Genetic variation is a major driver of trait variation. Missing from previous efforts is an understanding of how epigenetic variation contributes to this process. We focus on innovating methods, studying experimental and natural plant populations, and developing mathematical models to better understand the role of epigenetic variation in trait variation. full report …
Short CV
Prof. Robert Schmitz (b. 1980) obtained his PhD in Genetics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, studying the molecular bases of epigenetic phenomena in the Laboratory of Genetics. He continued his exploration of epigenetic phenomena at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies where he acquired expertise in epigenomics. It was there he was part of numerous discoveries of spontaneous epimutations in plants. In 2013, he formed his own independent research program in the Department of Genetics at the University of Georgia and was recently promoted to an Associate Professor and a Georgia Research Alliance Lars G. Ljungdahl Distinguished Investigator.
2020, UGA Foundation Professorship of Plant Sciences
2020, UGA Creative Research Medal in Natural Sciences and Engineering
2017, Georgia Research Alliance, Lars G. Ljungdahl Distinguished Investigator
2015-2019, Pew Biomedical Scholar, Class of 2015
2014, “40 under 40”, named by Cell as one of 40 accomplished young scientists shaping current and future trends in science under the age of 40
2012, 7th Annual Young Investigator Award – Genome Technology
2012-2016, Recipient of NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
2008, Recipient of NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award2008 1 of 45 Finalists for Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
Research Interests
Epigenomics, DNA methylation, chromatin biology, epigenetic inheritance.
Selected Publications
Hofmeister, Brigitte T.; Lee, Kevin; Rohr, Nicholas A.; Hall, David W.; Schmitz, Robert J.: Stable inheritance of DNA methylation allows creation of epigenotype maps and the study of epiallele inheritance patterns in the absence of genetic variation. Genome Biology 18 (1), 2017.
Bewick, Adam J.; Niederhuth, Chad E.; Ji, Lexiang; Rohr, Nicholas A.; Griffin, Patrick T.; Leebens-Mack, Jim; Schmitz, Robert J.: The evolution of CHROMOMETHYLASES and gene body DNA methylation in plants. Genome Biology 18 (1), 2017.
Bewick, Adam J.; Vogel, Kevin J.; Moore, Allen J.; Schmitz, Robert J.: Evolution of DNA Methylation across Insects. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2016, msw264.
Lu, Zefu; Hofmeister, Brigitte T.; Vollmers, Christopher; DuBois, Rebecca M.; Schmitz, Robert J.: Combining ATAC-seq with nuclei sorting for discovery of cis-regulatory regions in plant genomes. Nucleic Acids Research 45 (6), 2016, e41-e41.
Niederhuth, Chad E.; Bewick, Adam J.; Ji, Lexiang; Alabady, Magdy S.; Kim, Kyung Do; Li, Qing; Rohr, Nicholas A.; Rambani, Aditi; Burke, John M.; Udall, Joshua A.; Egesi, Chiedozie; Schmutz, Jeremy; Grimwood, Jane; Jackson, Scott A.; Springer, Nathan M.; Schmitz, Robert J.: Widespread natural variation of DNA methylation within angiosperms. Genome Biology 17 (1), 2016.
Bewick, Adam J.; Ji, Lexiang; Niederhuth, Chad E.; Willing, Eva-Maria; Hofmeister, Brigitte T.; Shi, Xiuling; Wang, Li; Lu, Zefu; Rohr, Nicholas A.; Hartwig, Benjamin; Kiefer, Christiane; Deal, Roger B.; Schmutz, Jeremy; Grimwood, Jane; Stroud, Hume; Jacobsen, Steven E.; Schneeberger, Korbinian; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Schmitz, Robert J.: On the origin and evolutionary consequences of gene body DNA methylation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 (32), 2016, 9111-9116.
van der Graaf, Adriaan; Wardenaar, René; Neumann, Drexel A.; Taudt, Aaron; Shaw, Ruth G.; Jansen, Ritsert C.; Schmitz, Robert J.; Colomé-Tatché, Maria; Johannes, Frank: Rate, spectrum, and evolutionary dynamics of spontaneous epimutations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (21), 2015, 6676-6681.
Schmitz, Robert J.; Schultz, Matthew D.; Urich, Mark A.; Nery, Joseph R.; Pelizzola, Mattia; Libiger, Ondrej; Alix, Andrew; McCosh, Richard B.; Chen, Huaming; Schork, Nicholas J.; Ecker, Joseph R.: Patterns of population epigenomic diversity. Nature 495 (7440), 2013, 193-198.
Schmitz, R. J.; Schultz, M. D.; Lewsey, M. G.; O'Malley, R. C.; Urich, M. A.; Libiger, O.; Schork, N. J.; Ecker, J. R.: Transgenerational Epigenetic Instability Is a Source of Novel Methylation Variants. Science 334 (6054), 2011, 369-373.
