaveolentes. SMBE 2023. Ferrara, Italy, 22-27 July 2023 [poster presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA, Samuel MR, Dodsworth S, Paun O, Chase MW. 2022. Phylogenomics and biogeography of Nicotiana sect. Suaveolentes. 20th Meeting of the Austrian Botanists, Salzburg, Austria, 22-24 Sept 2022 [oral presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2022. Rapid radiation in the wirld allopolyploid tobaccos (Nicotiana sect. Suaveolentes. ESEB 2022, Prague, Czech Republic, 14-19 Aug 2022 [poster].
Cauz-Santos LA, Dodsworth S, Jakob A, Samuel MR, Paun O, Chase MW. 2021. Phylogenomic relationships in Nicotiana benthamiana: insights into the origin of the N. benthamiana lab variant. Botany 2021, USA (virtual), 18-23 July 2021 [oral presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA, Dodsworth S, Jakob A, Samuel MR, Paun O, Chase MW. 2021. Phylogenomic relationships in Nicotiana benthamiana: insights into the origin of the N. benthamiana lab variant. Evolution 2021, USA (virtual), 21-25 June 2021 [oral presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA, Dodsworth S, Jakob A, Samuel MR, Paun O, Chase MW. 2021. Phylogenomic relationships in Nicotiana benthamiana: insights into the origin of the N. benthamiana lab variant. Australasian Systematic Botany Society, Australia (virtual), 12-16 June 2021 [oral presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2019. Highly rearranged chloroplast genomes of Passiflora: evidences from the four subgenera. Plant Genome Evolution Conference, Spain [poster].
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2018. A gene-rich fraction analysis of the Passiflora edulis genome. 22nd International Congress of Genetics, Brazil [poster].
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2015. Phylogenomics of the passionflower (Passiflora edulis) based on the whole chloroplast genome sequence. 61st Brazilian Congress of Genetics, Brazil [oral presentation].
Cauz-Santos LA et al. 2013. Time-series analysis of genetic diversity levels of the European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) in the Western Mediterranean. 59th Brazilian Congress of Genetics, Brazil [poster].