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Benjamin Peter

Group leader

Department of Evolutionary Genetics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 507
e-mail: benjamin_peter@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Group leader: "Genetic Diversity through Space and Time"  

Curriculum Vitae
Education & Employment
Publications

Curriculum Vitae

CV as PDF

Education & Employment

since 11/2017 Group Leader
Department of Evolutionary Genetics,
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
Leipzig, Germany
10/2014-09/2017Postdoctoral scholar with John Novembre,
Department of Human Genetics,
University of Chicago, USA
08/2010-08/2014 Ph.D. in Integrative Biology
with a designated emphasis in Computational Biology and Genomics,
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Advisors: Rasmus Nielsen and Montgomery Slatkin
Title: Inference from Two Non-Equilibrium Models in Population Genetics.
08/2008-02/2010MSc in Ecology and Evolution
University of Bern, Switzerland
Advisor: Laurent Excoffier
Title: Distinguishing between population bottleneck and population subdivision by a Bayesian model choice procedure.
10/2005-08/2008BSc in Biology (with special qualification in Plant Sciences),
University of Bern, Switzerland

Publications

2025

Salem, N., Loosdrecht, M. S. v. d., Sümer, A. P., Vai, S., Hübner, A., Peter, B., Bianco, R. A., Lari, M., Modi, A., Al-Faloos, M. F. M., Turjman, M., Bouzouggar, A., Tafuri, M. A., Manzi, G., Rotunno, R., Prüfer, K., Ringbauer, H., Caramelli, D., Lernia, S. d., & Krause, J. (2025). Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage. Nature, 641(8061), 144-150. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08793-7.
Open Access    BibTeX   Endnote   

Sümer, A. P. *., Rougier, H., Villalba-Mouco, V., Huang, Y., Iasi, L. N., Essel, E., Bossoms Mesa, A., Furtwaengler, A., Peyrégne, S., de Filippo, C., Rohrlach, A. B., Pierini, F., Mafessoni, F., Fewlass, H., Zavala, E. I., Mylopotamitaki, D., Bianco, R. A., Schmidt, A., Zorn, J., Nickel, B., Patova, A., Posth, C., Smith, G. M., Ruebens, K., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Stoessel, A., Dietl, H., Orschiedt, J., Kelso, J., Zeberg, H., Bos, K. I., Welker, F., Weiss, M., McPherron, S., Schüler, T., Hublin, J.-J., Velemínský, P., Brůžek, J., Peter, B. M., Meyer, M., Meller, H., Ringbauer, H., Hajdinjak, M., Prüfer, K. *., & Krause, J. *. (2025). Earliest modern human genomes constrain timing of Neanderthal admixture. Nature, 638(8051), 711-717.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2024

Iasi, L. N., Chintalapati, M., Skov, L., Bossoms Mesa, A., Hajdinjak, M., Peter, B. M., & Moorjani, P. (2024). Neanderthal ancestry through time: Insights from genomes of ancient and present-day humans. Science, 386(6727).
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2023

Popli, D., Peyrégne, S., & Peter, B. M. (2023). Estimating genetic relatedness from ancient DNA. In H. Meller, J. Krause, W. Haak, & R. Risch (Eds.), Kinship, sex, and biological relatedness: the contribution of archaeogenetics to the understanding of social and biological relations: 15. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 6. bis 8. Oktober 2022 in Halle (Saale) (pp. 95-99). Halle (Saale): Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt - Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Popli, D., Peyrégne, S., & Peter, B. M. (2023). KIN: a method to infer relatedness from low-coverage ancient DNA. Genome Biology, 24: 10.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2022

Liu, D., Peter, B. M., Schiefenhövel, W., Kayser, M., & Stoneking, M. (2022). Assessing human genome-wide variation in the Massim region of Papua New Guinea and implications for the Kula trading tradition. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(8): msac165.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Peter, B. M. (2022). A geometric relationship of F2, F3 and F4-statistics with principal component analysis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1852): 20200413.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Peyrégne, S., Kelso, J., Peter, B. M., & Pääbo, S. (2022). The evolutionary history of human spindle genes includes back-and-forth gene flow with Neandertals. eLife, 11: e75464.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Skov, L., Peyrégne, S., Popli, D. R., Iasi, L. N., Devièse, T., Slon, V., Zavala, E. I., Hajdinjak, M., Sümer, A., Grote, S., Bossoms Mesa, A., López Herráez, D., Nickel, B., Nagel, S., Richter, J., Essel, E., Gansauge, M.-T., Schmidt, A., Korlevic, P., Comeskey, D., Derevianko, A. P., Kharevich, A., Markin, S. V., Talamo, S., Douka, K., Krajcarz, M. T., Roberts, R. G., Higham, T., Viola, B., Krivoshapkin, A. I., Kolobova, K. A., Kelso, J., Meyer, M., Pääbo, S., & Peter, B. M. (2022). Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals. Nature, 610, 519-525.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2021