Hazarika, Rashmi R.; Serra, Michele; Zhang, Zhilin; Zhang, Yinwen; Schmitz, Robert J.; Johannes, Frank: Molecular properties of epimutation hotspots. Nature Plants 8 (2), 2022, 146-156 mehr…BibTeX
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2021
Yao, Nan; Schmitz, Robert J.; Johannes, Frank: Epimutations Define a Fast-Ticking Molecular Clock in Plants. Trends in Genetics 37 (8), 2021, 699-710 mehr…BibTeX
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Zhang, Yinwen; Jang, Hosung; Xiao, Rui; Kakoulidou, Ioanna; Piecyk, Robert S.; Johannes, Frank; Schmitz, Robert J.: Heterochromatin is a quantitative trait associated with spontaneous epiallele formation. Nature Communications 12 (1), 2021 mehr…BibTeX
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2020
Hofmeister, Brigitte T.; Denkena, Johanna; Colomé-Tatché, Maria; Shahryary, Yadollah; Hazarika, Rashmi; Grimwood, Jane; Mamidi, Sujan; Jenkins, Jerry; Grabowski, Paul P.; Sreedasyam, Avinash; Shu, Shengqiang; Barry, Kerrie; Lail, Kathleen; Adam, Catherine; Lipzen, Anna; Sorek, Rotem; Kudrna, Dave; Talag, Jayson; Wing, Rod; Hall, David W.; Jacobsen, Daniel; Tuskan, Gerald A.; Schmutz, Jeremy; Johannes, Frank; Schmitz, Robert J.: A genome assembly and the somatic genetic and epigenetic mutation rate in a wild long-lived perennial Populus trichocarpa. Genome Biology 21 (1), 2020 mehr…BibTeX
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Shahryary, Yadollah; Symeonidi, Aikaterini; Hazarika, Rashmi R.; Denkena, Johanna; Mubeen, Talha; Hofmeister, Brigitte; van Gurp, Thomas; Colomé-Tatché, Maria; Verhoeven, Koen; Tuskan, Gerald; Schmitz, Robert J; Johannes, Frank: AlphaBeta: Computational inference of epimutation rates and spectra from high-throughput DNA methylation data in plants. bioRxiv, 2020 mehr…BibTeX
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2019
Brigitte T. Hofmeister, Johanna Denkena, Maria Colomé-Tatché, Yadollah Shahryary, Rashmi Hazarika, Jane Grimwood, Sujan Mamidi, Jerry Jenkins, Paul P. Grabowski, Avinash Sreedasyam, Shengqiang Shu, Kerrie Barry, Kathleen Lail, Catherine Adam, Anna Lipzen, Rotem Sorek, Dave Kudrna, Jayson Talag, Rod Wing, David W. Hall, Gerald A. Tuskan, Jeremy Schmutz, Frank Johannes, Robert J. Schmitz: The somatic genetic and epigenetic mutation rate in a wild long-lived perennial Populus trichocarpa. doi.org/10.1101/862623, 2019 mehr…BibTeX
Hofmeister, Brigitte T.; Denkena, Johanna; Colomé-Tatché, Maria; Shahryary, Yadollah; Hazarika, Rashmi; Grimwood, Jane; Mamidi, Sujan; Jenkins, Jerry; Grabowski, Paul P.; Sreedasyam, Avinash; Shu, Shengqiang; Barry, Kerrie; Lail, Kathleen; Adam, Catherine; Lipzen, Anna; Sorek, Rotem; Kudrna, Dave; Talag, Jayson; Wing, Rod; Hall, David W.; Tuskan, Gerald A.; Schmutz, Jeremy; Johannes, Frank; Schmitz, Robert J.: The somatic genetic and epigenetic mutation rate in a wild long-lived perennial Populus trichocarpa. bioRxiv, 2019 mehr…BibTeX
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Lu, Zefu; Marand, Alexandre P.; Ricci, William A.; Ethridge, Christina L.; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Schmitz, Robert J.: The prevalence, evolution and chromatin signatures of plant regulatory elements. Nature Plants 5 (12), 2019, 1250-1259 mehr…BibTeX
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Wendte, Jered M; Zhang, Yinwen; Ji, Lexiang; Shi, Xiuling; Hazarika, Rashmi R; Shahryary, Yadollah; Johannes, Frank; Schmitz, Robert J: Epimutations are associated with CHROMOMETHYLASE 3-induced de novo DNA methylation. eLife 8, 2019 mehr…BibTeX
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Yadollah Shahryary, Aikaterini Symeonidi, Rashmi R. Hazarika, Johanna Denkena, Talha Mubeen, Brigitte Hofmeister, Thomas van Gurp, Maria Colomé-Tatché, Koen Verhoeven, Gerald Tuskan, Robert J Schmitz, Frank Johannes: AlphaBeta: Computational inference of epimutation rates and spectra from high-throughput DNA methylation data in plants. doi.org/10.1101/862243, 2019 mehr…BibTeX
2018
Ji, Lexiang; Jordan, William T.; Shi, Xiuling; Hu, Lulu; He, Chuan; Schmitz, Robert J.: TET-mediated epimutagenesis of the Arabidopsis thaliana methylome. Nature Communications 9 (1), 2018 mehr…BibTeX
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Johannes, Frank; Schmitz, Robert J.: Spontaneous epimutations in plants. New Phytologist 221 (3), 2018, 1253-1259 mehr…BibTeX
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