Matthew Holding

Affiliation
Life Sciences Institute

Fields of study
Coevolution, genomic basis of adaptation, gene family evolution, protein-protein interactions, venoms and toxins; mammalogy; herpetology

Research interests
All organisms interact with others, as predator, prey, host or parasite. I integrate genomic, proteomic and functional data with field natural history to ask how and why organisms evolve complex offenses and defenses in the struggle to survive enemy encounters. I also use comparative genomics to discover the traces left by coevolution on the gene families involved. My work to date has focused on snake venom evolution, rodent venom resistance, and resistance of mammalian herbivores to toxic plants.