Kevin J. Peterson
Professor
Appointments
Professor of Biological Sciences
Professor in the Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems and Society Graduate Program
Adjunct Professor of Earth Sciences
Area of Expertise
Evolution,
paleontology,
molecular paleobiology
Biography
The explosive rise of animals 530 million years ago is among the few major events in the history of life combining the evolution of novel developmental regulatory circuitry in the context of unique environmental circumstances. This 'Cambrian explosion' is the primary focus of my laboratory, and the cause(s) of the origin of animal body plans and their later ecological success drives our current research.
Education
B.A. Carroll College
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
Publications
Zolotarov, G., Fromm, B., Legnini, I., Ayoub, S., Polese, G., Maselli, V., Chabot, P.J., Vinther, J., Styfhals, R., Seuntjens, E., Di Cosmo, A., Peterson, K.J., and Rajewsky, N. (submitted). MicroRNAs are deeply linked to the emergence of the complex octopus brain.
Peterson, K.J., Beavan, A., Chabot, P.J., McPeek, M.A., Pisani, D., Fromm, B., and Simakov, O. (2021) microRNAs as indicators into the causes and consequences of whole genome duplication events. Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msab344.
Fromm, B., Høye, E., Domanska, D., Zhong, X., Aparicio-Puerta, E., Ovchinnikov, V., Umu, S.U., Chabot, P.J., Kang, W., Aslanzadeh, M., Tarbier, M., Mármol-Sánchez, E., Urgese, G., Johansen, M., Hovig, E., Hackenberg, M., Friedländer, M.R., Peterson, K.J. (2021) MirGeneDB 2.1: toward a complete sampling of all major animal phyla. Nucleic Acids Research. doi:10.1093/nar/gkab1101
Laakso, T.A., Strauss, J.V., and Peterson, K. J. (2020) Herbivory and its effect on Phanerozoic oxygen concentrations. Geology 48, 410–414.
Fromm, B., Domanska, D., Høye, E., Ovchinnikov, V., Kang, W., Aparicio-Puerta, E., Johansen, M., Flatmark, K., Mathelier, A., Hovig, E., Hackenberg, M., and Peterson, K. J (2019) MirGeneDB 2.0: the metazoan microRNA complement. Nucleic Acids Research 48, D132–D141.
Ramaiah, M., Tan, K., Plank, T.M., Song, H.W., Dumdie, J.N., Jones, S., Shum, E.Y., Sheridan, S.D., Peterson, K.J., Gromoll, J., Haggarty, S.J., Cook-Andersen, H., Wilkinson, M.F.. (2019) A microRNA cluster in the Fragile-X region expressed during spermatogenesis targets FMR1. EMBO Rep. Feb;20(2):e46566
Brate, J., Neumann, R. S., Fromm, B., Haraldsen, A. B., Tarver, J. E., Suga, H., Donoghue, P. C. J., Peterson, K. J., Ruiz-Trillo I., Grini, P. E., Shalchian-Talbrizi, K. (2018) Unicellular origin of the animal microRNA machinery. Current Biology 28, 3288-3295
Deline, B., Greenwood, J. M., Clark, J. W., Puttick, M. N., Peterson, K. J., and Donoghue P. C. J. (2018) Evolution of metazoan morphological disparity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 115, E8909-E8918.
Tarver, J. E., Taylor, R. S., Puttick, M. N., Lloyd, G. T., Pett, W., Fromm, B., Schirrmeister, B. E., Pisani, D., Peterson, K. J., and Donoghue P. C. J. 2018. Well-annotated microRNAomes do not evidence pervasive miRNA loss. Genome Biology and Evolution 10, 1457-1470.
Peterson, K. J., and Eernisse, D. J. (2016) The phylogeny, evolutionary developmental biology, and paleobiology of the Deuterostomia: 25 years of new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 16, 401-418.
Tarver, J. E., dos Reis, M., Mirarab, S., Moran, R. J., Parker, S., O'Reilly, J. E., King, B., L., O'Connell, M. J., Asher, R. J., Warnow, T., Peterson, K. J., Donoghue, P. C. J., and Pisani, D. (2016) The interrelationships of placental mammals and the limits of phylogenetic inference. Genome Biology and Evolution 8, 330-344.
