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Rachel Moran

TitleAssistant Professor
InstitutionUniversity of Chicago
DepartmentEcology and Evolution
AddressChicago IL 60637
ORCID ORCID Icon0000-0001-6831-4530 Additional info
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    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse overview
    Our lab combines behavioral research with various -omic technologies to understand the adaptive and mechanistic underpinnings of complex trait evolution and species diversification. Our overarching goal is to test fundamental hypotheses in evolutionary biology using natural populations (often stream fishes). We are also particularly interested in leveraging systems that exhibit repeated evolution of similar phenotypes to infer the neural and genetic basis of complex adaptive traits and the predictability of the evolutionary process.

    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse education and training
    University of ChicagoChicago Fellow2023
    University of MinnesotaPostdoc2022
    University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignPhD2019
    Northern Illinois UniversityMS2013
    Northern Illinois UniversityBS2011

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
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    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Roback EY, Ferrufino E, Moran RL, Shennard D, Mulliniks C, Gallop J, Weagley J, Miller J, Fily Y, Ornelas-García CP, Rohner N, Kowalko JE, McGaugh SE. Population Genomics of Premature Termination Codons in Cavefish With Substantial Trait Loss. Mol Biol Evol. 2025 Feb 03; 42(2). PMID: 39833658; PMCID: PMC11796094.
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    2. Kellermeyer R, Seidel C, Redwine WB, Moran RL, Bertho S, Ornelas-García CP, Alegre D, Weaver K, Unruh J, Troutwine B, Wang Y, Collins E, Rutkowski J, McGaugh SE, Espinasa L, Rohner N. Long-term hybridization in a karst window reveals the genetic basis of eye loss in cavefish. bioRxiv. 2024 Oct 28. PMID: 39554031; PMCID: PMC11565769.
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    3. Black TN, Rastogi A, Saegert A, Dib J, Moran RL. Male recognition of conspecific female chemical cues in a diverse clade of freshwater fishes. J Fish Biol. 2024 Mar; 104(3):883-886. PMID: 37906501.
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    4. Garduño-Sánchez M, Hernández-Lozano J, Moran RL, Miranda-Gamboa R, Gross JB, Rohner N, Elliott WR, Miller J, Lozano-Vilano L, McGaugh SE, Ornelas-García CP. Phylogeographic relationships and morphological evolution between cave and surface Astyanax mexicanus populations (De Filippi 1853) (Actinopterygii, Characidae). Mol Ecol. 2023 Oct; 32(20):5626-5644. PMID: 37712324.
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    5. Powers AK, Hyacinthe C, Riddle MR, Kim YK, Amaismeier A, Thiel K, Martineau B, Ferrante E, Moran RL, McGaugh SE, Boggs TE, Gross JB, Tabin CJ. Genetic mapping of craniofacial traits in the Mexican tetra reveals loci associated with bite differences between cave and surface fish. BMC Ecol Evol. 2023 Aug 25; 23(1):41. PMID: 37626324; PMCID: PMC10463419.
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    6. Moran RL, Richards EJ, Ornelas-García CP, Gross JB, Donny A, Wiese J, Keene AC, Kowalko JE, Rohner N, McGaugh SE. Selection-driven trait loss in independently evolved cavefish populations. Nat Commun. 2023 May 03; 14(1):2557. PMID: 37137902; PMCID: PMC10156726.
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    7. Moran RL, Jaggard JB, Roback EY, Kenzior A, Rohner N, Kowalko JE, Ornelas-García CP, McGaugh SE, Keene AC. Hybridization underlies localized trait evolution in cavefish. iScience. 2022 Feb 18; 25(2):103778. PMID: 35146393; PMCID: PMC8819016.
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    8. O'Gorman M, Thakur S, Imrie G, Moran RL, Choy S, Sifuentes-Romero I, Bilandžija H, Renner KJ, Duboué E, Rohner N, McGaugh SE, Keene AC, Kowalko JE. Pleiotropic function of the oca2 gene underlies the evolution of sleep loss and albinism in cavefish. Curr Biol. 2021 Aug 23; 31(16):3694-3701.e4. PMID: 34293332.
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    9. Chang CH, Catchen J, Moran RL, Rivera-Colón AG, Wang YC, Fuller RC. Sequence Analysis and Ontogenetic Expression Patterns of Cone Opsin Genes in the Bluefin Killifish (Lucania goodei). J Hered. 2021 Jul 15; 112(4):357-366. PMID: 33837393.
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    10. Warren WC, Boggs TE, Borowsky R, Carlson BM, Ferrufino E, Gross JB, Hillier L, Hu Z, Keene AC, Kenzior A, Kowalko JE, Tomlinson C, Kremitzki M, Lemieux ME, Graves-Lindsay T, McGaugh SE, Miller JT, Mommersteeg MTM, Moran RL, Peuß R, Rice ES, Riddle MR, Sifuentes-Romero I, Stanhope BA, Tabin CJ, Thakur S, Yamamoto Y, Rohner N. A chromosome-level genome of Astyanax mexicanus surface fish for comparing population-specific genetic differences contributing to trait evolution. Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 04; 12(1):1447. PMID: 33664263; PMCID: PMC7933363.
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    11. Reid BN, Moran RL, Kopack CJ, Fitzpatrick SW. Rapture-ready darters: Choice of reference genome and genotyping method (whole-genome or sequence capture) influence population genomic inference in Etheostoma. Mol Ecol Resour. 2021 Feb; 21(2):404-420. PMID: 33058399.
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    12. Moran RL, Catchen JM, Fuller RC. Genomic Resources for Darters (Percidae: Etheostominae) Provide Insight into Postzygotic Barriers Implicated in Speciation. Mol Biol Evol. 2020 Mar 01; 37(3):711-729. PMID: 31688927; PMCID: PMC7038671.
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    13. Moran RL, Zhou M, Catchen JM, Fuller RC. Hybridization and postzygotic isolation promote reinforcement of male mating preferences in a diverse group of fishes with traditional sex roles. Ecol Evol. 2018 Sep; 8(18):9282-9294. PMID: 30377500; PMCID: PMC6194240.
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    14. Moran RL, Fuller RC. Agonistic character displacement of genetically based male colour patterns across darters. Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Aug 01; 285(1884). PMID: 30068684; PMCID: PMC6111152.
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    15. Moran RL, Zhou M, Catchen JM, Fuller RC. Male and female contributions to behavioral isolation in darters as a function of genetic distance and color distance. Evolution. 2017 Oct; 71(10):2428-2444. PMID: 28776645; PMCID: PMC5656840.
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