Carlhoff, S., Duli, A., Nägele, K., Nur, M., Skov, L., Sumantri, I., Oktaviana, A. A., Hakim, B., Burhan, B., Syahdar, F. A., McGahan, D. P., Bulbeck, D., Perston, Y. L., Newman, K., Saiful, A. M., Ririmasse, M., Chia, S., Hasanuddin, Pulubuhu, D. A. T., Suryatman, Supriadi, Jeong, C., Peter, B. M., Prüfer, K., Powell, A., Krause, J., Posth, C., & Brumm, A. *. (2021). Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea. Nature, 596, 543-547.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Evans, B. J., Peter, B., Melnick, D. J., Andayani, N., Supriatna, J., Zhu, J., & Tosi, A. J. (2021). Mitonuclear interactions and introgression genomics of macaque monkeys (Macaca) highlight the influence of behaviour on genome evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1960): 20211756.
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Hajdinjak, M., Mafessoni, F., Skov, L., Vernot, B., Hübner, A., Fu, Q., Essel, E., Nagel, S., Nickel, B., Richter, J., Moldovan, O. T., Constantin, S., Endarova, E., Zahariev, N., Spasov, R., Welker, F., Smith, G. M., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Paskulin, L., Fewlass, H., Talamo, S., Rezek, Z., Sirakova, S., Sirakov, N., McPherron, S. P., Tsanova, T., Hublin, J.-J., Peter, B., Meyer, M., Skoglund, P., Kelso, J., & Pääbo, S. (2021). Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry. Nature, 592, 253-257.
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Iasi, L. N., Ringbauer, H., & Peter, B. (2021). An extended admixture pulse model reveals the limitations to human-Neandertal introgression dating. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38(11), 5156-5174.
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Overcast, I., Ruffley, M., Rosindell, J., Harmon, L., Borges, P. A. V., Emerson, B. C., Etienne, R. S., Gillespie, R., Krehenwinkel, H., Mahler, D. L., Massol, F., Parent, C. E., Patiño, J., Peter, B., Week, B., Wagner, C., Hickerson, M. J., & Rominger, A. (2021). A unified model of species abundance, genetic diversity, and functional diversity reveals the mechanisms structuring ecological communities. Molecular Ecology Resources, 21(8), 2782-2800.
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Schörnig, M., Ju, X.-C., Fast, L., Weigert, A., Schaffer, T., Ebert, S., Treutlein, B., Kasri, N. N., Peter, B., Hevers, W., & Taverna, E. (2021). Comparison of induced neurons reveals slower structural and functional maturation in humans than in apes. eLife, 10: e59323.
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Vernot, B., Zavala, E. I., Gómez-Olivencia, A., Jacobs, Z., Slon, V., Mafessoni, F., Romagné, F., Pearson, A., Petr, M., Sala, N., Pablos, A., Aranburu, A., de Castro, J. M. B., Carbonell, E., Li, B., Krajcarz, M. T., Krivoshapkin, A. I., Kolobova, K. A., Kozlikin, M. B., Shunkov, M. V., Derevianko, A. P., Viola, B., Grote, S., Essel, E., López Herráez, D., Nagel, S., Nickel, B., Richter, J., Schmidt, A., Peter, B., Kelso, J., Roberts, R. G., Arsuaga, J.-L., & Meyer, M. (2021). Unearthing Neanderthal population history using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from cave sediments. Science, eabf1667.
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2020

Mafessoni, F., Grote, S., de Filippo, C., Slon, V., Kolobova, K. A., Viola, B., Markin, S. V., Chintalapati, M., Peyrégne, S., Skov, L., Skoglund, P., Krivoshapkin, A. I., Derevianko, A. P., Meyer, M., Kelso, J., Peter, B., Prüfer, K., & Pääbo, S. (2020). A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Chagyrskaya Cave. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(26), 15132-15136.
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Massilani, D., Skov, L., Hajdinjak, M., Gunchinsuren, B., Tseveendorj, D., Yi, S., Lee, J., Nagel, S., Nickel, B., Devièse, T., Higham, T., Meyer, M., Kelso, J., Peter, B., & Pääbo, S. (2020). Denisovan ancestry and population history of early East Asians. Science, 370(6516), 579-583.
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Peter, B. M. (2020). 100,000 years of gene flow between Neandertals and Denisovans in the Altai mountains. bioRxiv.
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Peter, B. M., Petkova, D., & Novembre, J. (2020). Genetic landscapes reveal how human genetic diversity aligns with geography. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37(4), 943-951.
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Peyrégne, S., & Peter, B. M. (2020). AuthentiCT: A model of ancient DNA damage to estimate the proportion of present-day DNA contamination. Genome Biology, 21: 246.
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2018

Key, F. M., Abdul-Aziz, M. A., Mundry, R., Peter, B. M., Sekar, A., D'Amato, M., Dennis, M. Y., Schmidt, J. M., & Andrés, A. M. (2018). Human local adaptation of the TRPM8 cold receptor along a latitudinal cline. PLoS Genetics, 14(5): e1007298.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Mafessoni, F., de Filippo, C., Slon, V., Grote, S., Chintalapati, M., Peter, B., Viola, B., Markin, S. V., Vasilyev, S. K., Rudaya, N. A., Kolobova, K. A., Shunkov, M. V., Derevianko, A. P., Kelso, J., Meyer, M., Prüfer, K., & Pääbo, S. (2018). A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Chagyrskaya Cave. In T. A. Klimenkova (Ed.), The origins of the Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia and the evolution of the genus Homo: Proceedings of the International Symposium (Denisova Cave, Altai, Russia, July 2-8, 2018) (pp. 51-55). Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS Publishing.
BibTeX   Endnote   