Fromm, B., Billipp, T., Peck, L. E., Johansen, M., Tarver, J. E., King, B., L., Newcomb, J. M., Sempere, L. F., Flatmark, K., Hovig, E., and Peterson, K. J. (2015) A uniform system for the annotation of vertebrate microRNA genes and the evolution of the human microRNAome. Annual Review of Genetics 49, 213-242.
Robinson, J. M., Sperling, E. A., Bergum, B., Adamski, M., Nichols, S. A., Adamska, M., and Peterson, K. J. (2013). The identification of microRNAs in calcisponges: independent evolution of microRNAs in basal metazoans. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Molecular and Developmental Evolution) 320B 84-93.
Tarver, J. E., Donoghue, P. C. J., and Peterson, K. J. (2012). Do miRNAs have a deep evolutionary history? Bioessays 34, 857-866.
Erwin, D. H. Laflamme, M., Tweedt, S. M., Pisani, D., and Peterson, K. J. (2011). The Cambrian conundrum: Early divergence and later ecological success in the early history of animals. Science, 334, 1091-1097.
Campbell, L. I., Rota-Stabellli, O., Marchioro, T., Longhorn, S. J., Edgecombe, G. D., Telford, M. J., Philippe, H., Rebecchi, L., Peterson, K. J., and Pisani, D. (2011). MicroRNAs and phylogenomics resolve the relationships of Tardigrada and suggest the velvet worms are the sister group of Arthropoda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 108, 15920-15924.
Anderson, B. M., Pisani, D., Miller, A. I., and Peterson, K. J. (2011). The environmental affinities of marine higher taxa and possible biases in their first appearances in the fossil record. Geology 2011, 971-974.
Campo-Paysaa, F., Sémon, M., Cameron, R. A., Peterson, K. J., and Schubert, M. (2011). miRNA complements in deuterostomes: origin and evolution of miRNAs. Evolution & Development 13, 15-27.
Philippe, H., Brinkmann, H., Copley, R. R., Moroz, L. L., Nakano, H., Poustka, A. J., Wallberg, A., Peterson, K. J., and Telford, M. J. (2011). Acoelomorph flatworms are deuterostomes related to Xenoturbella. Nature 470, 255-258.
Sperling, E. A., Peterson, K. J., and LaFlamme, M. (2010). Rangeomorphs, Thectardis (Porifera?) and dissolved organic carbon in the Ediacaran ocean Geobiology 9, 24-33.
Hydra Genome Consortium (2010). The dynamic genome of Hydra. Nature 464, 592-596.
Rota-Stabellli, O., Campbell, L., Brinkmann, H., Edgecombe, G. D., Longhorn, S. J., Peterson, K. J., Pisani, D., Philippe, H., and Telford, M. (2010). A congruent solution to arthropod phylogeny: phylogenomics, microRNAs and morphology support monophyletic Mandibulata. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 278, 298-306.
Heimberg, A. M., Cowper-Sal lari, R., Sémon, M., Donoghue, P. C. J., and Peterson, K. J. (2010). microRNAs reveal the interrelationships of hagfish, lampreys, and gnathostomes and the nature of the ancestral vertebrate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 107, 19379-19383.
Sperling, E. A., Robinson, J. M., Pisani, D., and Peterson, K. J. (2010). Where's the glass? Biomarkers, molecular clocks, and microRNAs suggest a 200-Mry missing Precambrian fossil record of siliceous-sponge spicules. Geobiology 8, 24-36.
Sperling, E. A., Vinther, J., Moy, V. N., Wheeler, B. M., Sémon, M., Briggs, D. E. G., and Peterson, K. J. (2009). MicroRNAs resolve an apparent conflict between annelid systematics and their fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 276, 4315-4322.
Sperling, E. A., Peterson, K. J., and Pisani, D. (2009). Phylogenetic-signal dissection of nuclear housekeeping genes supports the paraphyly of sponges and the monophyly of Eumetazoa. Molecular Biology and Evolution 26, 2261-2274.
Peterson, K. J., Dietrich, M. R., and McPeek, M. A. (2009). MicroRNAs and metazoan macroevolution: insights into canalization, complexity, and the Cambrian explosion. Bioessays 31, 736-747.
Wheeler, B. M., Heimberg, A. M., Moy, V. N., Sperling, E. A., Holstein, T. W., Heber, S., and Peterson, K. J. (2009). The deep evolution of metazoan microRNAs. Evolution & Development 11, 50-68.
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