Laboratory of Evolutionary Genomics
Professor Levon Yepiskoposyan
Head of the laboratory, DSc
E-mail: lepiskop@sci.am
Laboratory members
Zaruhi Khachatryan, Ph.D.
Senior researcher
Eva Bareghamyan
Junior researcher
Satenik Mkrtchyan
Senior laboratory assistant
Gayane Nazaryan
Laboratory assistant
Smbat Maghaqyan
Laboratory assistant
General information
The laboratory of Evolutionary Genomics (initially a Group of Human Genetics) was founded in 2007. The main scope of our activity is the reconstruction of the genetic history of Armenians and other neighboring peoples of the Near East and the South Caucasus. Recently the laboratory has been actively involved in international projects aiming to study ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted from human and animal fossils of different age strata.
Current Research Projects
- «Dissecting different strata of the armenian gene pool», SC RA / 21AG-1F025
Selected publications
1. Dinas PC, Nintou E, Vliora M, Pravednikova AE, Sakellariou P, Witkowicz A, Kachaev ZM, Kerchev VV, Larina SN, Cotton J, Kowalska A, Gkiata P, Bargiota A, Khachatryan ZA, Hovhannisyan AA, Antonosyan MA, Margaryan S, Partyka A, Bogdanski P, Szulinska M, Kregielska-Narozna M, Czepczyński R, Ruchała M, Tomkiewicz A, Yepiskoposyan L, Karabon L, Shidlovskii Y, Metsios GS, Flouris AD. Prevalence of uncoupling protein one genetic polymorphisms and their relationship with cardiovascular and metabolic health. PLoS One. 2022 Apr 28;17(4):e0266386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266386
2. Sahakyan H, Margaryan A, Saag L, Karmin M, Flores R, Haber M, Kushniarevich A, Khachatryan Z, Bahmanimehr A, Parik J, Karafet T, Yunusbayev B, Reisberg T, Solnik A, Metspalu E, Hovhannisyan A, Khusnutdinova EK, Behar DM, Metspalu M, Yepiskoposyan L, Rootsi S, Villems R. Origin and diffusion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267. Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 23;11(1):6659. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85883-2
3. Antonosyan M, Seersholm F, Grealy A, Barham M, Werndly D, Margaryan A, Cieslik A, Stafford T, Allentoft M, Bunce M, Yepiskoposyan L. Ancient DNA shows high faunal diversity in the Lesser Caucasus during the Late Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2019;219:102-111. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.012
4. Derenko M, Denisova G, Malyarchuk B, Hovhannisyan A, Khachatryan Z, Hrechdakian P, Litvinov A, Yepiskoposyan L. Insights into matrilineal genetic structure, differentiation and ancestry of Armenians based on complete mitogenome data. Mol Genet Genomics. 2019 Dec;294(6):1547-1559. doi:10.1007/s00438-019-01596-2
5. Margaryan A, Derenko M, Hovhannisyan H, Malyarchuk B, Heller R, Khachatryan Z, Avetisyan P, Badalyan R, Bobokhyan A, Melikyan V, Sargsyan G, Piliposyan A, Simonyan H, Mkrtchyan R, Denisova G, Yepiskoposyan L, Willerslev E, Allentoft ME. Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus. Curr Biol. 2017 Jul 10;27(13):2023-2028.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.087