2017

Jeong, C., Peter, B. M., Basnyat, B., Neupane, M., Beall, C. M., Childs, G., Craig, S. R., Novembre, J., & Di Rienzo, A. (2017). A longitudinal cline characterizes the genetic structure of human populations in the Tibetan plateau. PLoS One, 12(4): 0175885.
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2016

de Manuel, M., Kuhlwilm, M., Frandsen, P., Sousa, V. C., Desai, T., Prado-Martinez, J., Hernandez-Rodriguez, J., Dupanloup, I., Lao, O., Hallast, P., Schmidt, J. M., Heredia-Genestar, J. M., Benazzo, A., Barbujani, G., Peter, B. M., Kuderna, L. F. K., Casals, F., Angedakin, S., Arandjelovic, M., Boesch, C., Kühl, H. S., Vigilant, L., Langergraber, K., Novembre, J., Gut, M., Gut, I., Navarro, A., Carlsen, F., Andrés, A. M., Siegismund, H. R., Scally, A., Excoffier, L., Tyler-Smith, C., Castellano, S., Xue, Y., Hvilsom, C., & Marques-Bonet, T. (2016). Chimpanzee genomic diversity reveals ancient admixture with bonobos. Science, 354(6311), 477-481.
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Nakagome, S., Alkorta-Aranburu, G., Amat, R., Howie, o. B., Peter, B. M., Hudson, R. R., & Rienzo, A. D. (2016). Estimating the ages of selection signals from different epochs in human history. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33(3), 657-669.
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Novembre, J., & Peter, B. M. (2016). Recent advances in the study of fine-scale population structure in humans. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, 41, 98-105.
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Peter, B. M. (2016). Admixture, population structure, and F-statistics. Genetics, 202(4), 1485-1501.
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Potter, S., Bragg, J. G., Peter, B. M., Bi, K., & Moritz, C. (2016). Phylogenomics at the tips: Inferring lineages and their demographic history in a tropical lizard, Carlia amax. Molecular Ecology, 25(6), 1367-1380.
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2015

Peter, B. M., & Slatkin, M. (2015). The effective founder effect in a spatially expanding population. Evolution, 69(3), 721-734.
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2014

Clemente, F. J., Cardona, A., Inchley, C. E., Peter, B. M., Jacobs, G., Pagani, L., Lawson, D. J., Antão, T., Vicente, M., Mitt, M., DeGiorgio, M., Faltyskova, Z., Xue, Y., Ayub, Q., Szpak, M., Mägi, R., Eriksson, A., Manica, A., Raghavan, M., Rasmussen, M., Rasmussen, S., Willerslev, E., Vidal-Puig, A., Tyler-Smith, C., Villems, R., Nielsen, R., Metspalu, M., Malyarchuk, B., Derenko, M., & Kivisild, T. (2014). A selective sweep on a deleterious mutation in CPT1A in Arctic populations. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 95(5), 584-589.
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Huerta-Sánchez, E., Jin, X., Asan, Bianba, Z., Peter, B. M., Vinckenbosch, N., Liang, Y., Yi, X., He, M., Somel, M., Ni, P., Wang, B., Ou, X., Huasang, Luosang, J., Cuo, Z. X. P., Li, K., Gao, G., Yin, Y., Wang, W., Zhang, X., Xu, X., Yang, H., Li, Y., Wang, J., & Nielsen, J. W. R. (2014). Altitude adaptation in Tibetans caused by introgression of Denisovan-like DNA. Nature, 512(7513), 194-197.
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Key, F. M., Peter, B., Dennis, M. Y., Huerta-Sanchez, E., Tang, W., Prokunina-Olsson, L., Nielsen, R., & Andrés, A. M. (2014). Selection on a variant associated with improved viral clearance drives local, adaptive pseudogenization of Interferon Lambda 4 (IFNL 4). PLoS Genetics, 10(10): e1004681.
Open Access    DOI    PubMed    BibTeX   Endnote   

Reppell, M., Koch, E., Peter, B. M., & Novembre, J. (2014). Surfing waves of data in San Diego: Sophisticated analyses provide a broad view of human genetic diversity. Genome Biology, 15: 562.
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2013

Peter, B. M., & Slatkin, M. (2013). Detecting range expansions from genetic data. Evolution, 67(11), 3274-3289.
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2012

Peter, B. M., Huerta-Sanchez, E., & Nielsen, R. (2012). Distinguishing between selective sweeps from standing variation and from a De Novo Mutation. PLoS Genetics, 8(10): e1003011.
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2010

Peter, B. M., Wegmann, D., & Excoffier, L. (2010). Distinguishing between population bottleneck and population subdivision by a Bayesian model choice procedure. Molecular Ecology, 19(21), 4648-4660.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote