Anna Fijarczyk, PhD
Research associate / Evolutionary genomics
e-mail: anna.fijarczyk.1 [at] ulaval.ca
Biography
I come from Łódź, a very nice city in central Poland. I studied biology in the University of Łódź, where I got my master’s degree in environmental biology (2008). For my PhD I moved to Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland), where I began to use population genetics to study speciation and hybridization in amphibians. I finished my thesis under supervision of prof. Jacek M. Szymura (2013) and then continued to work as a post-doc in the lab of Wiesław Babik (2016). In January 2017, I started my second post-doc in the lab of Christian Landry, where I’m currently studying evolution of pathogenic fungi causing Dutch Elm Disease, as a part of BioSAFE project supported by Genome Canada.
Research interests
I am interested in hybridization and the way it affects speciation, divergence and adaptation of populations from the genomic point of view. In the past years I have been particularly interested in adaptive introgression of immune genes between amphibian species, and the role of balancing selection in this process. Currently I am investigating hybridization in the context of rapid emergence of several lineages of tree-killing fungus causing deadly Dutch Elm Disease. My other areas of interest include evolution of genome size and gene repertoire of pathogens as a consequence of adaptation to hosts and vectors.
Publications
Konopinski MK, Fijarczyk A, Biedrzycka A. Complex patterns shape immune gene diversity during invasion of common raccoon in Europe — Selection in action despite genetic drift. Evolutonary Applications 16 (1), 134-151 (2023)
Fijarczyk A, Bernier L, Sakalidis ML, Medina-Mora CM, & Porth I. Independent evolution had led to distinct genomic signatures in Dutch elm disease-causing fungi and other vascular wilts-causing fungal pathogens. Journal of Fungi 9 (1), 2; (2022)
Biedrzycka A, Fijarczyk A, Kloch A, & Porth I. Genomic basis of adaptations to new environments in expansive and invasive species. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10, 974649; (2022)
Fijarczyk A, Hénault M, Marsit S, Charron G, & Landry CR. Heterogeneous mutants and spectra in yeast hybrids. Genome Biology and Evolution evab282 (2021)
Marsit S, Hénault M, Charron G, Fijarczyk A, & Landry CR. The neutral rate of whole-genome duplication varies among yeast species and their hybrids. Nature Communications 12, 3126 (2021)
Fijarczyk A, Hénault M, Marsit S, Charron G, Fischborn T, Nicole-Labrie L, & Landry CR. The genome sequence of the Jean-Talon strain, an archeological tetraploid beer yeast from Québec. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 10 (9), 3087-3097 (2020)
Hallin J, Cisneros AF, Hénault M, Fijarczyk A, Dandage R, Bautista C, & Landry CR. Similarities in biological processes can be used to bridge ecology and molecular biology. Evolutionary Applications 13 (6), 1335-1350 (2020)
Fijarczyk A*, Hessenauer P*, Martin H, Prunier J, Charron G, Chapuis J, Bernier L, Tanguay P, Hamelin RC & Landry CR. Hybridization and introgression drive genome evolution of Dutch elm disease pathogens. Nat Ecol Evol 4 (4), 626-638 (2020)
Eberlein C*, Hénault M*, Fijarczyk A, Charron G, Bouvier M, Kohn LM, Anderson JB, & Landry CR. Hybridization is a recurrent evolutionary stimulus in wild yeast speciation. Nature Communications 10 (1), 1-14 (2019)
Fijarczyk A, Dudek K, Niedzicka M & Babik W, Balancing selection and introgression of newt immune-response genes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285:20180819 (2018)
Niedzicka M, Dudek K, Fijarczyk A, Zieliński P & Babik W, Linkage map of Lissotriton newts provides insight into the genetic basis of reproductive isolation. G3: Genes, genomes, Genetics 7:2115-2124 (2017)
Fijarczyk A, Dudek K & Babik W, Selective landscapes in newt immune genes. Genome Biology and Evolution 8:3417-3432 (2016)
Nürnberger B, Lohse K, Fijarczyk A, Szymura JM & Blaxter ML, Para-allopatry in hybridising fire-bellied toads (Bombina bombina and B. variegata): Inference from transcriptome-wide coalescence analyses. Evolution 8:1803–1818 (2016)
Niedzicka M, Fijarczyk A, Dudek K, Stuglik M & Babik W, Molecular Inversion Probes for targeted resequencing in non-model organisms. Scientific Reports 6:24051 (2016)
Fijarczyk A & Babik W, Detecting balancing selection in genomes: limits and prospects. Molecular Ecology 24:3529–3545 (2015)
Babik W, Dudek K, Fijarczyk A, Pabijan M, Stuglik M, Szkotak R & Zieliński P, Constraint and adaptation in newt Toll-like receptor genes. Genome Biology and Evolution 7:81–95 (2015)
Elgvin TO, Hermansen JS, Fijarczyk A, Bonnet T, Borge T, Sæther SA, Voje KL & Sætre G-P, Hybrid speciation in sparrows II: a role for sex chromosomes? Molecular Ecology 20:3823–3837 (2011)
Fijarczyk A, Nadachowska K, Hofman S, Litvinchuk SN, Babik W, Stuglik M, Gollmann G, Choleva L, Cogălniceanu D, Vukov T, Džukić G & Szymura JM, Nuclear and mitochondrial phylogeography of the European fire-bellied toads Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata supports their independent histories. Molecular Ecology 20:3381–3398 (2011)